Are you as paronoid as me?

Vulpiner

Out of interest, how much have you disclosed about yourself in PMs on the boards? Im not looking for specifics but lets say, address? Phone-number? Real name?

Have you given these to people you already know in "real-life" or to random strangers? Do you ever think of people looking over your proverbial shoulder as you type your PMs? For instance, do you think the Mods are watching as you read or write a PM? They say they dont and arent able, but do you believe them? Could one of them turn out to be a Bubbles again, for he was a Moderator one (and could very well be one right now)

Its popular for some people to role-play and hack into peoples E-mail accounts and post things to other people using that persons account. Has this happened on the Boards with PMs?

And before anybody says anything, yes, I wear an aluminium foil hat so that noone reads my brainwaves, the moon-landings were filmed on the Burren at the dead of night andn Lord Lucan shot JFK.

Mossy Monk

paranoia on the internet is underrated these days

Oriel

I give people on the phone my private details and I know nothing about them. What's better, that - or somebody you've been able to guage an opinion on from talking to them on boards.
There's a lot to be said for a reputation.

S.

johnnyrotten

no

Ruu_Old

High postcounts+time on boards=normally the winning formula. I give out my details to anyone who wants them, come find me
Bring back the rep system.

Tusky

Dont see what the big deal is....you can look in the golden pages and get bajillions of names, addresses and phone numbers..

Adam

Tusky wrote:

Dont see what the big deal is....you can look in the golden pages and get bajillions of names, addresses and phone numbers..

I object to the incorrect use of the term bajillions. There are definitely not bajillions. If there were, the Golden Pages would be cool by default.

singingstranger

fade_to_grey wrote:

I object to the incorrect use of the term bajillions. There are definitely not bajillions. If there were, the Golden Pages would be cool by default.

Roffle... still though, it's a good point - clearly at least a million or more people are fully okay with having their contact details in the public domain...

Blowfish

Plus the address and phone details are not only available in the phone book, they are also available here on the interweb. You're own phone no. is probably there, does that make you paranoid?:)

azezil

He's Behind You!!

Beruthiel

Vulpiner wrote:

For instance, do you think the Mods are watching as you read or write a PM? They say they dont and arent able, but do you believe them?

jeez
you really need to get over that paranoia you're suffering from.
No Mod on this site can read your PM's
the only people who can are the Admins, who have such busy lives they hardly have the time to keep the site going never mind wasting their time reading your sad little PM's.
I believe a user would have to complain to them about an abusive PM before they would actually go looking.
now go outside and get some sunshine

Could one of them turn out to be a Bubbles again, for he was a Moderator one (and could very well be one right now)

Hi Bubbles

Its popular for some people to role-play and hack into peoples E-mail accounts and post things to other people using that persons account. Has this happened on the Boards with PMs?

yup
every other day, it's a mad house in here!

And before anybody says anything, yes, I wear an aluminium foil hat so that noone reads my brainwaves, the moon-landings were filmed on the Burren at the dead of night andn Lord Lucan shot JFK.

ah good
just as long as we're on the same page....

JohnCleary

I have a different phone number for things like internet stuff, buy and sell etc... Simple yet effective.

Spalk0

And so what with a phone number?

whats the worst they can do? prank calls?:eek:

Oh dear god make it stop, make it stop!

gilroyb

Vulpiner wrote:

Are you as paronoid as me?

Why do you ask?

Vulpiner

Beruthiel wrote:

jeez

the only people who can are the Admins, who have such busy lives they hardly have the time to keep the site going never mind wasting their time reading your sad little PM's.


Hi Bubbles

Sad little PMs? How do you know that they are sad? Im a bit offended at that Beruthiel. I may be paronoid but then again I dont go around implying you are are sad.

On a different note how many administrators are there? Are they paid? Can they be Moderators too or were they once moderators? Theyve got alot of power in regards access. You may mock and say that they are very busy people but for instance could they be monitoring PMs and looking for certain words? Theres alot of talk in the States it seems of government snoops and censorship. Are people right to trust them?

These questions are not related to me, for my PMs are sad and not worth looking at:p I just want to hear other peoples views on this.

