why do people disable their profiles?

[auntAgonist]

just askin'

enquiring minds and all that rot.

aA

[MissB]

1. I have my theory

but I'm not sharing.

[auntAgonist]

2. heh

yup :)

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

4. ditto

nt

[havocmom]

5. Your theory may have holes

I disabled mine for a bit cuz I don't really love the DU Activist notation in it. Disabled the profile for a few days, became a suspect. Guess I will have to have Skinner drop me from the Activist group to afford my identity the anonymity I need to maintain.

I always thought progressives were a bit more open minded. Sure are a lot of assumtions made without all the facts around here.

[MissB]

8. I would never suspect you of anything

:D

[auntAgonist]

13. I don't know why

you'd become suspect with such a high post count. I only get suspicious when someone is posting some 'stir the pot' stuff, and their profile is disabled, AND their post count is VERY low.
I wasn't trying to cast aspersions or stones for that matter.

It really was just a question.

:hi:

[havocmom]

19. My concern is that local people in my area might ferret out my identity

owing to info someone else put in my profile. Some of us can not risk too much outing as members of DU for a variety of reasons.

I hid my profile, and became suspect to some who do not know me around here. I hid it owing to DU calls to write LTTE, which require my real name. I enabled it again due to a tendency of people around here to think they know it all about those with disabled profiles. I can't fucking win and that is making me question the wisdom of even trying to make a difference.

Honestly, the attitude makes me question why the hell I worry about and work for preserving the rights of my fellow citizens. Some of them don't seem to be worth the effort. I know you fight to protect the rights of others, but jeeze, I would like to think folks on DU have the sense to realize there might be things they don't understand before they jump to a conclusion about me and others like me.

[Finder]

53. good point....

I never thought about it but you are correct.

off to disable...lol

[havocmom]

21. Now, I like to stir a pot now and again

cuz Granny taught me that's what ya do when things start stickin that shouldn't stick.

[auntAgonist]

28. you are misreading everything i write

Stirring the pot is a good thing, LOW post count, NO profile and stirring the pot makes me wonder.

that's all.

I didn't mean to put you on the defensive.

but don't take my post or thread out of context.
it was JUST a question.

[havocmom]

36. Not on the defensive. Why do you keep insisting that anything I post

which might go beyond your viewpoint is defensive?

And I was attempting humor along with a very wise thing my granny used to say. Why does it bother you?

Just a question. :)

[auntAgonist]

39. doesn't bother me at all , in fact if you'd

read what I write I'm not even disagreeing with you.
My question came as a result of a few posts I've seen here in the last 2 days where the person has been disruptive and eventually TS'd, neither had profiles, then I noticed that some long time posters had no profiles either.

I do feel like you latched on to this and therefore felt you were attacking my question .. If I was wrong, I was wrong.

I don't Alert on people.
I have had no reason to.

aA



edit: to correct a spelling error.

[havocmom]

47. =+)

s r us

[auntAgonist]

48. I don't know what

=+) means or s r us either for that matter.

[havocmom]

49. just testing an idea, don't worry 'bout it

just a test

[auntAgonist]

50. wasn't worried about it ...

just wondered what you typed is all.

[havocmom]

51. Thanks for the PM

[auntAgonist]

52. you're welcome.

[jmm]

3. I never understood it either

It's not like people are forced to fill out a profile so if you don't want to share something don't put it in.

[havocmom]

22. Look again. There is info I did not put in

and it is annoying to have to choose between getting certain alerts or leaving a profile up.

[I Have A Dream]

42. Hi, havocmom!

It looks as though your profile now is pretty anonymous. I hope that you feel safer now. (There are crazy people out there.)

[havocmom]

44. Nope, not yet, but soon

soon

[Nomad559]

6. I have noticed

that people with low post counts, and disabled profiles usually don't last long here.

:)

[auntAgonist]

17. that was what I was noticing too.

[Demit]

7. I think they realize after a time that people do actually go look it up

out of curiosity, after the poster makes a comment. They don't like the feeling of being identifiable anymore, whether it's by gender, or state of residence or whatever. They want to withdraw back into total anonymity.

