I came across an interesting article in PC magazine on the information people post on social networking sites and the way the information can be used for bad purposes.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409350,00.aspI know we often share some personal details on this site similar to the ones that this article mentions. Occasionally, people's real names slip through posts, especially when we know each other. I'm guessing it is not too hard for anyone to figure out what neighborhood I live in, both due to my name and my frequent posts about a neighborhood bar and other shops here. You might even have figured out where I work due to an occasional mention of geography and other references to my employer or area of work expertise. My user ID was set up so long ago on the WaPo website that I am not even sure there were facebook and twitter at the time, and I just carried it over here (watch that detail be used to now link posts there to here).
I'm wondering if we should at least have some sort of posting tips thread here. Also, could we come up with a check list of "before you pick a user ID, think about" list of suggestions, like "avoid using a neighborhood," "don't use you name as part of your ID," "if you give a date of birth, be sure your passwords aren't based off it," etc...
thoughts?