Karl Hungus

Well I've got plenty of pictures of myself floating around, loads of people here know my real name, and my phonenumber. I'm sure people know where I live too, but nothing bad has ever really come of it. Perhaps some unplanned drinking parties.

Actually, even bubbles knows my phonenumber. Still, nothing ever bad came from it.

carbonkid

Vulpiner wrote:

Out of interest, how much have you disclosed about yourself in PMs on the boards? Im not looking for specifics but lets say, address? Phone-number? Real name?

Think someone would need a little more info than that to do any serious damage...now leaving CC details on websites like amazon or play or something would leave me a wee bit paronoid.

Vulpiner

The thing I dont get is the amount of tracking that appears to be happening. Beruthiel, you may say that Admins do not check peoples PMs but I know one person who was tracked by an Admin, sourcing this persons computor. Is this within their right?

In fact cracking or attempting to crack PMs or seems to happen very frequently on the boards from what Ive heard from someone who knows alot about security software. Again, Im not worried about my (sad:D ) PMs but some people are.

Would you like it if someone tapped your phone for instance? I know that the Internet and phones etc are full of mundane chatter, but still, it does make some people uncomfortable to think theres some listening in or watching. Someone before me said that the worst that can happen is a prank-call or a visit from Bubbles.

Prank-calls are one thing, a private conversation is another.(even a mundane "sad" conversation:D )

Kiera

As far as i'm concerned you are making this all up. Where's your proof that all this has happened on boards? You cant go spouting "facts" and not be able to back them up without proof!

Eoin

Vulpiner wrote:

On a different note how many administrators are there? Are they paid? Can they be Moderators too or were they once moderators? Theyve got alot of power in regards access. You may mock and say that they are very busy people

They either own or develop the site. As they have full control, then they are by default moderators too, but only need to - and barely have the time to - moderate forums for which there are no other moderators. Forums being an example.

To answer your initial question, I think I have given out my name and mobile number via PMs for stuff I've bought on the For Sale forum - it's not hard to tell where I live either. People I have bought stuff from have given me their full name, account number, sort code and branch address so I can deposit cash directly.

If I can trust the mainly random people I give these details to, then why shouldn't trust the people who own this site?

Vulpiner wrote:

for instance could they be monitoring PMs and looking for certain words? Theres alot of talk in the States it seems of government snoops and censorship. Are people right to trust them?

The PM system on boards.ie does not use SSL - that means that the PMs you sent are done in plain text. Your ISP could easily tell what you are sending. So can your employer if you send them from work. Same goes for email, unless you have it encrypted.

Anytime you write a check, your bank account number is on it - if you're gonna be paranoid (and it doesn't hurt to be slightly paranoid when giving personal details out), I really think that boards.ie is the least of your worries.

Vulpiner

Proof? I dont know how to supply proof, considering Im almost computor illiterate(which is probably a source of concern. How many others are there like me? I havent given too much thought to secuity.)

To answer your question Kiera, Person X disclosed this information to me when they learned I had joined the boards. Lets call this person Popinfresh, a person who knows security software inside out. Popinfresh used to have an account on the boards, and was carrying on a series of PMs with someone else. However Popinfresh decided to let the account go dormant due to the amount of cracking/tracking that was going on with it.Has anybody else noticed this or should I go back and live under my rock?

Its almost a form of harrassment really if you think about it. Its made me parnoid as hell. I know the Mods are going to tell me to shut up or put up, or have me banned or whatever. I cant stop them

Blowfish

Vulpiner wrote:

Has anybody else noticed this or should I go back and live under my rock?

Sounds good:). Basically it all boils down to the fact that if you don't like it, and are paranoid, what are you still doing here? If you really believed that the admin's were checking peoples PM's for personal info, then you would leave.

BuffyBot

How do you know that they are sad?

It's what is called an educated guess.

Person X disclosed this information to me when they learned I had joined the boards. Lets call this person Popinfresh, a person who knows security software inside out. Popinfresh used to have an account on the boards, and was carrying on a series of PMs with someone else. However Popinfresh decided to let the account go dormant due to the amount of cracking/tracking that was going on with it.

