# Sticky  An Important Message about Anonymity on Public Forums like TalkAboutMarriage.com



## EleGirl

An Important Message about Anonymity on Public Forums like TalkAboutMarriage.com

Anonymity is important to many people who post here, because they are discussing personal problems that they may not necessarily want acquaintances to know about.

Here are some things you should be made aware of and consider when posting to any public forum, like TalkAboutMarriage.com

*Search Engines & Scrapers* - search engines index nearly all sites on the web, including this one. Anything you type in (other than private messages) can be found by someone who searches Google. If anonymity is a concern, don't post anything that could identify you via a Google search. This goes for usernames as well. Scrapers index content in a similar way, and can be used by companies to gather data on people.

*Usernames *- show up next to everything you post, and can be "Googled" as well. It would be easy for someone to identify other forums you post on through Google if you use the same username on other websites. If you are concerned about anonymity, do not pick a username that would make it easy for others to identify you.

*Profile Information *- if you are concerned about anonymity, anything you post in your profile, showing your birthdate, occupation, and pictures, will make it easier for people to identify you. You can also control some of your profile information through our privacy settings: Talk About Marriage

*Pictures & Avatars* - Please be aware that any pictures you post can be recognized by people who know you. We should be especially considerate of the fact that posting pictures of our children or others, associates them with anything we post on this website. Our children's peers or the children themselves could recognize a picture or avatar on the site.

*Pictures taken with a phone most likely include the GPS location where the picture was taken.* This data is 'hidden' in the binary code of the photo. While many image hosts will automatically remove it, some, like Photobucket, make it a privacy option. TAM will remove the location data if you attach a photo to a forum post but will leave the it in place when uploading to a TAM Album

*Deleting Your Posts* - Every user who has the ability to post on this forum also has the ability to edit any of their posts. This can be done by clicking the "Edit" button at the bottom of the post, then editing the post and saving it. To list all of your posts, do an advanced search for "posts by this user" and enter your username. There is an option at the bottom left that says "Show Results as;" select "Posts." When you get the list or results, follow the same procedure for deleting the posts. We do not delete users or cancel accounts. However, we do give you the ability to delete any information you put in your public profile. We are not responsible for your posts or removing them.

*Browsing History & Cache* - Every website you visit is stored in your web browser's (like Internet Explorer and Firefox or Mozilla) history and cache. Sometimes browsers store logins as well. Anyone who has access to your PC can easily find out which sites you've visited unless you delete your browser's history files and cache.

Any other suggestions about anonymity are welcome.


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