[tjdee]

9. So why do a profile at all??

As far as I know, the only info that shows up on the profile is the information you put there.


:shrug:

[havocmom]

11. see my post below for something to make you rethink that supposition

There is info there I did not put in for public viewing.

[Demit]

27. You don't know all of the ramifications of something when you start.

When you join up you're looking at this place as being amongst friends. That feeling gets a little more fine-tuned the longer you're here :)

I've been here about a year, and in that time I've gotten a little more hesitant about responding in those threads that ask for info--where are you from, where'd you go to school, etc. I know it's just chatting amongst friends but I think, if someone wanted to, they could build quite a little dossier on a person by gathering all the tidbits of freely-shared information. LOL! Maybe I read too many crime novels.

[havocmom]

32. Excellent points! Those threads asking for personal info are bothersome

Sure, no body forces people to respond, but there are a lot of innocents who don't consider there might be dangers to revealing too much. This usually feels like a safe, friendly place and many forget that unfriendly people are watching.

I usually get some very surprised responses when I suggest people google their screen names. Most of us are trustworthy so we tend to be trusting. The dark side counts on that aspect of our natures.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

37. Yes, I hate it when I see those threads too. "What year were you born?"

etc. I realize we are free to not respond. I just feel like it's a bad idea in general.

[havocmom]

38. "What's your dog's name? When & where do you walk it?"

Gads, why not get a tee shirt with a target on it?

Bad idea indeed.

[auntAgonist]

34. Profiles don't have to include all that personal stuff.

I like to see where people are from though, State, Province etc.

[havocmom]

10. Yep. Many here have stalkers who keep track of their posts.

Ever google your screen name? Might come a shock to see how often you can get quoted and disparaged on boards you may not frequent. There are people watching and for some, that might not be especially helpful when combined with an accessible profile.

I resent having info on my profile that I did not put there: the activist group notation. Now, if the board has a call for the group to write LTTE on a particular issue, I am easier to identify by matching a name in the paper popping up in the LTTE column. Some of us live in areas with relatively small populations and are known by most of the people in our area. Easy for DU followers to tie a name with a screen name in cases such as mine and it makes me uncomfortable.

[hyphenate]

45. Unless you have a screenname (like mine) which is

impossible to google. Believe me, I've tried.

I've also been on the web for about 17 years, which makes me an antique in comparison to some. And much personal information has been online since then as well. In all these years, I have never had to worry about any stalkers or other assholes online, because I was well-known (in the circles in which I traveled and posted) to many people. The closest I ever came to worrying was when a few people in one of the groups I was in were getting completely bizarre emails from this one guy, and they asked me to get him to stop. I eventually got hold of the FBI and they evidently "had a talk" with him. But the guy was a real looney-toon, and was worse for his bark than his bite.

I think that a lot of what it boils down to is how people perceive their online world--is it something you can separate from your real-life or is it something that encompasses all of your different worlds? In mine, many of my friends have been online since that time as well--science fiction fans were among the first to take to the web easily, so it never bothered me. I can understand why some people are reluctant to give out information, though, but it just isn't something I worry about. This is coming from someone who has kept their AOL account going even now despite level of expertise, simply because too many people out there still know me from that AOL address. And that account started 14 years ago!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. Are you trying to say I'm a troll? Heh. I just think that anonymous

discussion boards should be just that, anonymous.

I think it's great that some people choose to identify themselves here, and even use their name as their userid in some instances.

There's plenty of instances of people being stalked, or having disruptors making trouble for them due to having been id'ed off of websites, to go out of our way making it easier for them. Plenty of mean spirited RWers who would go out of their way to make trouble for any one of us just based on the fact that they disagree with us and we are vocal enough to post here.

It does bum me out that I can't check my post count though... Probably just as well, LOL.

[havocmom]

14. Hear hear! And thank you!

Amazing what people think they can deduce from a hidden profile.

That adage about assumptions is echoing in my head.

