Do you think it's smart to post your personal information online?

Now after reading your topic, I think that it is maybe not smart to post our personal information online? I am still not so sure about it yet. But I think that maybe it is better to be cautious about our personal information. But here in mylot discussions, I have revealed my real life and work and I don't care about it as I think that mylot friends are nice and kind to each other.

I post as little personal information as possible. I don't want to make myself too open to any sort of creep that might be out there, you know. I generally use my first name, my hometown, and my age. Anything else is kept close to the vest, for the entire family's protection.

yeah it depends... sometimes u need to express your feelings and besides even if you posted your personal life here, no one cares because im sure we dont know each other

I'm OK with saying my first name and the city and state I live in. With just my first name, no way would anyone be able to track me down. But I don't offer my location unless someone I am comfortable with asks. And likewise with my age, I'm OK with telling someone that. If I were a teenager I wouldn't be comfortable with it though. I don't want too much revealed about me. If I wouldn't tell a stranger I chatted with on the steet these things, why would I put it on a public forum for all to see? That is kind of how I feel about it.

for my personal view, i am not at ease posting my details online. it isn't safe.anybody can just use that for i don't know what purpose. even photos, i don't post much, thinking people can use these pictures. i'm not just being paranoid because the can happen. we won't lose anything if we don't post our pics/details online. we might if we do.

I think it depends. It depends on where and why you will post your personal information. ts ok to post some of your personal information but I think it would be better if you will put a little limit into it. Because sometimes posting your personal information will be used by some crazy people in the internet, sometimes you have to be careful even with little things.

It only makes sense to be careful about your personal information. There really are some weird people out there and you may not think you're a very good target, but they might think differently.

It doesn't take a pedophile very long to get information online. You would be surprised just how little they need to locate a person. I never give my personal info on line anymore. Had too many idiots post it on other sites that were rather inappropriate, not to mention all over chat rooms for just anyone to get ahold of. Just not a safe thing to do anymore.

I entirely agree with you that posting private information on a public platform cannot be said to be a very healthy practice. There should be dividing line between making a private details public. You cannot go beyond an extent. I certainly hesistate to share my private life on a public platform. I see some of the disussions are started in such a manner that you are asked to divulge about your personal and private details. And while asking, they divlulge their very private details without any inhibition. I wonder what prompts the host to start such a discussions. If I have to answer such discussions, I keep my response restricted and try not to divulge more details. I do not feel comfortable divulging each and every details of my very private life. I do not press anyone here to divulge their private details in discussions. If someone reveals too much and if he or she is close, I would politely advice him/her that not to divulge such and such details so as not to face any problems in future. An Excellent Post! Full Marks to you! Have a great day!

Its never safer to re leave any of your personal information online...Maximum i keep things close and never open up any of my personal details in Public forums...FInd people are becoming crazy and too involved that they most even their personal details...But they should avoid doing so...

You make some great points everyone posting online should be aware of! For the first few years I was working from home, I did not reveal much at all and no photos, location, real name, etc. I found that traffic to my Internet Marketing ventures was not gaining the trust and credibility it should (nor traffic), so I experimented with posting my photo and real name. Within a month, I had established (I guess) a rapor with folks in some way. They could see that the person who was giving them information is real. Each successive month after that my income (and subscribers) has doubled in size. I do caution everyone to remember that EVERYTHING they post online can be found by anyone. Just by typing in user names, real names, etc into a browser or into www.boardreader.com, ANYONE can read practically EVERY post you've ever made online under those ID's...they are "crawled and indexed" by the search engines. You can go back and delete all your posts (from SOME MB's etc, not MyLot though) BUT they will ALWAYS show up on Alexa History. On the flipside, scores of individuals post "fake" information on purpose. It may be to hide their true identity, or to PREY on unsuspecting others. There is a work at home Message Board I visited for years and some of the members, who were quite "snarly" there to begin with, branched off and created their own message boards in which the ONLY purpose was to read posts from the members at the original work at home site and then rip them (the other members) to shreds in their own forum as a means of entertainment (I guess?). For example if someone posted they needed surgery for their child and were scared or in need of moral support, those who had formed their own group would quote this person and say nasty things like "then consult a *!%ing doctor you ridiculous moron!" ETC.

Me, I dont think it is necessary for someone to open up his personal profile to the public to know. If you are applying for a job it is possible to give in your information but in things like these, there is no need to do that. Want to flaunt yourself? People sometimes are selective on whom to talk and deal with. When they found out that somebody has so much to say they are more attracted to them but for those who has less, just that. In situation like us theres no need to post our private personal thing, the best thing is that we share the same interest, we discussed things under the sun and so many things that we agree and disagree sometimes. Again, for me there is no need to say more about yourself.

I'm okay with posting my name and general information (location, hometown, age, school where I graduated from, etc) on social networking sites such as Friendster, Multiply, and Facebook but not on public forums or message boards. But I never post my exact address and phone numbers on the internet. I don't think it's smart and safe to do that as there are a lot of internet-related crimes nowadays. I wouldn't want some random person stalking me at my house or calling my phone constantly. That would be really scary.

couldn't agree more.i think E-mail is ok,age is ok,state is ok.never put your phone number and home address in the internet.

I guess I post more information than a lot of other people do. But I don't post anything that a person that I just meet at random in real life wouldn't know. I include my first name, my state, the closest city, and my age. I also post pictures of my son, which a lot of people think is wrong. But I take him out in public, so he's just as much at risk when I do that, too. :) I post his first name sometimes, and his age. But that's stuff a random person could learn after just watching us for a very few minutes when we are in Target or somewhere.

I remember a movie, I just forgot the title but the story is related to giving personal information on the internet. The movie had a student who constantly use the internet, she somehow give a clue to her chat mate about her personal information and it happens that the person she was chatting is a killer. The man traces the girl easily and he even knows when she will be at school. For me, it is not good to post everything about your personal information on the net. We do not know the different people out there. Some might cause us trouble.

My state.. my city is a pretty big place with lots of people. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with pictures. Heck I'm even ok with my first name. and I don't care much about email address cause I have a ton. I don't have kids. ooop. number of kids revealed (who cares?) hrm. I don't know. I just don't really think much about some of that stuff. But there's plenty of personal info I wouldn't reveal. My address. My last name. My Social. My parents names. stuff like that. I think some stuff is inappropriate...others are not.

Hi beautyqueen.I never give any personal information online.If i do it fake like phone numbers and name and date of birth.There are too many scams and I.D thefts out there. Peanutjar:)

its not at all safe to reveal all our personal details online...just name or country is fine...pls dont give out bank details etc....

The answer is yes and no. Never as a newbie , or never for the newbies on anywhere on the net. And the on other side, I am part of a forum for more than 4 years now, and we have a few special sections for seniors, who trust each other and share personal infos, pics, and there have been quite a few meets too.. a few hundreds in fact, all over the world .. Isn't that great ?