MetaChat - What aspects of your life are too personal to disclose online?

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19 August 2008

What aspects of your life are too personal to disclose online? Where do you draw the lines? What do you prefer not to reveal or discuss on the Internet, here and in other forums?

post by: jason's_planet at: 11:24 | 25 comments

I have two butttholes that I'd rather not discuss.

posted by Hellbient 19 August | 11:30

-- My family. I prefer not to make any drama or family dynamics public property.

-- Physical location. I'm a little circumspect about my exact location. I don't mind revealing my borough in New York but I don't like to get into the specifics of my neighborhood, etc.

-- My apartment. I would never post any photos of my house online. It's just too personal.

posted by jason's_planet 19 August | 11:31

They're too personal to disclose, duh.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 19 August | 11:31

I came in to say what Teeps said.

posted by Specklet 19 August | 11:43

When I'm talking about friends and family and coworkers and folks like that, I usually try to identify them by an initial, because I don't want to inadvertently disclose aspects of somebody else's life which etc. etc.

posted by box 19 August | 11:44

My nipple distances, after yesterday's fiasco.

posted by Eideteker 19 August | 11:52

I'm still not ready to show my pee-pee.

posted by Meatbomb 19 August | 11:54

I am, however, prepared to show Meatbomb's pee-pee, unless I receive 1 Million US Dollars in my anonymous Cayman Islands account. You have 48 hours.

posted by Eideteker 19 August | 12:17

Typically, medical stuff or things that could potentially come back and bite me in the ass. Of course, I haven't always been that careful and I've only gotten nailed for it once.

posted by sperose 19 August | 12:21

-- Specific work stuff, I work for a pre-IPO start-up and don't want to give away any company details.
-- Stuff about my wife or kid

posted by octothorpe 19 August | 12:33

I have two butttholes that I'd rather not discuss.

*wonders how many of Hellbient's buttholes he is willing to discuss*

posted by danostuporstar 19 August | 12:36

I have to be able to maintain strict plausible deniability about everything I do. But a few of my early career highlights have recently been declassified, so I can brag myself up a bit more these days. F'rinstance: the Xenu assassination? Mine!

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 19 August | 12:50

*wonders how many of Hellbient's buttholes he is willing to discuss*

Well, let me just say that my collection of famous buttholes is growing, and I happen to know you are a big fan of at least one of them, dano. I will however talk at length about my proud ownership of Dean Martin's liver, which is lovingly preserved in a large martini glass on my mantle. It's what he would've wanted.

posted by Hellbient 19 August | 13:01

None. I have a big mouth.

(Besides, it's the most personal stuff that people relate to the most. We are what we are, as they say.)

posted by Pips 19 August | 13:10

I have what probably looks from the outside like an arbitrary and inconsistent set of rules based on where I am. I finally relented and got a .net of my first+last name for my professional portfolio site, but I don't like my full name being associated directly with my online handles.

I am realistic, though, and realize that if someone wants to they can pretty easily figure out who exactly I am. One of my past handles is particularly easy to trace. These days I use more diverse handles, whereas until a couple of years ago I liked to use the same one for everything.

I always put my host's address on my domain registrations, though. That one rule - I absolutely don't put my address and phone number online.

posted by loiseau 19 August | 13:35

I also got a bit squicked about putting up meetup pictures, because I prefer not to post pictures. But I am trying to work through it. I would like to be less paranoid generally because I know in truth we are not as opaque as we would like to believe.

posted by loiseau 19 August | 13:36

Up until recently, I kept my "real name" persona and my "MuddGirl" persona very separate. That's changed somewhat as I entered the workplace and realized that no one really cared about my surfing habits. Still, I'm blessed with a rather common name, so it would be pretty tricky to track me down. I don't divulge my address, phone number, or work details.

I don't talk about MuddDude's personal life too much - that's really not mine to share. I'll mention my family, but only as it relates to me. Sometimes I consider sharing some things about my mother's childhood, as it was very different from my own and yet shaped me in many ways, but in the end I usually decide that those stories are not appropriate to discuss with relative strangers.

posted by muddgirl 19 August | 14:10

I try not to discuss my vast wealth for fear it'll attract hangers-on and ne'er-do-wells.

posted by essexjan 19 August | 14:26

I know, for a fact, that telemarketers have used Facebook data to find me in Latvia and call me at work (!), so I've tried to get rid of anything that mentions the particulars of where, exactly, I work or live. Addresses and the like get e-mailed to friends, but not posted online.

However, since my user name and e-mail are right there in my Metafamily profiles, and since my big fat mug is plastered all over the place, I've accepted that if someone/something wants to find me, they will.

I mentally get around this by never doing anything wrong, ever. Ask my family and friends: I'm perfect.

posted by mdonley 19 August | 14:47

I'm with Pips. If it's too personal for this site, I'll find another one with people going through similar situations. I find support in numbers. I don't want to unload here with too much, so I do have a couple of online support groups for the other stuff.

posted by redvixen 19 August | 15:18

The same things I prefer not to discuss off the internet.

posted by crush-onastick 19 August | 16:13

I have no life, so this problem never comes up.

posted by dg 19 August | 17:15

oh, too much these days!!!! Boo, one of the downsides of my big weird puddle of recent awesome. If I blogged, I would have the awesomest, frankest blog full of insults, jokes and interesting anecdotes about people! I want to be my weird freaky self, dammit!

posted by By the Grace of God 19 August | 18:10

I used to keep online and offline separate but at some point I decided that I just didn't give a shit. I work for a comedian, I am not going to get fired for shit I put on the intertubes.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 20 August | 00:52

I keep my online identity away from my RL identity for the most part. I try not to reveal too much stuff about my son, or my family. I was a bit apprehensive about meetups, since that merges the online & real persona, but I decided to get over myself.

posted by theora55 20 August | 12:07

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