MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > A PSA: Use caution when posting any pers...

A PSA: Use caution when posting any personal info here

posted 8 years ago by Catbookss (13664)
40 replies | jump to latest

I see the "Introduce yourself" thread has been bumped up. I realize it was started with all good intentions, back when MC was smaller and felt very congenial and intimate. It was great here then, but the climate has changed.

Last thing you want is someone tracking you down and posting any of your personal info, which could be found either easily, or with some dedicated searching. (Also known as "doxxing.")

Also, be aware that at present links posted here can easily be disguised and lead to sites that are harmful to not only your computer or other device, but to yourself as well. (Thanks, Nipsey, for bringing up this important point.)

Be safe, not sorry.

P.S. If necessary, you can go back and either delete or edit your posts where you may have given out too much info.

[–] Nipsey_Russell (1339) 8 years ago

Also do not click on any links from people you're not familiar with.Trolls use a click bait to Doxx posters

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Excellent addition! If you don't mind, I'm going to add that to my OP.

It's important that Jim make posted URLs transparent, and clickable, so anyone can see what URL they're going to when they click, whether or not they know the poster, so they can trust it (or not, as the case may be).

Hidden links, the way it is now, have to be done away with.

[–] Nipsey_Russell (1339) 8 years ago

go ahead and add👍🏻

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Done! thanks again.

[–] Moviefan225 (259) 8 years ago

Great post. You can find out the URL by hovering your mouse on the clickable link text.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Thanks, Moviefan! I tried hovering over a link in another thread, and didn't see the URL :(

[–] Moviefan225 (259) 8 years ago

When you hover, you don't see the URL in the status bar at the bottom of the web page? The status bar is the same place where you see messages like "Page loading..." etc. If not, you could try going to "View" and choose the status bar to be displayed. I don't know how it would work on cell phones, but it does work on computers.

[–] Shredder (321) 8 years ago

I've always wondered what "click bait" links provide? My IP? Big deal, they'll know my regional location, which I've posted anyways. It doesn't narrow me down. And any info on my device is guarded by my anti-spyware and virus softwares.

So what exactly does someone get out of these types of links? And is anyone here really smart enough to "hack" anyone here? It takes a certain level of intelligence as well as computational logic to be able to pull something like that off.

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

You'll never know,do you?😉

[–] Shredder (321) 8 years ago

Um.....hence why I asked the question.

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

😉

[–] Shredder (321) 8 years ago

Why do people respond with like a vague emoji that doesn't really say what you're thinking? And why not reply with any substance, rather than just wasting a post that expresses nothing at all?

[–] Traveler (211) 8 years ago

Don't mind him, it's his favorite way of expression, that's all :-)

And yeah they could track down your location but that's pretty much it.

A "bad" link could also lead to a mirror pretending to be a website it isn't and steal your informations if you try to log on.

But nowadays people are educated so they check their URLs, right? So yeah, not really a big deal.

[–] Shredder (321) 8 years ago

Oh yeah, I check email addresses too before I click on a link from one. Like Paypal, noticed a couple emails from paypalemail, which was a red flag that it was not the real paypal and therefore, I wasn't clicking on any link.

[–] Traveler (211) 8 years ago

That's the spirit.

Basically:
1. Trust no one.
2. Always double check.

And you'll be fine.

PS: Now Croft is quoting The Outer Limits, if you're wondering what he's all about.

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

I send that emoji in response to your question,shredder,that emoji means"why indeed",so why to express myself what do i think about someones posts in words when can use an emoji that says the same thing?😉

[–] neverstandinalone (641) 8 years ago

👍🏽👌🏽

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

[–] BenCaesar (612) 8 years ago

Yes. Some are trying to harass and cyberbully me and other nonsense, but i am too strong for this. I will just block and ignore them when Jim enables the feature.

[–] Wilson (879) 8 years ago

Generally good advice for any internet interaction Catbookss, take note people. Don't use an email address or username which can be tracked back to you as we are unsure what access people may have to the database which holds these potentially important pieces of information.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Not using your (real) email address for your username is also good advice, on any board or comments area. So then why are you advocating for people to post their email if they're considering being, or want to be, or become a mod here? After all, transparency is transparency ;)

I'm not particularly worried about who -- Jim or whatever mods he assigns -- has access to my registration information. Again, thus far anyway, I have confidence in Jim. YMM (and seems to) V.

