do you ever get concerned...

[kitalyn414]

... that you share too much of your personal life on this site? sometimes i worry that someone i know/knew will stumble across the site and read my posts. i enjoy the anonimity, but figure that most people who know me are familiar with my user name (i have used kitalyn414 for everything internet-related since i was about 14) or would be able to "find me out" because of my posts. i have talked about people in my life on here, and not always in a good way. i mostly worry about people from my past, who i no longer have contact with.

it gives me a little bit of concern, but then again... who cares? so what if everyone knows about my life?

[pisces2473]

Yes. Everything you've said, I've thought about. My roommate from college joined after she saw someone's suicidal post, just to reply to him that he needed to get some help fast. I had just become moderator at the time and she reported the post and I was like, Heyyyyy, I know her. LOL She knew I visited the site b/c I use pisces2473 for everything, but hadn't joined. She soon knew that I was a mod.

I really used to bash my other roomies on here, but not anymore. They aren't worth the effort.

[diesel]

I was just having these thoughts today!!

I worry that certain people (especially those I've cut off contact with) will read my posts. Especially because I know they're in mid QLC right now. My screename and location would be a dead giveaway for them. Part of me figures, eh, who cares. But then part of me gets annoyed because it makes me censor myself. There are times I want to post about what happened and I don't because I don't know if they're lurking about on here.

Call me paranoid...sheesh.

[wordsmith]

Can't say I think too much about it. Most everyone who knows me well enough to figure out who I am (not likely, and I don't use this username elsehwere) would already know everything I post about here. I don't spill any big secrets. If you're my friend, you'd already know all this. And only my friends would recognize me. But none of my friends are much for the internet, so it's not really an issue.

[kitalyn414]

i've actually stopped censoring myself a lot more recently. i somehow came to a "who cares?" conclusion on here and also on my blog. in a way, i guess you could be flattered that someone is interested in reading about you.

[bigboom]

meh...to tell you the truth i have nothing to hide. if anyone wants to know anything ill gladly tell them, it just makes things more simple that way :)

[MetFanL]

I was just thinking that today... Carol mentioned something to me about all the 'burgh people on here since the article and maybe the local paper should write something... My first thought was "cool" and my second thought was "wait, that would increase the potential of people joining this site." Not that they couldn't now, but still...

[gluegun]

I'm not really worried. I have told several of my friends about this site but as far as I can tell none of them have bothered to check it out. My boyfriend knows that I write on a message board but he doesn't know which one specifically. For some reason I don't want him to stumble upon this message board. Nine times out of ten I write nice stuff about him. However, sometimes it is nice to have an anonymous place to hash out personal stuff.

[coll214]

I've also told some friends who know about the site, i know they've looked sporadically (and commented on something i've posted), but mostly they know the stuff already anyway. and my screename is also a dead giveaway since i use it for everything. sometimes i worry about the stuff i've posted, but ehh oh well. Now i'm kind of glad none of them come here for the same reason gluegun said, as a way to hash stuff out anonymously.

My sister has joined too but she's never posted...though i KNOW she'd benefit from it.

[wordsmith]

I'm kind of jealously guarding of my messageboards! I know people who would probably benefit from being on a couple of the ones I'm on, but I just feel like they're "mine." I think I'd feel intruded upon if a friend joined one.

[kitalyn414]

Originally posted by wordsmith
I'm kind of jealously guarding of my messageboards! I know people who would probably benefit from being on a couple of the ones I'm on, but I just feel like they're "mine." I think I'd feel intruded upon if a friend joined one. i feel similarly.

[pisces2473]

Me too.

[bigboom]

Originally posted by pisces2473
Me too.

as do i...but its not because im scared of them finding out. i jsut feel like its my place :)

come to think of it...thats pretty egocentric of me

[shimmer728]

Given the fact that my location and name are clearly stated in my profile and sig, and I talk frequently about being a reporter and driving a Beetle, everyone who knows me who happens to stumble upon this site would be able to guess my identity. I really don't have much to hide, though. So it's cool.

[cheshrcarol]

I used to worry all the time that the guy I was seeing would hear about the site and start reading. I was really nervous he would see the stuff I was writing about him, especially after I started a thread for advice on cooking dinner for him at home. My screen name is almost exactly my aim name, so it wouldn't have been hard to figure out it was me. But I was just freaking out over nothing.

