Should I use my real name on my website?
- Thread starter ng93
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Not really - but follow these rules:
- never use your real name and your online fake name together in the same context
- never post your phone number, address, date of birth, etc
- if you post an email address, encode it like this to avoid spam: http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html
- never post a photo
- make sure your facebook privacy settings are right, you'll get people looking you up
- make sure your WHOIS info is private and does not show your address
- etc
generally think "what can I find out about myself using the information i've exposed online, could i locate myself, am I well-represented".
the wayback machine is your worst enemy - once you've exposed some information you can't make it private again.
- never use your real name and your online fake name together in the same context
- never post your phone number, address, date of birth, etc
- if you post an email address, encode it like this to avoid spam: http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html
- never post a photo
- make sure your facebook privacy settings are right, you'll get people looking you up
- make sure your WHOIS info is private and does not show your address
- etc
generally think "what can I find out about myself using the information i've exposed online, could i locate myself, am I well-represented".
the wayback machine is your worst enemy - once you've exposed some information you can't make it private again.
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Cheers for the points. What's the danger of using my real name and username together? Just curious as the website will eventually have a forum, and it would be annoying to use my full name as my forum username. What if I made a new username just for this, different to my OcUK/PSN/etc.?
Edit: I had another website ages ago whos hosting/domain doesn't run out for another ~6 months. Just checked the WhoIS for that and it's got my name/address (I wasn't very clued up on websites when I made it so didn't know this would happen). Is there anyway to change this? Thanks
Edit: I had another website ages ago whos hosting/domain doesn't run out for another ~6 months. Just checked the WhoIS for that and it's got my name/address (I wasn't very clued up on websites when I made it so didn't know this would happen). Is there anyway to change this? Thanks
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TBQH, if somone wants to find you badly enough, they can and will 
Other than basic spam protection measures, I've never seen the point in trying to hide myself in any decent way.
As an admin, I've seen it all upto and including the odd abusive text message/ phonecall, and they will find you eventually, it's just a matter of time.
All you should really do is make sure that your passwords and memorable question answers are based on something not on your public profiles, which should deter *most* hackers, but again, if someone's determined enough, they will get in.
Hope I haven't scared you ;p
Basically though, use common sense so that your passwords and stuff aren't guessable, and you should be fine.
-Leezer-
Other than basic spam protection measures, I've never seen the point in trying to hide myself in any decent way.
As an admin, I've seen it all upto and including the odd abusive text message/ phonecall, and they will find you eventually, it's just a matter of time.
All you should really do is make sure that your passwords and memorable question answers are based on something not on your public profiles, which should deter *most* hackers, but again, if someone's determined enough, they will get in.
Hope I haven't scared you ;p
Basically though, use common sense so that your passwords and stuff aren't guessable, and you should be fine.
-Leezer-
You can have it so it doesn't show for a .co.uk domain, but you have to pay if it's a .com domain.
What security risks do you mean any way?
i had set my whois to private but the hosting service changed it to public saying that because the site i was working on was for a business it had to be public.
but again im thinking if someone wants to find you badley enough they will.
common sense will prevail
but again im thinking if someone wants to find you badley enough they will.
common sense will prevail
Do you want people to be able to associate your website with you personally? By people I mean employers, work mates, attractive females, and what have you. If you don't really care, and there’s no particular reason you should, then it's not a big deal. On the other hand if you tend to act like a **** online, you might want to consider not making it easy for people to associate you personally with your online persona.
Different strokes for different folks, but protecting your privacy is the better saner default allround. You never know what can come around and bite you on the backside one day. On the other hand you, not unlike myself, you just might not give a damn.
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^ The website is for a product i'm making so yes it would be very useful to have it associated with me personally. I generally try not to act like a **** online, although I suspect that's subjective 
. I do care about privacy and security (hence this thread), and i'd prefer to be anonymous, but in this situation it would be very useful to use my real identity hence i'm willing to take the risk.
Anyway cheers for the help guys
. I do care about privacy and security (hence this thread), and i'd prefer to be anonymous, but in this situation it would be very useful to use my real identity hence i'm willing to take the risk.Anyway cheers for the help guys