Meta: Internet Safety
Thanks again for everyone's kind words about my fish dying. Especially thanks to those who came to the funeral - that was really nice of you. I'm feeling better about it now since Eiji and Sengoku got me unbanned from the aquarium.
After recent events involving a pedophile bear bothering my friends (Fuji and a bunch of us...took care of it yesterday, so don't worry.) , I've been thinking about how the internet can be a dangerous place. So I decided that it wouldn't hurt for everyone to review internet safety rules, even if you've been told them already, and no matter what age you are.
1. Don't give out personal information to just anybody. You should only share your address, phone number, etc with people that you know and can trust.
2. Don't meet with someone that you met over the internet without permission from your parents. And if you do meet them, you should bring a friend and meet in a public place. It's easy for someone to lie about their age/gender/...everything in chatrooms. And even on livejournal, you can't know for sure what a person is like...maybe they're completely different than they seem.
3. Watch out for internet predators/stalkers/pedophiles/molesters. The internet is full of them. Don't meet anyone if they seem suspicious or inappropriate.
4. Don't post a video of a friend singing karoke on youtube and then meet their number one fan and accidentally kill them.
5. If someone is bullying you, the best thing to do is ignore and block them. And take death threats seriously and call the police.
6. Watch what you download because it could contain viruses or spyware. Make sure you have a good virus scan program. It's best to just not download music, videos, etc because it is illegal and you could get fined for it.
7. Make sure your passwords aren't easy to guess.
8. The best thing to do about fanfiction, fanart, and doujinshi in your fandom is to avoid it whenever possible. Fangirls are scary. Trust me.
I think that covers the main points. But feel free to ask me if you have any questions.
After recent events involving a pedophile bear bothering my friends (Fuji and a bunch of us...took care of it yesterday, so don't worry.) , I've been thinking about how the internet can be a dangerous place. So I decided that it wouldn't hurt for everyone to review internet safety rules, even if you've been told them already, and no matter what age you are.
1. Don't give out personal information to just anybody. You should only share your address, phone number, etc with people that you know and can trust.
2. Don't meet with someone that you met over the internet without permission from your parents. And if you do meet them, you should bring a friend and meet in a public place. It's easy for someone to lie about their age/gender/...everything in chatrooms. And even on livejournal, you can't know for sure what a person is like...maybe they're completely different than they seem.
3. Watch out for internet predators/stalkers/pedophiles/molesters. The internet is full of them. Don't meet anyone if they seem suspicious or inappropriate.
4. Don't post a video of a friend singing karoke on youtube and then meet their number one fan and accidentally kill them.
5. If someone is bullying you, the best thing to do is ignore and block them. And take death threats seriously and call the police.
6. Watch what you download because it could contain viruses or spyware. Make sure you have a good virus scan program. It's best to just not download music, videos, etc because it is illegal and you could get fined for it.
7. Make sure your passwords aren't easy to guess.
8. The best thing to do about fanfiction, fanart, and doujinshi in your fandom is to avoid it whenever possible. Fangirls are scary. Trust me.
I think that covers the main points. But feel free to ask me if you have any questions.