I'm not paranoid, I'm practical

[tinpra]

Taken from this article regarding outing fanfic authors to the real world. That was interesting enough, but what really caught my eye was this:

"A note: it is your responsibility to guard your privacy online. Always be sensible, use a handle rather than your real name, don't give away personal details online that you wouldn't feel comfortable shouting in a subway, assume that anything you post will be read by people you do not know even if it's locked, and until proven otherwise, do not dismiss the notion that the person you are talking to is a forty-year-old perv (or possibly an FBI agent)."

Take that all you people, and you know who you are, who've told me that my personal privacy policies are "extreme." It's my life, my identity and my responsibility, and no one else's. If I end up at the bottom of a lagoon somewhere because I agreed to meet up with some psycho, the media, the cops and my mother are going to blame me for being stupid with my info.

Comments

[erinm-4600.livejournal.com]

so much for my brilliant plan to take you to Lagoon....

Damnit....
*think of something else*

[dmr2158.livejournal.com]

Okay now I'm paranoid that someone from school will find out that I write fanfic. Then I'll be fired for corrupting the youth of today with my licentious writing.

AAAAKKKKKKK!

[tinpra.livejournal.com]

lol. I don't think this was a conscious reason behind why I have a separate penname for my fanfic, but I think it was one of them. I'm tinpra pretty much all over, and that was on purpose, but fic is...separate from me? I don't know. And I made that decision before jobs started googling names and email addresses, so it was a surprisingly long-sighted move on my part.

Still, my main concern has always been my RL identity. People often get on me for not giving my age, location, nationality, etc and so on, upon first or second or even fifth e-meeting.

But for you...you could always f-lock your fic. Maybe. Or write kinder gentler fiction *plays harp*

[tinpra.livejournal.com]

bottom of the lagoon, hun. bottom. except for the crazy flying rollercoaster car or any ride that tries to spin me and simultaneously turn me upside down, i should be square. *is also content read fic on the floor*

[halcyondayz.livejournal.com]

Tinny, I love that you're amorphous! Never feel pressured to materialize!

[tinpra.livejournal.com]

Awwww *blushes*