I am deeply suspicious of the number of threads asking for personal details.

[KickAssAngel]

Over the last few weeks I've noticed several threads asking people for information which does it in a kind of 'just getting to know you' sort of way, but does mean that people are giving out personal information.

A while ago there was one asking people if their friends' names were typical of the dates they grew up - so people were inadvertently giving out enough info to narrow down date of birth to within a year or two, and potentially their best friend's name, a common security question.

there have been ones about middle names, and just various ones along the lines of 'AIBU to ask you what your favorite TV programme was as a child?"

In fact - all the kind of info that people use for their security questions for banks etc.

Yes, I could alert MNHQ to each of them, but that wouldn't get the word across to everyone that there seems to be a lot of digging going on right now, so be careful what info you share online.

MN is NOT a cosy little club full of trusted members who know each other. The questions may be a genuine person wanting to chat, or they could be a cunning plot to get info about people and start working out the answers to their security questions.

And if any/all of them are from genuine people just wanting to chat and get to know others - I apologize for my cynical stance, but even if the OP is genuine, people reading the answers may not be.

I read a couple of sex threads back in the day. Never again. I hide those faster than you can say Fridaynightbumsex

There was one of those 'here's a load of questions and my answers' type list things on Facebook a while ago, that was literally 'first school, first car, memorable date etc', so blatant. Looooads of people were filling it in and sharing

I've witnessed some seriously nasty shit happen MN Facebook groups when it collides with real life and I never want to have any part of it or leave myself potentially exposed.

This

There appears to be a specific poster on a few threads who seems to be asking for a lot of personal information.

I think after this thread, I might have to email MNHQ about it.

Picture of engagement ring, please was one of the best. AS any of those people because they post something that sounds like they are your neighbour or sister and you can confirm.

kitkat - but that might be enough information, along with other stuff you've posted, to work out where you live and when you're going on holiday. If you have the amount of money some people have claimed on that thread, then you're basically advertising yourself to burglars!

I know lots of people think things like this are ridiculous, but the thread that Empress mentions was a real eye-opener. It's very easy when you're on a thread, especially a long-running one, where you think you're just chatting with friends, to give a lot of information about yourself.

For example, I posted recently asking for advice about holiday destinations and specified the time of year I was thinking about going away! Silly, with hindsight. (However, I didn't confess to the vast billions I have in my bank account ...!)

bittapitta writes:
*Interesting skim reading this thread that people aren't connecting these personal info threads with the massive MN hack ("Jeremy") last summer which resulted in a list of usernames, email addresses (and passwords?) being made available to hackers.

I think the OPs point is that if that info is out there already and there is a thread here asking your mother's maiden name, it might be a good idea to be suspicious!*

I think this ^ is very important to consider. I was one of Jeremy's hacks and I had to change all my passwords as he had my MN password.

I'm not that organised AddictedToCoYo I just pluck ages close enough and say I have one less child than I do.

KitKat there's a thread currently about someone having their bank account cleared out. People are posting the names of their banks. Here and there, people leave snippets. But I think 95% of people don't give enough away, so I actually agree with you. The woman EmpressOfTheSevenOceans metions sounds like a bit of attention seeker, because how many people have posted their first name, let alone their last name on mn? That, surely is not common. Most people would come up with age, children's ages, possibly names, rough location and possibly a first name. Unless you live in a tiny village and you've posted the name of it, unlikely you're going to be found.

Just googled my friends children's first names her first name and their location and got nothing that links them and yet she's an author, her info is all over google.

Bold fail - but you get the drift (only the last paragraph is mine!)

Someone once go the birthdate of my eldest because I posted the day before it saying I was making a cake.

It's so easy to give out info without thinking.

The engagement ring one was a bit odd. I took a picture of mine and then thought actually, my rings are identifiable, especially as I seemed to have a bit of cushion or sofa in the pictures. Probably not hugely but I could imagine someone at work seeing a picture and thinking "ooh, I've seen those rings somewhere before" and then doing a search on my posting history.

You do have a point OP but in no way could I narrow down someone's age based on the names of other people they went ton school with (if I recall rightly most people were happy to provide the dates themselves 'I went to school with loads of Sharon's and Tracy's, late 70's)

I also don't think the favourite kids programme is a good example!!!

BUT yes people seem far to willing and eager to give out personal information online.

Dizzy, people post both their own names and children's names as part of a conversation sometimes not to be attention seeking eg - "yeah, call your DD Sara, don't worry about your aunt saying it Sarah, Sara is my name and I almost never have to correct people"

YY pax. If you're going to post your engagement ring photo, you might as well post one of your face.

Anything which is unusual will out you. There's a thread about phobias running - I shared my phobia of spiders, not unusual. But if you're writing about a phobia of tea bags then that's going to narrow down the field considerably.

I do occasionally post identifying stories and did on that thread. I will name change though today at some point and I know there's no more than two weeks worth of posts by me under each name.

I learnt my lesson as a teenager when I mentioned going to a gig in a UK wide chat room not realising someone could easily figure out where/when it was. This random ol man from the chat room turned up and scared the shit out of me!

I am fairly careful nowadays. I've said my age and area on here but I am due another name change. They are welcome to my debts anyway

There was a thread fairly recently where a poster announced that she was keeping a spreadsheet of the responses - I can't remember why, I think it may have been something to do with gathering opinions. I found it pretty creepy, but a surprising number of people seemed to think it acceptable.

Facebook is easier to get stuff from.

Most people have date of birth, their maiden name, last school attended on their main details. If they are FB friends with an older lady with a different surname to theirs or their maiden surname, then that's probably their Mother's Maiden name on there too.

I don't have my real DOB on FB, and every year I have to explain "thank you for saying Happy Birthday to me but it's not my birthday" on there, and I can categorically state that 100% of people with whom I have discussed this matter think I am barking mad.

I once recognised someone on here by something she posted about where she worked - it sounded very like where I worked, and then her username was linked to an unusual hobby I knew my colleague had. Ok, not a massive problem, but she had also been posting on TTC and then expectant birthdate group, and didn't want anyone at work to know she was pregnant yet. So, not 'outed' to the world in general, and no risk of hacked bank accounts etc, but more info out there than she wanted.

At the time, I quietly told her I had recognised her, and we both changed our usernames, and I was suitably surprised when she announced her pregnancy later!

I thought this too so have avoided those threads.

First names yes, but no surames. Without surames you are unlikely to get anywhere.

For what it's worth you can remove social media accouts from search engines. At least facebook. Facebook is the one place where the internet and rl are the same for me so I'm very guarded about it.

Has it occured to anyone that we'd all be safer if we posted that we're not paranoid as these hacker types love a challenge!

I guess my username could identify me down to about 1 in thousands of people but it doesn't worry me as I have very secure/random passwords for online stuff.

I'm pretty sure that even if I used my real name and reproduced every comment I've ever made, which may have happened during the last MN hack, it would be hard for others to work out my important passwords.

I also don't slag off my friends and family on here so I'm not worried about being identified for that reason either 😄

BalloonSlayer I have the same problem. DH is paranoid, he changed everyone's birthdate on facebook.

I agree that Facebook is a more dangerous place to get info from.

Capricorn76

In fairness it did make your first comment very funny though.