Forum moderators beware?

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This is in the news. If the suspect is the right one, a man in the UK who runs a game forum was killed by one of his users. The killer traveled all the way from Germany to kill him. Amazing how some people take totally unimportant things to extremes. And have very bad tempers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/7636821.stm

 

I've been a mod on another forum for 2+ years and I've yet to see one such nutcase... thankfully. Looks like an isolated incident to me.

 

What the...???

It's definitely an isolated incident, but it's still weird that anyone would travel from Germany to the UK to kill a forum owner. It cannot be anything but a petty argument that started this anyway.

Very sad for the owner's family.

 

A friend of mine who runs a fishkeeping forum has been harassed by a former member who decided to start a competing forum. The harassment has reached the point of physical threats, but those threats have yet to be acted on. Still, it was enough to effectively destroy the forums, although we diehards are still there.

 

Ragusa?

(only kidding)

 

The world is open to everyone (including psychopaths of the dangerous type), and due to the internet, flow of information has become incredibly fast. It doesn't have to be a forum "misunderstanding", it can be anything in an open virtual community (admittedly forums are the best example for that). Furthermore, for example, psychopath serial killers can now choose their victims through the internet. I find those users a bit too brave who post a lot of public photos about their family & friends, together with their names etc. That information isn't available for one town, city or country -- they're available for the world. Of course, I don't say it has a high probability that someone who you've debated with on a forum (or just a serial killer, randomly) decides to travel to you and do a massacre, but the lottery usually also has a winner, no?

 

I've moderated loads of sites (HAH! Unbelievable isn't it?) and although people rant on about getting banned or having accounts limited, I've never had anyone trying to kill me.

Mind you, I've never been daft enough to tell people exactly where to find me!

 

Exactly. I don't have a problem posting photos of my family. I would nuts to put my home address out there, or even my last name where I could be tracked down easily enough.

 

You mean it isn't Foppish Idiot?!

A few handful of people - hell, most people even - around here know my name and where I live, but I'm pretty sure nobody has my exact address. Rotku mailed me a CD and a can of tuna once, but that was my old address. He also took the tuna out of the can so it got all mushy inside a plastic bag. Crazy Rotku!

This piece of news brings a whole new perspective to Sorvo's Atlas of Doom.

 

People definitely take themselves far too seriously. I got banned! Oh, an insult to my pride! Must avenge! Such melodrama. Pfft.

But this is an example of how Nintendo mushes your brains. They should start putting warning labels on their games. 'Warning, may cause murdering rampages, permanent brain damage and/or insanity.'

 

Brought to you by the same people as the Nintendo Wii. I rest my case

 

Thats MR Foppish Idiot to all of us lowly peons thank you very much

1, why would someone mail you a can of tuna & 2 why would they remove the tuna from the can??

 

Approximate location and name (if it includes the surname) are a bit more risky than photos, for two reasons. First, based on the name/location and other public information, it isn't too hard to locate someone via some further investigation. Second, searching by name is possible in many databases, while by photos, you need a police/intelligence database. (Fortunately, searching by name isn't so easy in databases nowadays, and the decoupling of databases in Europe also improves security -- in this respect, Americans are in bigger danger than Europeans, because they basically have one ID, the SS number; but this would be off-topic a bit.) Of course, all this greatly depends on your name (e.g. John Smith in a city/town of UK/USA is a tough task without additional information).

 

I've gotten threats of physical violence over the internet.

Also, a lot of people know where to find me.

I'm not exactly scared of anyone on the internet, still.

 

I'll let you in on another secret - my first name isn't Aldeth either. Shhh! Don't tell anyone.

 

Don't lie! Everyone knows you're Aldeth! Aldeth Sashenstar from MD!

It will be late to be careful once the problem has happened... and until it doesn't happen, no one cares. Of course, to tell the truth, I also don't think it has a high chance that such information will be abused by someone. If some influential organization, group or person needs your personal information (and in a worse case, possibly wants to do something with it too; or in even worse case, wants to do something with you), then it will get it. I mean, it won't matter indeed how careful you were, e.g. on the internet, when sharing details about yourself.