Do you prefer to be anonymous here?

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2

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  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
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    JPW1990 wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with who I know irl, and everything to do with the complete strangers who may or may not be mentally stable. I have dealt with a cyberstalking incident before, severe enough that law enforcement was involved, and it started with someone who wasn't taking meds they should've been taking. IMO the safety of myself and my family > showing my face.

    Really good point. Plus, With so many users here, you have to assume a percentage are completely made up liars.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    strong_curves wrote: »
    Yes, even tho my face is on my avi.

    Do you know me?


    I'm peering around the corner, looking at you right now.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    BTW - not serious.









    Maybe.
  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
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    I'm really a beer can.or maybe I'm the water can? Can't remember which.......
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    JPW1990 wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with who I know irl, and everything to do with the complete strangers who may or may not be mentally stable. I have dealt with a cyberstalking incident before, severe enough that law enforcement was involved, and it started with someone who wasn't taking meds they should've been taking. IMO the safety of myself and my family > showing my face.

    ^^This. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff happen on the internet. The fact that this forum is visible to anyone on the internet, not just members, causes me to be cautious.

  • paulawatkins1974
    paulawatkins1974 Posts: 720 Member
    edited June 2015
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    jaga13 wrote: »
    I think in the past I've heard people who CONSTANTLY talked about weight loss and healthy eating, and it was a real turnoff, so it makes me want to limit this conversation in my real life (unless asked). But maybe that will change.
    This. I prefer to talk about weight loss and food on here than IRL because most of my friends on here have similar goals. I do have my Sis, but that's pretty much it. I have gotten, a friend, an aunt, hubbies Aunt, and my StepMum on here so of course I accepted their FR. They didn't stay active though and are never on. My hubby signed up as well. I unfriended him lol. He just signed up and never bothered.
    ETA I did end up meeting a friend from here IRL, and plan to meet another this summer. They both live close to my hometown.
  • CorlissaEats
    CorlissaEats Posts: 493 Member
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    Yes. I like to be anonymous on MFP. None of my FL are people I was friends with in RL before joining. I did have one person but I found it make me feel like I couldn't be honest and that I had to sensor myself so I quietly unfriended them. I'm still friends with them on Facebook and that's enough.

    That said, I have met 5 of the people on my friends list since joining. I have no problem with that. They are friends in the context of my weight loss journey so I don't worry about annoying them with my self-focused posts in the news feed. Its what this site is all about anyways.
  • 1HappyRedhead
    1HappyRedhead Posts: 413 Member
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    deksgrl wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with who I know irl, and everything to do with the complete strangers who may or may not be mentally stable. I have dealt with a cyberstalking incident before, severe enough that law enforcement was involved, and it started with someone who wasn't taking meds they should've been taking. IMO the safety of myself and my family > showing my face.

    ^^This. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff happen on the internet. The fact that this forum is visible to anyone on the internet, not just members, causes me to be cautious.

    That's true, of course... but I also had to put a restraining order on a guy that I met at my workplace (he didn't work there, he was a friend of a friend), that worked in my town and lived two streets over from me.
    Crazy is everywhere... the internet is just part of the geography....
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    1HappyRedhead wrote: »
    deksgrl wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with who I know irl, and everything to do with the complete strangers who may or may not be mentally stable. I have dealt with a cyberstalking incident before, severe enough that law enforcement was involved, and it started with someone who wasn't taking meds they should've been taking. IMO the safety of myself and my family > showing my face.

    ^^This. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff happen on the internet. The fact that this forum is visible to anyone on the internet, not just members, causes me to be cautious.

    That's true, of course... but I also had to put a restraining order on a guy that I met at my workplace (he didn't work there, he was a friend of a friend), that worked in my town and lived two streets over from me.
    Crazy is everywhere... the internet is just part of the geography....

    Yes, of course the crazy is not limited just to the internet. But you can limit a big pool of the crazy if you don't have personally identifying info on the open internet.
  • 1HappyRedhead
    1HappyRedhead Posts: 413 Member
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    deksgrl wrote: »
    1HappyRedhead wrote: »
    deksgrl wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with who I know irl, and everything to do with the complete strangers who may or may not be mentally stable. I have dealt with a cyberstalking incident before, severe enough that law enforcement was involved, and it started with someone who wasn't taking meds they should've been taking. IMO the safety of myself and my family > showing my face.

