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.

Never write anything on a thread that you wouldnt be happy to wear on a t shirt :)

I am sure half the political discussion threads that are rife around times of elections and referendums are started by researchers to gauge popular opinion and then set about working on how to manipulate it.

And yeahthat I have done that sort of research many a time on various posters out of curiosity or because they've said something that doesn't add up to me and I think there is a backstory they are not telling in the current thread, but have probably mentioned in previous threads. People have very short and selective memories about what they've said in the past and are quite indignant with rage when you suggest that they might be contradicting themselves. And that's without name changing.

I've been a bit uncomfortable about the personal information threads too, there have been ones on:

What do you earn
What is your profession
How much was your house

All information that the Daily Mail regularly includes in articles about people and as they mine MN for articles how long before we read:

"Mner 'name' who lives in Yorkshire in a 4 bedroom detached house worth £450,000 and is a Nuclear Scientist, with three children and a stay at home husband said ....."

Apart from that as others have said it is not difficult to match information on those threads to posters and hackers and criminals have the time and tools to do just that.

I've actually got to the point where I barely post on FB any more and I used to be quite prolific at one point. I just don't trust it. Both my and my DH's privacy settings (usually on lock-down) seem to have mysteriously re-set themselves recently. My custom settings had disappeared and DH's had suddenly gone onto public.

Either that or I am just becoming a paranoid schizophrenic in my old age.

Never write anything on a thread that you wouldnt be happy to wear on a t shirt

I'll hold my hands up about the names of your friends closest in age to you.

It was a quiet night on the tv and I just fancied a bit of innocuous chat.

Something it is impossible to have on Mumsnet any more .

I promise I'm not trying to scam anyone.

Reading this thread has made me change all my log-ins and profile names for Twitter Fb etc.

I googled my MN name and it wasn't good.

Scary stuff indeed.

Can someone explain how to name change though as I've only been on here about six maths or so and don't know how.

"How much money would change your life" was a recent one. I'm sure it was completely legitimate but it could be an insight into how much money would make you jump at a scam.
This is an excellent thread OP. Be careful out there folks!

There was a tattoo thread I was desperate to get involved with but it would totally out me. As it is I know my ex SIL is on here (she doesn't know I am) and I'm horrified at the way my brother has treated her.

I am amazed that posters answer very personal questions on Mumsnet.
e.g. how much do you earn etc.
I never do.

Someone accidentally posted their address on Friday. Being a nosey fecker I googled mapped the address, found the house. Now an exciting for her to post on where/when are you going on holiday so I can err....take a closer look!!

Kitty, all you need to do is chnage your name just for posting there. There are quite a few name changers on the tattoo threads as they are obviously identifying

ohtheroses you've rumbled me!

Thanks Beyond! I'm a regular name changer but my tattoos are quite erm, distinctive!

But AHellOfABird you wouldn't know the person's surname so how would you find out their address?

YANBU.

Unless it's a woo thread

Yanbu
I'm astonished at the naïveté shown on MN
The bank details thing was clear
The tv programme thing also
The one about famous people at your school was either a journo or a journo dream
Then we've had a user shocked after she practically posted her address, then was freaked out when I told her to remove it
Some people here live in a much nicer world than I do.

It is scary how much info is out there. I NC regularly. My DM wouldn't bother to trail through MN looking for my posts, but she might be reading the Daily Mail and recognise a comment then decide to do a search (for example).

I'm really into FH and one of the things I do is trace branches of my distant family forwards. It is incredibly easy to do so, then go on to Facebook and fill in the gaps, complete with photos. It takes minutes. I don't have a 192 subscription but if I did I could then complete the info with their home address.

I'm not particularly techie and I can do it with no problem, so anyone who knows what they are doing can find out everything there is to know about you with no difficulty.

I don't join in with any of those "Hooker name" or similar games on FB as I've long thought they are very effective ways of getting your security answers. (Pet name, first school, best friend's name, first car)

I am sure half the political discussion threads that are rife around times of elections and referendums are started by researchers to gauge popular opinion and then set about working on how to manipulate it.

This.

Before the last GE, it started to feel like some unpaid focus group round here. Non-regular poster runs batty idea up flagpole, sits back to see if anyone salutes it.

If it gets excoriated, a little flurry from the usual suspects about how this isn't an announced policy, it's just a suggestion from a newspaper/think thank/leak.

Tedious.

And don't get me started on the single-subject EU astroturfers. Arggggh!

Kind of a side thing here but I'm seriously pissed off at the Daily Mail stealing threads from MN for their stories. You get people baring their soul for advice and from a group here of a couple of hundred (?) it goes nationwide. I know that anything on the internet stays on the Internet but for fucks sake. Just not cricket. That makes me more wary of starting or joining in on certain threads.

I know, Bibbity, makes me sad as well. Nice things we should just be able to enjoy chatting about.

I think everyone has to draw their own line about how private they'd like to be. And manage their namechanging better than I do to discuss some stuff.

Oh, and agree, never post on those hooker name games unless it's info you're already public about.

Imperial, you can search the land registry for trasactions by location, you don't need a surname.

So if you know Sara moved 3-4 years ago and must be on one of, say, 5 roads to be 450m from the school headed by Mrs Cockspur, there will be a short list of relevant transactions.

I hear Mrs Cockspur's school has been going downhill recently - Sara should really not have paid that much money to get into the catchment area.