[auntAgonist]

15. it was just a question.

I respect your thoughts on the subject.

[havocmom]

25. Just a question? Now we play duck and cover? After being confronted

with some points we failed to consider before taking a round about way of naming someone something they just might not be?

uh huh. got it.

[auntAgonist]

30. I'm not ducking and running for cover from anything.

I'm sorry you're on the defensive.

[havocmom]

31. I'm not on the defesive. I am on a quest to stamp out the dangers of

assumptions.

Gee, you defesive? Or just not used to going unchallanged?

[auntAgonist]

33. I don't mind a challenge at all.

I was most curious as to why people disable profiles. I have nothing to defend other than the fact that I had a question. Is it not alright to ask questions here?

You've obviously had problems with the profile option and I'm sorry you have, but you're making a lot more out of my query and my so called inability to handle a challenge, than is called for.

I have never had any experience with being 'stalked' or harrassed online because of anything I have in my profile. I also have the DU activist thing in my profile, you're correct, it goes in automatically and that is a problem for some.

There's no need to attack me for asking a question.

[havocmom]

35. LOL, you have not been attacked.

If you think otherwise, alert the mods.

I am glad you have not had the fun of being stalked. Some people are not so lucky. Some people work in areas that require a certain discretion. When some exercise methods which ensure a level of discretion, they are subjected to oblique attacks (which just barely stay within the rules in how they are worded) upon their motives. Some will stand against assumptions and/or oblique attacks.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. When I see disruptors, they're usually split about even between having

a disabled profile and having a "fake" profile, usually from Vermont or Virginia, and they always seem to be into bicycling, gardening, and reading LOL. And have a link to some lefty blog that they have nothing to do with or is a broken link.

It might be tilted slightly in favor of disabled profile.

[havocmom]

20. LOL! You da man! Or da woman... can't tell and das OK wit me!

Made my day, ya did! :toast: with the good stuff - champaign is on me!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

26. I'm thinking that their must be a secret "DU troll account" template

website available on some hidden webpage.

Option 1: The Droog

Avatar: Alex/Droog from "Clockwork Orange"

Profile contains some information about how the poster is supposedly a military veteran. etc.

Actually maybe there's a mix and match program that generates the profiles, and they go with whatever it produces.

Choose one of the following Avatars:

-John Kerry
-Howard Dean
-Che Guevara
-Hilary Clinton
-Pentagram

etc...

[havocmom]

29. Have pondered that possibility myself.

With all the use of focus groups, market research, data mining and psy-ops going on, I rule nothing out.

Why, I have even wondered if such sites suggest trolls might occassionally post things about trolls... ya know, just to throw suspection somewhere else... ;)

[bicentennial_baby]

46. Che is a big giveaway

I swear, i've seen sooooo many trolls start with that one. :crazy:

[FuzzySlippers]

16. Paranoia?

I mean all you need show is date joined and number of posts. What could be so hush hush about that?:shrug:

[havocmom]

23. ::sigh::

:banghead: Hello wall...

[FuzzySlippers]

40. Ok. Ok. I read what you said above.

That makes sense. Sorry.

[auntAgonist]

41. she makes perfectly good sense

I agree. In fact I never disagreed.

[havocmom]

43. Apology accepted though it was not necessary

It just concerns me that some are so trusting they will post a lot of info which might be harmful to them and others get sorta ornery when some people don't do the same.

Glad I made some sense to you. Hope I made sense to others who might be distraught to find out some people are not as trustworthy as they themselves are.

Live long, post often and glad to have you here fighting for Truth, Justice and the (Old) American way! ;)

[Ariana Celeste]

24. Not everyone wants to share

much info. I don't blame anyone for hiding their profiles. I was tempted to do so myself, but I decided, fook it.

And as someone else said, paranoia. Which is something I can truly understand.

Kamikaze trolls may disable their profiles... but trolls who want to fit in for awhile to try to subtly get their points across may not. I don't think anything can be judged by a disabled profile, or even an open profile- people aren't always honest on their profiles either.