Be careful!

[Julie Larreau]

Many of you probably already know this, however, I just gooled my name and found connections to this site. Many of us want to keep this private. If you want your image to be kept to just us, you might not want to have a picture in your profile.

[SilverLady(SO)]

Hi, ladies -

I just gooled my name and found connections to this site. Many of us want to keep this private.

Not to play devil's advocate, but mere common sense dictates that if "many of us want to keep this private" then they should not be a member of any forum or online site. The internet is open and available to almost everyone - there's nothing 'private' about the internet, there never has been, and hopefully there never will be.

Google's search bots (as are some others) are allowed to visit this forum, that is partly how we 'advertise' that the Forum exists, the other is via the proverbial word of mouth. After all, that is how most members came to find this forum, by doing a search.

That being said, as with anything on the internet if you wouldn't tell a stranger on the street something, then you shouldn't do it here, either. The general public is not going to do a search for a particular user name . . . think of how many 'hits' they'd get with the name of Julie, Ann, Kimberly, and the like!?! Besides, unless someone is hell-bent on causing trouble, we're just small fish in the big internet pond.

As a reminder, to help ensure our members' privacy, the members list, member profiles, and the photo gallery can only be accessed by members when they are logged into the Forum. Additionally, links to the photo gallery is strictly forbidden.


- SL

[Susan]

I work with this stuff and well understand the consequences. Try Googling my name - last time I looked there were 64million websites with my name on it. My male name is even better at 120 million. There is no link between my two persona's that I can find. Perhaps this is what you should concern yourself with rather than worrying if your femme name can be found.

You have a relatively rare surname compared to mine, Julie, which makes Google's job easier. Ask SilverLady if you can change your name here if it worries you.

If you would like any more advice regarding internet safety please get in touch.

[DonnaT]

Doesn't bother me, it's not my real name

[Pat]

I am not really bothered by being on the Internet, even though some of the things that I have revealed, I have not said to members of my family and/ or friends.

Most of the folks that I know would not be aware that this site, or the others that I use would exist.

[Robyn Katie]

Hi sisters,

Well, the number of hits for your name (which include everyone by that name) might be far more than the number of hits for you individually under that name.

I just googled "Robyn Katie" (using the quotes) and got only one link to a message on this site. After four google pages I quit searching, but there are innumerable Robyn Katies out there, so I scarcely feel overexposed.

And as Donna said, it's a pseudonym. Pretty private after all, seems to me.

Love, Robyn Katie

[Dolores(GG)]

I can't imagine why you would go on the internet with your real name if your frightened of being found in the first place. If it's not, then why worry?

[April Rose]

There are Pages upon pages of interesting April Roses on google. None of them, unfortunately or fortunately, seem to be me.

[Bernice]

There was a similar thread many months ago. Since most of us do NOT use our real names, there isn't much risk. Now, if you use your own face in your avatar, there is a slight risk, but your avatar is still a needle in a very large haystack. Also, one or more of us could be struck by a medium sized meteor. I'm just sayin...

Hugs,

Bernice (not my given legal name)