Could someone actually find out who I really am on this site

L

LoveTulips

Senior Member
Location
British Columbia, Canada
So some things which I talk about here, or in the future that I intend to talk about, I'm worried that someone may become offended if they knew who I was and that I was talking about them. Can someone find out my actual name here, has it ever happened? Or is this a stupid question, as I guess as long as I'm online, anyone can find out who I am?
 

Ya know a Turtle lives in his shell because no one will have him in theirs. ... :coffee: ...
I can think of worser things than hanging out in a pond on a downed tree trunk.
 
I am not sure if they can or not. I know that my user name can be googled and posts from just about every forum I am on will come up. If anyone does that I don't know or even care. If I write something about someone else I don't normally use their real name. Sometimes I do though (my son or my boyfriend). And it depends on if you are known by both names, user name and real name.
 
Under certain circumstances, a law enforcement officer could subpoena Matrix for your IP address and that would lead the Officer to you.
However, there is a lot more to it than just getting a subpoena. First, there has to be probable cause. You would have to be suspected of committing a crime or be on a missing person’s list.
 
My thoughts on this is that I couldn't be found unless I gave the information to find me. Now that said, I have never believed that I'm the only person over 50 in my entire area who would look for a senior forum and find the best one (this one)... so if I give clues like "my local school just won the state football championship" or "there was a murder a block away" (plus give enough details) I could be found, sure. That would take someone having stalked me, though, to know all details like if I mentioned what color the house was newly painted, etc.

Oooops, I do go on. I wrote some articles about how to keep teens safe from online predators, and those things I just listed are the types of things that lead someone right to the door. (school info, house color info, just mentioning when parents go to work, etc.)
 
LoveTulips said:
So some things which I talk about here, or in the future that I intend to talk about, I'm worried that someone may become offended if they knew who I was and that I was talking about them. Can someone find out my actual name here, has it ever happened? Or is this a stupid question, as I guess as long as I'm online, anyone can find out who I am?
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The answer is simply..No ! Unless you talk about people on here using their first and last names, and or use your own first and last name... no-one can possibly know who you are... and it's as simple as that...

Only if you commtted a crime... for example you said.. you'd just robbed a bank, and I don't care who knows.. then the police could theooretically track you down... but in reality it's not likely... ... but for sure, Moderators and site owners cannot track your home address..or your personal name!
 
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hollydolly said:
No that's wrong, they certainly cannot track your home address using the IP adress. The most they could do is track the town or city....other than that they cannot find an address or a name..!
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I beg to differ. With a bit of digging, one can find out using the IP address. I have been admin of one forum, and moderator at others. One that I was a mod at, we tracked down the house of a person who was threatening self-harm so police could do a wellness check. :)
 
hollydolly said:
Thee answer is simply..No ! Unless you talk about people on here using their first and last names, and or use your own first and last name... no-one can possibly know who you are... and it's as simple as that...

Only if you commtted a crime... for example you said.. you'd just robbed a bank, and I don't care who knows.. then the police could theooretically track you down... but in reality it's not likely... ... but for sure, Moderators and site owners cannot track your home address..or your personal name!
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I'm not here to argue. If that is what you believe, okay. :)
 
BlueDragonfly said:
I beg to differ. With a bit of digging, one can find out using the IP address. I have been admin of one forum, and moderator at others. One that I was a mod at, we tracked down the house of a person who was threatening self-harm so police could do a wellness check. :)
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the only wayy that could have been done is if the person had already given information about where they live or their real name..otherwise it could not happen

It's tales like this that get people stressed and worried about posting on forums...
 
hollydolly said:
the only wayy that could have been done is if the person had already given information about where they live or their real name..otherwise it could not happen

It's tales like this that get people stressed and worried about posting on forums...
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It isn't a tale. Let's just agree to disagree on our facts, shall we? :)
 
IP addresses are rarely permanently assigned to a home network or phone user. So rare it may as well never happen. It doesn't take much for your router to pick up a different one after a reset for example. Add VPNs on top of that, and the IP address becomes less and less useful for stalking users.
 

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