22 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

Good advice in both parts of Your blog.  Thank You for posting it. xo

Thank you, tim xo

22 hours ago, chris191070 said:

Good advice.

Thanks, chris. 

21 hours ago, rickproehl said:

Michael Sir,

great advice and lots of common sense.

thank you for sharing these wise words.

Thanks for reading, rick. 

21 hours ago, Wayne Gray said:

I'm pretty open online. It has yet to bite me, but it certainly could. If one person decided I needed to be found, they could likely do it. The one time when it got worrisome to me was when I was posting "Guarded" on Nifty. The email address I had used back then linked back to some other sites where I had been required to use my real name. Someone ... very clever, and someone with links to a very real mob family wrote me ... using my full name. I'm lucky he liked my work. 😬

I immediately began using Wayne Gray after that, and changed the email address I post from. So ... yeah. Be careful out there, kids.

As for the second part ... well, I'm a firm believer that love helps make a home. You've got it. You value it. That's wonderful.

Thank you, Wayne.  It's fairly simple to find people. There are lots of trackers online and the more of trail people leave, the easier it is. 

You were lucky. The use of your real name was a nudge, just to let you know where you stand and who you're dealing with. But you know that already which is why you dropped your real name. Smart. 

Love does make a home and a successful partnership/marriage. It is something to treasure and nurture each day. 

21 hours ago, mollyhousemouse said:

wise words Michael Sir.

in a previous job, i was the recipient of hate mail, so i'm pretty guarded in my online presence. i don't expect anyone to share anything they don't want to, and i expect the same.

and LOVE

what a wonderful tribute to Yours

i'm so thankful that You shared that with us

Thank you, molly.  I'm glad you take care online, it is the smart way to go.  

18 hours ago, Reader1810 said:

Excellent advice, Mike. 

As for Love?

These words are alive to me. They are you and tim and what you two have as a couple. Wise advice is here, too. 

Thank you, Mike, for sharing these with us. 

Thank you, Reader.  

tim and I have been lucky. These days you read lots of stories of couples who are tired of being together, want their kids back in school, people who cannot stand to work/live in the same rooms anymore. 

We have not experienced that, we truly haven't. If anything we are closer and kinder to each other. We talk more and listen more. 

You keep well, Reader. 

A wise man once said......oh wait, the wise man is you. Great advice and thanks for sharing.

18 hours ago, kbois said:

A wise man once said......oh wait, the wise man is you. Great advice and thanks for sharing.

Lol ... I have my moments!  Thanks for reading and stopping to comment. 

2 hours ago, Kitt said:

Cyber stalking seems pretty innocuous to me, but that is because I had to deal with the live version, and back before it was illegal to boot.  Calls to the police got responses like "He hasn't done anything wrong yet."  YET? trying to run me off the road is not wrong? Calling and threatening my life at 3 am is not wrong? Turning up everywhere I went is not wrong? I finally took matters into my own hands, and did something not QUITE legal, but it frightened him enough to leave me alone.  I was quite relieved when I heard he had passed away a few months later.

Kitt, while I understand and am glad you are all right, to say cyberstalking is innocuous, is in fact dangerous and incorrect.  It's very real and can by extremely upsetting and frightening and in the worst of cases physically/mentally dangerous. Cases are often investigated by the FBI and our federal police, the RCMP.  Too many end in suicide.

The things that go on, online are not innocuous and for that reason I offered this brief blog. Children are often the easiest victims, made to perform vile things for their puppet masters. 

How do you stay safe? 

Do not use your real full name online

Make social media account/profiles private

Be careful of the pictures you post 

Do not post personal details, address or phone number

Set up email accounts for social media (to use if you forget login info)

Block people who make you uncomfortable

Use a password manager

Tape up your webcam to avoid creepware

Trust new contacts, but verify

I did not mean to say it is not dangerous. Things are relative.  Like saying gun violence is scary, knowing it intellectually, but the reality is so much more visceral. I pray no one I know here ever finds themselves in the position I was in. The only good thing that came of my situation was that I know I can deal with pretty much anything life tosses.

20 minutes ago, Kitt said:

I did not mean to say it is not dangerous. Things are relative.  Like saying gun violence is scary, knowing it intellectually, but the reality is so much more visceral. I pray no one I know here ever finds themselves in the position I was in. The only good thing that came of my situation was that I know I can deal with pretty much anything life tosses.

These things are not relative. Stalking is stalking, whether you are followed physically or someone does so online, via email, social media, your webcam, or home cameras. It also easily moves from online to in person. People have died from both. Their deaths are not relative. 

Thankfully you  have not been hurt physically by your experience. We are not all as strong as you and I. And people deserve to be safe in person and online. We need to be vigilant in all cases. 

And since recently, something happened online to someone close to me, I chose to write about online safety. 

This is a great blog with some useful and important information. I'm too trusting for sure, and I've probably made it very easy for someone to find me if they wanted. I've been lucky, but I guess you never think it's going to happen to you until it's too late.

I'm naive because I respect peoples privacy and trust them to do the same with me, but I guess it doesn't always work that way.

I'll be more careful in future.

Thanks for your very wise thoughts on privacy, and your moving thoughts on love. 

15 minutes ago, Dodger said:

This is a great blog with some useful and important information. I'm too trusting for sure, and I've probably made it very easy for someone to find me if they wanted. I've been lucky, but I guess you never think it's going to happen to you until it's too late.

I'm naive because I respect peoples privacy and trust them to do the same with me, but I guess it doesn't always work that way.

I'll be more careful in future.

It's never too late to start. There are lots of wonderful people online. Just be cautious. 

10 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

Thanks for your very wise thoughts on privacy, and your moving thoughts on love. 

A pleasure. Thank you, Parker. 

That was inspirational! I do those things a lot! And everyone should too and then some bad people would not start stalking others so much! Talk about stalking....... I am going to stalk everything you have written here to get to know your inner feelings!

People should do just that instead of scaring the crap out of people by stalking them in the scary ways! BEWARE OF STALKING READER! lol

6 hours ago, Story Reader said:

That was inspirational! I do those things a lot! And everyone should too and then some bad people would not start stalking others so much! Talk about stalking....... I am going to stalk everything you have wrote here to get to know your inner feelings!

People should do just that instead of scaring the crap out of people by stalking them in the scary ways! BEWARE OF STALKING READER! lol

You're welcome to stalk me ... I'm easy to see at 6'11" though tim seems to lose me in stores often. 

50 minutes ago, MichaelS36 said:

You're welcome to stalk me ... I'm easy to see at 6'11" though tim seems to lose me in stores often. 

I think it is hardwired into husband's to go poof in stores. One minute you are right there, turn around for one second and...