    ^^This. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff happen on the internet. The fact that this forum is visible to anyone on the internet, not just members, causes me to be cautious.

    That's true, of course... but I also had to put a restraining order on a guy that I met at my workplace (he didn't work there, he was a friend of a friend), that worked in my town and lived two streets over from me.
    Crazy is everywhere... the internet is just part of the geography....

    Yes, of course the crazy is not limited just to the internet. But you can limit a big pool of the crazy if you don't have personally identifying info on the open internet.

    Agreed.
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
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    I started MFP because a family member told me about it. I have an equal number of friends I knew before and after MFP. I try not to be duplicitous. I don't plan to post near naked pictures or give out my home address.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Don't you recognize my gun???
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I stay relatively anonymous. I did have one time though when someone asked a question, I answered it with a story as an example, she recognised the story and it turned out we were sitting 3 cubicles away from eachother and had had lunch together earlier that week. Neither of us knew the other was on MFP.
    I really only stay anonymous because I may tell stories which involve people in my life and I'd feel weird if I knew someone I knew was talking about me on the internet, so I figure anonyminity is for the best in general. I'm also more honest when anonymous, and I also have a job which may lead to me being Googled a fair bit, so I like to keep this stuff seperate.

    However, my oldest and closest friends I've met through online forums, so I'm not adverse to making 'real' friends on here.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    I'm old school. Back from the "usenet" days. Hubs knows I'm here, knows my handle etc. but yeah, like all "news groups" I prefer to stay relatively anonymous. I like to keep my personal and professional lives relatively separate. And these days, that's tough.
  • DKG28
    DKG28 Posts: 299 Member
    edited June 2015
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    yes, prefer anonymity, so no picture. makes it easier to be frank about body issues. okay, fine, i'll admit it, I'm anonymous because I feared I wouldn't succeed or make progress, and would give up. I didn't want to run into friends here and then have it be painfully obvious if I bombed this attempt at lifestyle change. My IRL friends don't know my weight, and i like being able to state the number and not be ashamed of it here.
  • Glinda1971
    Glinda1971 Posts: 2,328 Member
    edited June 2015
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    The only person in my real life who knows the handle I use is my sister who joined and I really thought hard about friending her.

    But I'd rather support her.

    But other than that there is a reason my avatar is Glinda or sometimes Red Fraggle.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    I'm actually Tom Brady but prefer to use this dude's ugly mug as my avatar to maintain my anonymity
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
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    deksgrl wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with who I know irl, and everything to do with the complete strangers who may or may not be mentally stable. I have dealt with a cyberstalking incident before, severe enough that law enforcement was involved, and it started with someone who wasn't taking meds they should've been taking. IMO the safety of myself and my family > showing my face.

    ^^This. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff happen on the internet. The fact that this forum is visible to anyone on the internet, not just members, causes me to be cautious.

    For me it's the same. I don't mind at all identifying myself to pople on MFP I may recognise from life, or giving my MFP username to IRL friends. I do mind very much leaving a host of personal information online. I never link accounts in different places if I can help it either. Of course, over the last years a lot of individual privacy online has gone out the window, but still... I want to control the damage at least where I can.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    I use my real name so I won't say anything on here that I wouldn't say to someone in person.
  • laoryn
    laoryn Posts: 11 Member
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    I like to keep my personal and professional lives relatively separate. And these days, that's tough.

    True that.
    I don't need to release my PII in order to offer support to others and in turn be inspired by them.
    The only person in RL who knows about my weight loss journey is my husband. RL friends would say things like "you don't need to lose weight" or "you shouldn't count calories." Meanwhile, with the support of MFP, I have over the past 4 months brought my BMI to a much happier, saucier place.

    Really, I rarely take photos, especially of myself. I barely have a working device with which to take photos and upload them. (I'm such a luddite.) I might want to take a headless photo in shorts and sports bra to show off my progress. Maybe I should have been taking progress photos for my own private use all along, .... but... meh, dealing with the technology is too much of a hassle.

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