Star Trek Tickles

The purpose of not sharing personal information is to make it more difficult to connect up information about you, and especially to make it difficult to connect the “you” online to the “you” offline. The reasons one may want to do this range from maintaining safe relationships outside of an abusive relationship, to making it harder to put together enough information to break into their bank account, to being actively concerned about doxxing and swatting.

For any of these reasons, if you’re not completely sure you will be fine having that information on the internet indefinitely, it’s best not to share it in the first place. The internet is full of turmoil, but we all know that some posts never die, and that others are archived.

Here’s some information that is generally considered a bad idea to share publicly or privately online, with the exception of applying for jobs or working with online financial and legal systems, and some strong alternatives.

Your full legal name, or any particularly distinctive part of your legal name. My first name has less than six hundred people with it in the States. I use a nickname on this blog for a reason. Nicknames are a great alternative to legal names.

Your birthday, especially if you also share your exact age. That allows for people to look for you based on your exact birth date, which is a very powerful piece of information. Unlike your legal name, there’s no way I know of to change it. Consider not sharing this at all. For age, “minor” or “adult” are all the information a reasonable person should need.

Your precise location. Big cities, like Tokyo, New York City, or London, have a high enough population to act as a bit of a smokescreen, but as a rule of thumb, stick to stating a local with at least a million people in it. I often just use my time zone, since it’s the main thing people need to know online.

There’s other information that is questionable to share openly online, particularly your personal phone number and email, but those are the three big pieces of information that it’s generally not a good idea to share either publicly or privately. This is because they can be plugged into background checkers and other databases to try to find you offline. The more information you share, the more someone can narrow down who you are. If that is something you are concerned about, consider following these guidelines about what not to share.

tip: if someone asks for your age and it is necessary for them to know (generally in group chats or discord servers), you can just say either: I’m a minor / below 18. same goes for adults. if you don’t want to reveal your exact age, just give a range e.g. 20+ or 30+ or say you’re legally an adult.

BUT!!!! KIDS!!!!!! DO NOT PUT YOUR AGE IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!!! OR EVEN MENTION THAT YOU ARE A MINOR. That tip is only and only for situations where you NEED to give your age. especially in fandom space discord servers or group chats that have both minors and adults

Sharing personal information about things like:

your ethnicity

your country of residence

your nationality

the languages you speak

your picture/selfies

what school you’re in/what year/grade you’re in

your real name

your family member names

also try to stay away from video calls and voice calls or messages (people can find out where you live just by your accent)

^^^^^^are all the things you need to be secretive about if you are very young/minor.

As OP has mentioned, this is to keep random people on the internet to get to you in real life

Now this doesn’t mean that everyone on the internet is out to get you in real life and is going to be a big bad scary adult. However, you, as young kids, are unable to differentiate between genuine people vs those who have ill intentions. Young kids tend to trust anyone who is friendly and grow attached to them, and because of this trust, sometimes you end up revealing things that should be kept to yourself. It all depends on the person you’re chatting to, they can choose to take advantage of the information you may have given intentionally or unintentionally.

+ Once you are out of the schooling system and have a good amount of experiences and understanding of people, it is much more easier to “read” people. And at that stage of your life (generally around 18+), you are free to decide whether you are comfortable to share personal information about yourself to others.

Though sometimes, us adults, also mess up being able to judge true nature of people and suffer the consequences of it. It is rare, but it does happen.

Some unorganised thoughts related to this:

keep your bio or description simple. don’t write your autobiography there or in your carrd (i’ve seen people make carrd these days). it gives away too much information about you to random strangers. your pseudo name, your likes and hobbies are more than enough.

when someone’s bio says minors do not interact (MDNI), respect that and keep away. it’s because we’d like to keep you safe and away from adult spaces that tend to have a lot of sexual content. plus, most adults feel uncomfortable to know that a 12 year old or a 13 year old may be scrolling through their very explicit content. and the reason why we tell you minors to keep away from sexual or explicit content is because: IT AFFECTS YOUR PERCEPTION OF REALITY. Porn most of the time is unrealistic and are fantasies of adults, if you young children consume sexual content it will warp your perception of how sex is supposed to work in real life. These things will be very hard to unlearn once you grow up and you will have unrealistic expectations towards your partner or s/o

try not to jump on random blaming bandwagons or fan the flames of some drama or argument. you may be attacked by others

keep away from cancel culture/expose culture/witch hunting. just don’t. it’s not cool and very tacky of you. one day, you’ll look back at your past self and feel disgusted by this behaviour of yours. so save yourself the embarrassment and dont participate in this.

