A mantids abode

[Murp]

my mum just gave me another internet safety lecture

 

[Katnapper]

hello from Oz

So she forced you to admit you're on the Australian continent. (Good deductive skills, Olga!) Better be careful... she's good! She might sweet-talk or verbally torture you into telling us your first name, shoe size, or favorite color!

I hope you can take a little ribbing about it. Actually, it's good you're aware of what you do and post on the Internet, and that you follow your Mum's advice and warnings. She only wants to look out for your welfare. And erring on the side of caution is smarter than revealing information that could potentially cause problems or be dangerous in the hands of anyone intent on causing you grief or harm.

The reason we are funning with you (not at you), is that you obviously don't have the experience or wisdom yet to separate and know what information, in what given context, could be dangerous. As Olga inferred, just because we know the general area where you live on this planet, it doesn't mean that all, or any of us, are now going to search for and/or hunt you down. My name is Becky, and I live in Bloomington, Illinois, USA. Try finding me! Actually you probably could, given I've openly given my last name on the forum also. But how many people around the world actually give a darn. If you don't go around ticking people off, advertising yourself as a sex slave, or bragging to everyone that your grandmother just died and left you a gullible millionaire with no idea what to do with all that money... you're relatively safe. Most online predators looking for young, naive targets are more likely to hang out and troll for personal information in chat rooms... not praying mantis insect forums. In your case, you shouldn't give out your street address, phone number, school name, or last name. There's not much anyone can do with your first name and country, or even city. Following those guidelines should ease your Mum's mind, and allow you to positively interact with other people like yourself on the forum, and on the Net.

I hope you understand that you invited a little ribbing by being excessively secretive and cryptic about relatively mundane information. No one likes or appreciates disproportionate and unnecessary secrecy when all they are trying to do is be friendly or help you. Now... Enough of the online lecture! Egads... :blink: why am I even bothering with all this?!!! I'm not even your Mum (thank God... one is enough for me)!! I guess because to tell you the truth I really didn't like you at first. I wanted to say, "What... are you CIA, FBI, a King, or a high profile celebrity?" And when it became obvious you are none of those... I thought, "Why all the extreme secrecy?" It struck me as silly, overdone, unnecessary, and very irritating. But now that you're thawing out a little, and have at least given us the reason behind your being so secretive... I can understand. And finally... that's all I have to say about that! :lol:

Welcome to the forum... glad to have you here.

 

[jacksun]

my mum just gave me another internet safety lecture

Good for her.....you can't get too many of those.

What exactly is "heat mat" code for?

As an internet Security guy (CISSP) I think your Mum is not paranoid, just concerned and rightfully so with some of the garbage that goes on with youngsters and the internet. Common sense rules, no pictures of yourself, no address posting, no phone number posting, no meeting people from chat rooms etc and all the other stuff your Mum tells you. Because someone says they are 13, doesn't make it true, especially online. And if something doesn't seem right about someone online, tell your Mum.

 

[PhilinYuma]

my mum just gave me another internet safety lecture

Yeah. No, doubt about it, rents may be a bit old fashioned, but they tend to contol your Inet use, so you have to listen to them! What is "secretive" to one person, is "private" to another, but here is an open letter to yr mum, which may reassure her a little:

Dear IamWhoIam's mother:

I certainly don't blame you for being concerned about your child's safety. The papers and TV are rife with warnings about the danger of "internet preadators," so I can understand that you might be worried. The vast majority of these "news" items, though, are of the "op.ed." variety, very long on dire warnings and examples of how predators may be poised to strike, and very short on actual examples of actual crimes. Where such crimes have occured, obviously, it was necessary for the child to have met the predator and to have remained with him/her even after realizing that he/she was an adult. Most children, though, including my granddaughters, 13 and 15, quickly learn to spot a fake teen and to break contact if someone starts asking questions that they deem too personal (as Wayne mentions above). What these articles do not point out is the fact that, at least in the US, sexual molestation is most commonly perpetrated by a friend, neighbor or relative of the victim.

If you have not already done so, please spend a little while examining the content of Mantid Forum. It is a "family oriented" forum (language and subject matter are monitored), full, for the most part, of kindly, friendly people with a common interest. It is the foundation for many online friendships and mutual assistance, good company and good cheer. Folks who spend their time fretting about and hand feeding a sick or injured insect, tend to be Good People (Crazed, but Good!).

I hope that this helps, somewhat, to put your mind at rest.

Yours sincerely

Phillip Rayner

Show that to yr mum, as well as the preceding post, and good luck with the new mantids!