[–] Nipsey_Russell (1339) 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Nipsey_Russell (1339) 8 years ago

Bump for the new posters

[–] 2coolhipdude (114) 8 years ago

Off topic. When I joined Movie Chat, I wasn't allowed to use my IMDb username(wild_cobra427) because it had an "underline" just like Nipsey_Russell. Can anyone explain why I wasn't allowed but Nipsey was? Next question: The number after your name is obviously your total post count. Since this site is new, and i see some numbers as high as 800, did your IMDb post count follow you? Assuming you use the same username here. Or have people already posted 800 times on this site? lol. Yes, I understand admins will have a high count, but I've seen many with over 500.

[–] Kawada_Kira (7282) 8 years ago

I think it's because your account is new. I made my username, with the underline, within a week after MovieChat started. But I think the site recently stopped allowing new users to use the underline because of impostor trolls using it to mimic other people's usernames.

And no, there's no link between people's MovieChat accounts and their IMDb accounts. The post counts are all for MC posts. The site has been up for a little while now so it's not a surprise that some of the more active users have racked up 800+ posts.

[–] 2coolhipdude (114) 8 years ago

Thanks for the quick and informative reply. i thought this site was less than 2 months old. I signed up as soon as IMDb shut down their boards. Big thanks to MC for doing this.

[–] Shredder (321) 8 years ago

First time I got burned on a message board, was when someone used my username which was also my email, to Google trace it to another account, which eventually led them to my facebook, and then posted my picture all over the board. The most embarrassing one they found, was one with me with my shirt off.

The picture wasn't bad, it was just the fact that they exposed me as the kind of guy that took my looks with vanity, and hence, had a lot of post workout, shirtless pictures.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Thanks for the bump, for new people, Nipsey. No idea why I got a notification you'd posted to this thread, yet I can't see your post, and I'm certain I didn't block or ignore you (why on earth would I?!). I'm assuming it's some kind of unintentional glitch, because nothing else makes sense.

Regardless, thanks. May this site be as civil and great as we remember it was, a mere few weeks ago.

[–] Nipsey_Russell (1339) 8 years ago

👍🏻

[–] Kawada_Kira (7282) 8 years ago

It's kind of surprising to me how many people have become so much more willing to give their personal information on the internet. When I was a kid and first started using the internet, it was common sense not to use your real information. But now in the Facebook generation nobody thinks twice about throwing around their real names and locations online. I'm one of the few who's still reserved about that kind of stuff.

[–] LeiaOfLothlorien (1980) 8 years ago

Yeah, same here. I never even added an email (I joined before that was necessary). Parents and school teachers drilled it into our minds: "Never talk to strangers! Never give out personal information online! They'll stalk you down and kill you!"

That said, I don't see anything wrong with sharing interests and age.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Same here, Kawanda. I don't get the Facebook -- privacy?! what do you mean? -- generation.

[–] Mint Berry Crunch (345) 8 years ago

Hi Kira. My name is Sheldon Dean. I live at 204 clearfield rd in knoxville TN. My social security number is 138-62-9120 in case you needed to know. I am AB positive and have all of my original teeth. Please let me know if there is any other information that would help you because this is a nice community we have here and we are like family here.

[–] Nipsey_Russell (1339) 8 years ago

Bump for the new posters

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Good idea, Nipsey.

[–] Nipsey_Russell (1339) 8 years ago

Hi cats😀, looks like the board has tons of new posters huh?!

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

Hi Nipsey :). Yes, it's very cool there are a lot of new posters! Don't know how they found MC, but I'm happy they have.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

Also, now that we have the ability to use avatars, but they are not hosted on moviechat, you have to host the image somewhere else and hotlink to it.
Be very careful not to host the image on your personal webspace or in some album that you use for selfies and pics of your family, etc.
Anyone can get the properties (url) of your avatar and from that can view the album or account that is hosting it.
For example if the url is www.yourwebsite.com/photos/avatar.jpg , the doxxers can just remove the image file name and probably view that directory. (depending how you have the folder set up)
I have even seen people use images with a number as the name (like 752.jpg) and doxxers just go through the numbers 753, 754, etc and they get a bunch of personal photos that the person thought were private.

[–] Strannger (2007) 8 years ago

I agree. I think this is very important as choose carefully on who you trust and what you want them to know.

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

Agreed.