A guy once told me he could spin straw into gold! OMG! MIRACLE!

Has anybody else noticed this or should I go back and live under my rock?

Do you really need an answer to that?

Eoin

Blowfish wrote:

If you really believed that the admin's were checking peoples PM's for personal info, then you would leave.

And even if they were, what could they do with the information? I doubt people give out much more information on boards then they would with amazon, komplett etc (just to use examples of popular online stores) where there would be an awful lot more people who could access the details.

Shabadu

Vulpiner, stop worrying about that pm of yours. We all saw it & discussed the legal implications, but no-one's going to take it any further. You're only human, and we all get urges from time to time.

Tar.Aldarion

Vulpiner wrote:

Out of interest, how much have you disclosed about yourself in PMs on the boards? Im not looking for specifics but lets say, address? Phone-number? Real name?

Yes to all.

Have you given these to people you already know in "real-life" or to random strangers?

Both.

Do you ever think of people looking over your proverbial shoulder as you type your PMs? For instance, do you think the Mods are watching as you read or write a PM? They say they dont and arent able, but do you believe them? Could one of them turn out to be a Bubbles again, for he was a Moderator one (and could very well be one right now)

No I don't worry...
Mods can't. Fact.

Its popular for some people to role-play and hack into peoples E-mail accounts and post things to other people using that persons account. Has this happened on the Boards with PMs?

I roleplay on boards, so...

PeeJa

OMG!!!! I'm new here but i didn't know Micheal Jacksons monkey could type!


Whats the Bubbles craic?

norbert64

BuffyBot wrote:

It's what is called an educated guess.



A guy once told me he could spin straw into gold! OMG! MIRACLE!



Do you really need an answer to that?

yeh, very educated :rolleyes:

strictly speaking it's not just the admins, the coders (if we have any), could easily take a peek @ our PM's if they liked.

mind you, I did always wonder about the legal ramifications of anyfink dodgy going on in PM's (the sharing of illegal material etc). Could the owner of boards be held accountable, or can they just use a simple case of ''none the wiser'' syndrome, as a defense.

that said, I would think the ppl who get TV shows off there cousins, would be alot more parnoid.

Tobias Greeshman

Vulniper wrote:

Lets call this person Popinfresh, a person who knows security software inside out. Popinfresh used to have an account on the boards, and was carrying on a series of PMs with someone else. However Popinfresh decided to let the account go dormant due to the amount of cracking/tracking that was going on with it.Has anybody else noticed this or should I go back and live under my rock?

Well how are you to know that the person did not send some sort of abusive PM and the admins started looking at his PM's. I'd say if he was tracked, then he probably did something to deserve to be tracked, yes I think you're paranoid and should consider calming down and possible crawling back under that rock.

I've given out my name and number in PM for selling various items on the FS Forums. People aren't going to go stalking you as long as you don't go posting your mobile number in the public forums. So what if they know your name, what are they going to do with it?

Vulpiner

silas wrote:

Well how are you to know that the person did not send some sort of abusive PM and the admins started looking at his PM's. I'd say if he was tracked, then he probably did something to deserve to be tracked, yes I think you're paranoid and should consider calming down and possible crawling back under that rock.

I've given out my name and number in PM for selling various items on the FS Forums. People aren't going to go stalking you as long as you don't go posting your mobile number in the public forums. So what if they know your name, what are they going to do with it?

No, this person didnt send anything abusive to anybody. He was just PMing a friend and yet this happened. Im not too sure of the details, must ask him but he did not deserve to be tracked. He was only an intermittant poster as well, didnt exactly have a "high profile" in terms of post-count within the boards.

So coders are another source of paronia? Id like to know more. I presume theyre the people that set up this whole boards format? Are there any others beyond Admin/coders with access to PMs?

I may give a look in Legal discussion to see if what Norbert64 said has been brought up.;)

BuffyBot

strictly speaking it's not just the admins, the coders (if we have any), could easily take a peek @ our PM's if they liked.

Perhaps you need to brush up on your knowledge of the structure behind boards.

CuLT

Technological ignorance off the starboard bow!