As for the rest of the world, I don't particularly care, I don't really say anything here that I wouldn't say in person. I did tell a couple friends about the site that I thought it could help, but no one really visited it. The one person who did, posted a couple times about meeting up in NYC and never really got a response so she stopped posting. She thinks it's kind of weird that I spend so much time reading all this stuff here, but oh well, she doesn't know what she's missing :).

[gluegun]

I have zero fear of somebody figuring out my screen name. It is just so random. I mean, I don't even like to glue things. ha ha

[kimmer23]

i dont really have much worries either despite the fact that i use kimmer for everything. even my license plate says:KIMMER. but most of my friends are pretty computer retarded believe it or not. they think i am a weirdo for hanging on the computer so much.

[labrat2111]

I don't particularly worry about anyone knowing who I am. First I don't know many people in this area and secondly this screenname is one that I rarely use for things.

[maxwell78]

Yeah, it crosses my mind, but it doesn't really stop me from posting anything. I use a separate screenname from the one I usually use for like AIM and stuff. If someone really knew me and took the time to actually go through every single one of my posts, they could probably figure it out, but it's a longshot.

You just kinda have to keep in mind that it is a public board. It doesn't feel that way sometimes, but it is. Use restraint if needed.

[Skyblade]

Most of my friends I have told that I post on this board, but most of them think I'm a total nerd for spending time socializing w/ online people.

[ce607]

I worry about this, and I'm afraid it means I wouldn't hurry to recommend the site to anyone, since then they could see my posts and figure it out. I haven't even mentioned it to my husband since around the time I first joined. I feel like THAT'S weird.

[tina1979]

Originally posted by wordsmith
I'm kind of jealously guarding of my messageboards! I know people who would probably benefit from being on a couple of the ones I'm on, but I just feel like they're "mine." I think I'd feel intruded upon if a friend joined one.
I am so glad to hear somone else say that! Thats exactly how I feel!

[KnowingBurns]

Originally posted by wordsmith
I'm kind of jealously guarding of my messageboards! I know people who would probably benefit from being on a couple of the ones I'm on, but I just feel like they're "mine." I think I'd feel intruded upon if a friend joined one.

That is how I tend to be with any place I regularly post. I made the mistake of mentioning a board I used to post on to a boyfriend when I first felt "accepted" by the board members, b/c the topic of the board was a common intrest we shared. He joined the board, and was not as active there as I was. I became very close with several of the members, and the board was where I felt like I could safely talk about things I couldn't talk about with the people I knew in my 'real' life. Unfortunately, when the boyfriend and I started having problems, I couldn't post about them there. Sure, I could use email and IMs, but having people respond where other people could comment on their responses would have been nice.

That board was shut down, and within a few months, most of us discovered livejournal.com. It took some getting used to, but we adapted to the LJ way of doing things, although our cohesiveness as a group has really suffered. The username "KnowingBurns" is my 'everywhere' username for the most part, but when I created my LJ, for some reason I used a random name I'd never used before or sense...so random to me that I didn't remember it, being blacked out on prescription sleeping pills when I created the account (the friend who gave me an invite code sent me my username the next day when i asked him for an invite code and swore I hadn't used one). I started out with that core group of people, then eventually added more people to my list from communities there....only one person that I know in "real life" though. During a conversation with a friend and her roomie a month ago, the fact that we all had "blogs" came out. None of us even said which site we had them through or anything identifying about them...but I still created a new email account to use on my LJ, just in case my friend got curious and searched for my gmail account that she knew.

I feel bad for doing these things to keep the people in my physical world from knowing about my internet-life habits, but in most cases, I do it b/c I don't want to alarm them. They will know what is going on in my life, but over the years I've learned to downplay the emotional effect things have on me. Message boards (when it is relevant) and my LJ are my ways to get my feelings out and discuss things without having someone freak out about something I said.

[dazed]

call me paranoid....if i post something on here about my personal life, i usually delete it after a month or so (when no else has anything more to say). it's a nice way for me to stay sane and clean up the trail i left behind.

so yeah, i have thought about this from day one of joining. although i don't use this SN anywhere else (i'm not on any other boards), i'm starting to not throw everything out there.

[tina1979]

My roommate is actually considering joining. My name isn't exactly hidden by anymeans. I may just have to re register or something. Thats what I get for talking about this cool new site I found.

I don't know. Maybe it won't be so bad... Shes an extremely inteligent person and would definately have alot to offer on here. Besides I'd rather her join in than just lurk about.