P.S. I forgot to mention. If you should wish to Email someone on the forum, just click on their name in a given post, and one of the options in the window that opens is "Send Message." The recipient will get your message but not know your addy. Cool, huh?

 

[superfreak]

Yay for Becky, Wayne and Phil!

(...hurrah for Olga and her inane commenting! :lol: )

 

[Murp]

im sorry for acting so much like a clam but in my opinion the best way i could find out how freindly everyone is was to act defensive

i hope it goes all well from here on in

[SIZE=8pt][/SIZE]

p.s. im sorry that i havent been posting latley i went on a small holiday

 

[Murp]

Jackson wats this talk about a secret code a heat mat is a small mat that you place under a glass container

that keeps the glass warm and since my jars are small it warms up the inside to

 

[d17oug18]

So she forced you to admit you're on the Australian continent. (Good deductive skills, Olga!) Better be careful... she's good! She might sweet-talk or verbally torture you into telling us your first name, shoe size, or favorite color! I hope you can take a little ribbing about it. Actually, it's good you're aware of what you do and post on the Internet, and that you follow your Mum's advice and warnings. She only wants to look out for your welfare. And erring on the side of caution is smarter than revealing information that could potentially cause problems or be dangerous in the hands of anyone intent on causing you grief or harm.

The reason we are funning with you (not at you), is that you obviously don't have the experience or wisdom yet to separate and know what information, in what given context, could be dangerous. As Olga inferred, just because we know the general area where you live on this planet, it doesn't mean that all, or any of us, are now going to search for and/or hunt you down. My name is Becky, and I live in Bloomington, Illinois, USA. Try finding me! Actually you probably could, given I've openly given my last name on the forum also. But how many people around the world actually give a darn. If you don't go around ticking people off, advertising yourself as a sex slave, or bragging to everyone that your grandmother just died and left you a gullible millionaire with no idea what to do with all that money... you're relatively safe. Most online predators looking for young, naive targets are more likely to hang out and troll for personal information in chat rooms... not praying mantis insect forums. In your case, you shouldn't give out your street address, phone number, school name, or last name. There's not much anyone can do with your first name and country, or even city. Following those guidelines should ease your Mum's mind, and allow you to positively interact with other people like yourself on the forum, and on the Net.

I hope you understand that you invited a little ribbing by being excessively secretive and cryptic about relatively mundane information. No one likes or appreciates disproportionate and unnecessary secrecy when all they are trying to do is be friendly or help you. Now... Enough of the online lecture! Egads... :blink: why am I even bothering with all this?!!! I'm not even your Mum (thank God... one is enough for me)!! I guess because to tell you the truth I really didn't like you at first. I wanted to say, "What... are you CIA, FBI, a King, or a high profile celebrity?" And when it became obvious you are none of those... I thought, "Why all the extreme secrecy?" It struck me as silly, overdone, unnecessary, and very irritating. But now that you're thawing out a little, and have at least given us the reason behind your being so secretive... I can understand. And finally... that's all I have to say about that! :lol:

Welcome to the forum... glad to have you here.

That there is a mouth full lol semi nice almost kinda sorta school teacher lecture there ^_^ haha

 

[Katnapper]

That there is a mouth full lol semi nice almost kinda sorta school teacher lecture there ^_^ haha

Lol... Well I do have a B.A. in English, and I do tend to carry on sometimes. Never did want to teach... maybe I should have. :lol:

 

[jacksun]

Jackson wats this talk about a secret code a heat mat is a small mat that you place under a glass container that keeps the glass warm and since my jars are small it warms up the inside to

Just joking with you

 

[Omen414]

I live in Bloomington, Illinois, USA. Try finding me!

Im totally up to that challenge!...hahaha just playin ...idk i couldnt help it... Hiya IamwhoIam welcome to the Mantid forum

 

[Katnapper]

Im totally up to that challenge!...hahaha just playin ...idk i couldnt help it... Hiya IamwhoIam welcome to the Mantid forum

:lol:

 

[Dinora]

my mum just gave me another internet safety lecture

Good for Mum!!!

I gave the same lecture to my kid, then what does he do? Replies to some random guy who texted him!!!

He lost internet connection to his computer, xbox, iPod Touch AND his TV for a week as punishment.

You should have seen him! Was walking around like a zombie, I mean OMG he still has all the video games, just no access to the internet. You would have thought someone did a lobotomy on him!

Sheesh!

And, while, yes, it's true, if someone knows what they are doing and really wants to, they can find you, but why make it easy on the dumb ones?

Glad you are here IAmWhoIAm! Welcome!

-Dinora

Edit: Oh, and hugs to Superfreak! She was right about what she wrote!