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It's kind of bizarre how freely we give each other our personal info on this site. Most of us here are nice and we don't really have to worry about one another, but as we all know, there are some on this site as well.

I'm just posting this to say be careful who you give your personal info to. Even those you completely trust may have a dumb moment after a drink or two, or put your whole name in a birthday post.

Not a good idea.

http://www.sfwa.org/gatew...alking.htm

http://www.google.com/sea...erstalking

It is so easy to track down someone on this site via their last name, or other personal info that one might not consider dangerous giving out...

This also goes for those that have been entrusted with last names, home addresses, etc of another orger. It might be funny that moment, but you could be endangering the life of another orger. (Especially if the search option is working.)

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And if you think I'm being overly paranoid...

A very scary TRUE story about the details of the Amy Boyer "internet" murder. This is the story of a disturbed young man who stalked a woman for many years, and even talked about his stalking and his plans to murder her on his internet site - which was her name, amyboyer.com. He eventually did murder her, just as described on the website.

her parents set up another website http://www.amyboyer.org/ to show what happened... very disturbing.

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[This message was edited Fri Jun 20 7:49:13 PDT 2003 by suomynona]

im already knowin matt,

some strange people online

that goes for personal info in your profile as well.

thankfully ben has it set up that you have to be a registered user of the org, but still... there are people on here...

so, basically, i'm just saying be careful.

i'm tired of reading about cyberstalking stories in the news, and would hate for anything to happen to any of my friends i've met on here.

"Cyber-stalking can in some cases take place without your knowledge, and you may not know you have been stalked until the stalker enters the "real world."

This is obvious, but seeing it scares the shit out of me.

suomynona said:

Thats understandable. The thing with the Org though is, is that we're all here 4 something in common, Prince. And I will also add Ive met a few Orgers and spoke 2 others on the phone and they're all lovely.

JDINTERACTIVE said:

On the flipside, though, I've talked to some who are nuts and scared me to death.

hopefully matt or someone can help me out here i remember on the old org there actually was some lady who was stalked and she pressed charges on the dude...i dunno been a while sinc ei heard the story

Natsume said:

I appreciate that but I havent met them yet. Im sure Ur not though, although Im sure Ur only a freak in the bedroom?!?

Christopher said:

!!

See, that's the kind of shit I'm talking about!!

JDINTERACTIVE said:

Naughty boy!

Natsume said:

Just gotta put Ur sensible cap on havent U.

Natsume said:

JDINTERACTIVE said:

Christopher said:

guys don't have to worry as much as the females... (unless your name is david letterman or something...)

anyways, i'm more worried i guess about people posting other people's personal stuff after they've gotten into an argument or something dumb... or it's someone's birthday and they think it'd be great to have everyone on the org send them a birthday card so they post all of that person's personal info... which would be dumb....

in fact, if anyone ever sees something stupid like that, report it immediately to the moderators.

just don't share personal stuff unless you have to is all i'm saying...

someone want to send you a cd? think about what address you give, before you give it... and is it worth it? probably not unless it's someone you truly trust.

i don't know. i may be coming off a little paranoid, but you'll know where i'm coming from if you've ever seen a story on how easy it is to track down another person on the internet, plus, the cyberstalker stories i've heard about...

let's be honest people... it's easy to talk on the net to people because they aren't right in front of us. how many of those people would you actually feel comfortable meeting in real life... talking to in real life... much less sharing personal info with them.

not trying to scare people, just protect some of ya... that's all.

Thanks for keeping yer eye out, suomynona...

suomynona said:

Thanx, Im a responsible person but I take Ur point.

suomynona said:

you not being paranoid,

at all i totally understand what yer sayin

Christopher said:

stop talking about me

gooeythehamster said:

Exactly!

Thanks for the info.

I'm letting you all know that the only orgers who have my address are KingSausgage, Wellbeyond and Shorty. So if something happens to me it's one of them!!!

If someone is gonna go to that extent to stalk boring pathetic old me, I wanna meet them! Come on in for coffee!

Yup. Although the Org can sometimes feel like a cosy and intimate place where we all know each other, there are thousands of people visiting this site each week. By law of averages, a few of them have to be "a bit unbalanced".

It is really up to everyone to exercise a bit of common sense and not give out too much private information about yourself, on this site or any other site. There are some nutjobs on the net, and you don't always know who you are talking to.

No need to be paranoid, just be sensible and protect your safety and privacy (and those of your friends here too).

ian said:

well said...

Christopher said:

suomynona said:

Thank you John Smith of Apt. 13a, 17 Cherry Lane, MN!

Oops!

suomynona said:

however...

http://www.townonline.com...182003.htm

10:46 p.m. A North Ridge Road resident reported Internet stalking. She said she met an Alabama man 2 1/2 years ago in a chat room and thinks he has been in her home. Police could not find anything that resembled a threat.

ian said:

also "Mary Poppins rocks!"

and this article...

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The state Supreme Court on Tuesday gave new hope to a Nashua woman who's suing an Internet information broker over the death of her daughter.

Helen Remsburg is suing Docusearch Inc., claiming the Florida company invaded her daughter's privacy and broke other laws in helping the stalker find her.

Amy Boyer, 20, was leaving work in October 1999 when she was shot to death by Liam Youens, a former high school classmate, who then killed himself.

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keep in mind, this story was from 1999. technology has advanced ridiculously in the past 4 years.

when i bought a fellow orger a computer... she was surprised that i didn't need her home address to have it delivered to her. i told her i was able to find out her home address on the internet by simply doing a search on google using her phone number.

just one more good reason to have an unlisted number.

and this:

A woman told Lufkin Police on Thursday that she's being stalked by someone in an Internet chat room. Another person visiting the chat room has been posting detailed information about the woman, including her daily activities, according to police.