Safety of Members

[disassociation2016]

I think it should be important for people here to know how to protect themselves, but I think you might want to devote staff members to insuring VT members can't be found IRL. Just today I added someone from VT on Facebook and warned them that they could be found and told them how I did it. They removed/edited the corresponding posts, but people could be very vulnerable if they don't know how to protect their anonymity.

[PoseidonX43]

really this is sad, i mean really i dont feel safe posting on here anymore, sorry to say that but its true

[Infidelitas]

Thats why you don't post your real name, thats why you dont post your real city, thats why you use a different email address than usual, thats why you dont post anything that could be used to find you on facebook.

[mrbob360]

why are so concerned about people adding you on facebook if they did it could mean they wanna get to know you a bit better its not like they are gunna post all over facebook that you belong VT noone can surely be that stupid or nasty can they ?

[disassociation2016]

Thats why you don't post your real name, thats why you dont post your real city, thats why you use a different email address than usual, thats why you dont post anything that could be used to find you on facebook.

Unfortunately many don't know this. How would it feel to think that your site might be used as a search engine for vulnerable teens?

[Kaius]

We already know this. This is why we clamp down so hard on contact details, personal details etc being given out where everyone can see them. At least with the guidelines we have in place at the moment we can offer as much protection as possible. This is the internet, theres only so much we can do. Its common sense, no one can be 100% sure anyone is who they really say they are which means you have to be careful whatever you do, its not just this site its everywhere. You've got to protect yourself from these situations.

[disassociation2016]

We already know this. This is why we clamp down so hard on contact details, personal details etc being given out where everyone can see them. At least with the guidelines we have in place at the moment we can offer as much protection as possible. This is the internet, theres only so much we can do. Its common sense, no one can be 100% sure anyone is who they really say they are which means you have to be careful whatever you do, its not just this site its everywhere. You've got to protect yourself from these situations.

I'm not sure if it's possible to block all phrases including social networks such as facebook.com or myspace.com, but that'd be great.

[Scarface]

I'm not sure if it's possible to block all phrases including social networks such as facebook.com or myspace.com, but that'd be great.

Hey man, let's not make people paranoid here, eh? We DO not allow social networking sites, email or messenger "add" of any kind including skype and other shit like that. Staff members like myself PERSONALLY approve Visitor Messages that are viewed. It is people's choice what they decide to put on their profile man. I know people that are perfectly fine with their shit up on the internet and I know people as you can see on different members that are clearly aware of what the internet is all about. Point is, if you're willing to put yourself on the internet, you're willing to be found. You have to be smart, use your head and think about your safety before making decisions on the internet. I don't think making a thread about this is very appropriate because #1. If I were a regular member just joined and viewing this, I would be paranoid and might not post at all. That is clearly not the intention of this site; to make people paranoid.The staff work very hard to ensure the safety of the entire site and it's members. If you see anything specifically instead of making a very poor generalization of different sources of things that are already being watched I'd gladly look into it.

[starlit dreams]

it doesnt matter what mods do or what rules there are on ANY forum, some ppl will always do stupid things.
you can tell everyone how they should act........but making them do it is the hard part.
even though i use my real name on here theres no way anyone could find me. its just common sense to make yourself as anonymous as possible.

[mrbob360]

go goose :)

[Origami]

I think it should be important for people here to know how to protect themselves, but I think you might want to devote staff members to insuring VT members can't be found IRL. Just today I added someone from VT on Facebook and warned them that they could be found and told them how I did it. They removed/edited the corresponding posts, but people could be very vulnerable if they don't know how to protect their anonymity.

If people are that stupid, they shouldn't be using the internet.
I give all of my personal contact info, including full name, on my profile because I don't care if people 'find' me. But if people don't want to be found, they should be smart enough not to give out their personal info.
Devoting staff members to trolling around after Facebooks, Myspaces, and Instant Messenger services is just plain stupid and absolutely useless. They do enough as is. No need to send them out chasing people.

[mrbob360]

go origami :) and i agree with you

[CaptainObvious]

Unfortunately many don't know this. How would it feel to think that your site might be used as a search engine for vulnerable teens?

Don't be histrionic. Any website with personal details and search functionality can potentially be used that way if users are not careful. Even Facebook itself can be used as a search engine for teens - and much more easily than this site.

As has already been outlined, I and the rest of the staff team work very hard to ensure our members are as safe as possible on this site. That includes some of the obvious public things like rules regarding contact details and asking for offsite chat, but extends further behind the scenes as well.

Your original suggestion of devoting staff members to the task of ensuring people can't be found IRL is not going to happen. Users have every bit of that control themselves; as Origami pointed out he doesn't care about being found, and so doesn't censor details that could lead to that. We presume that if someone has posted identifying details, they are aware of that possibility. It is my sincere hope that parents and others have educated our younger users about the Internet and privacy; if they have not that is unfortunate, but we're not going to add a significantly time-consuming responsibility like chasing after people about every personally identifying detail they may have posted to our already busy staff.

[Azunite]

No need to spread panic. We are not allowed to share any information here ( except personal messages ) anyway. If you are stupid enough to say in your sig "Hey, [email protected] guys if you wanna talk I am here :)" they shouldn't be here anyway. Everyone knows how to handle himself / herself. If they can't, they post threads in every forum ( to get attention ) about their privacy, saying that they need an immideate name change, or they want their accounts to be permanently deleted ( which is not allowed on normal circumstances ).

[mrbob360]

go goose :)