stay civil on the internet, no need to be aggressive to a random stranger when you can talk nicely. even if the other person is acting rude. just block, and walk away.

don’t like something? don’t read it. don’t enjoy seeing some sort of fanart? just mute that character’s name or ship name. or simply unfollow the person. don’t yuck other’s yumm. you don’t have to make your displeasure towards someone’s craft known. just move on with your life.

hate commenting is not constructive criticism.

Hi this psa is brought to you by my boss nearly killing us via carbon monoxide poisoning.

Heaters like this are labelled for Indoor/Outdoor usage, however that indoor label is misleading af.

Indoors in this context means a drafty garage or car port, not your living room or bedroom. Unless the room you're in is well ventilated with fresh air, don't use this fucker indoors.

An Article from Neena Susan Thomas

“Through a rapist’s eyes. A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interview…ed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:

1] The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun! , braid, or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.

2] The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who’s clothing is easy to remove quickly. Many of them carry scissors around to cut clothing.

3] They also look for women using their cell phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered.

4] The number one place women are abducted from / attacked at is grocery store parking lots.

5] Number two is office parking lots/garages.

6] Number three is public restrooms.

7] The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to a second location where they don’t have to worry about getting caught.

8] If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn’t worth it because it will be time-consuming.

9] These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas,or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands.

10] Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you’re not worth it.

POINTS THAT WE SHOULD REMEMBER:

1] If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk: can’t believe it is so cold out here, we’re in for a bad winter. Now that you’ve seen their faces and could identify them in a line- up, you lose appeal as a target.

2] If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and yell Stop or Stay back! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they’d leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

3] If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes,) yelling I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent.

4] If someone grabs you, you can’t beat them with strength but you can do it by outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm between the elbow and armpit or in the upper inner thigh – HARD. One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; it really hurts.

5] After the initial hit, always go for the groin. I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy’s parts it is extremely painful. You might think that you’ll anger the guy and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause him a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble, and he’s out of there.

6] When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible. The instructor did it to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly.

7] Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don’t dismiss it, go with your instincts. You may feel little silly at the time, but you’d feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.

FINALLY, PLEASE REMEMBER THESE AS WELL ….

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do it.

2. Learned this from a tourist guide to New Orleans : if a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you…. chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car: Kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t see you but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping,eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON’T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side,put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU CLOSE the DOORS , LEAVE.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:

a. Be aware: look around your car as someone may be hiding at the passenger side , peek into your car, inside the passenger side floor, and in the back seat. ( DO THIS TOO BEFORE RIDING A TAXI CAB) .

b. If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

c. Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot).

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP IT! It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked “for help” into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it and it’s better safe than sorry.

If u have compassion reblog this post. ‘Helping hands are better than Praying Lips’ – give us your helping hand.

REBLOG THIS AND LET EVERY GIRL KNOW AT LEAST PEOPLE WILL KNOW WHATS GOING ON IN THIS WORLD. So please reblog this….Your one reblog can Help to spread this information.

Widen that stride a bit.  Drop your chin a fraction to help protect your neck (and give yourself a bit of a scowl).  Relax your stance a little so your knees are never locked, and you develop a kind of predatory prowl.  Thin your lips and maybe furrow your brow a bit.  It’s not much, but the overall effect can be intimidating to the spineless cowards of the world.  

Granted, it may not stop an attack, but at the very least you’ll be on alert and your body won’t be stiff so you have a better chance of ducking a grab or planting your elbow somewhere it’ll hurt.  It goes back to that whole causing trouble thing, but I prefer to terrify the bastards away before they even think about trying something on me.

Side effects include mild to moderate paranoia (which we should have anyway), and learning how to stare most people down. 

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

It’s a beautiful quote.

Here’s the thing though: Mr. Rogers was talking to children.

We are no longer children.

We are no longer meant to take comfort in this sentiment. We are meant to protect its truthfulness so that the children still can. We ARE the helpers now. We are the mothers, we are the helpers.

So while it’s a lovely affirmation: stop looking for the helpers.

If you’re not already: become one of them.