It has come to our attention that some of our members could use some tips for internet safety. We highly suggest that you follow these precautions while on Snitchseeker and any other site you visit on the internet.


1. Do not give out personal information such as your full name, address, or phone number.

2. If you are under 18, please get your parents' permission before giving out any information or posting personal pictures of yourself. If you are over 18, use caution when showing personal pictures and giving out personal information such as your email address, IM addresses/aliases, etc.

3. Never meet up with someone you met online.

4. Never give out your password(s).

5. If you ever have any problems with a member of SS, please PM an Admin right away.

6. Never download anything from the site unless you specifically clicked on a link to download something. SnitchSeeker will NEVER require you to install plugins or automatically try to start downloading something to your computer. (We have instances in the past and present where advertisers try to trick you into installing things on your computer which are reputedly from SS but, they aren't).


For more internet safety tips:
GetNetWise.net
This website has extensive information on how to stay safe online.
Safeteens.com
This website has some good tips for teens and kids to stay safe online.


If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, please feel free to post them here or PM me about them.

Stay Safe!

Kris
Minister of Magic


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Another big issue for people is Internet Security. I'm not an expert but, here's some info you might find useful.

Historically, macs aren't as vulnerable to things like viruses and spyware. In fact, spyware isn't usually an issue for macs. However, about.com has a nice little page on Mac Security.

Yes, you never know who is lurking around (guests or members) and that is why it is important that everyone think about what they are posting and where. The Leaky Cauldron and most of the rest of the site is visible to guests as a way to show what our forums have to offer.

I'm going to move the picture thread into Witch Weekly which isn't viewable to guests since it has personal information about members.

It isn't advisable because there is so much potential to meet online predators, but since you're 18 and an adult, you're old enough to make the call yourself.

So if you intend to meet, there are a few safety precautions that are highly recommended.

The reason I didn't ellaborate on the meeting people offline thing is because I didn't want to encourage it. It is very dangerous to meet people in real life who you only know from online and should not be attempted unless you have taken precautions and have your parents' permission.

I would also like to add something, because I get onto people all the time about giving out to much info, and they ignore me. I think that you shouldn't put your MySpaces up. I think that is very dangerous for you. You don't know who could decide to come on the computer one day, and turn into one of those freaks in prison. I may be being a little silly, but they do have people at this very moment online. So I think MySpaces should not be added to any other sitebesides MySpace. And you should only allow friends to see your page on MySpace. This is just what I think.

A lot of people have been posting about an advertisement that's been popping up and asking people download things to their computers so I've added another little tip to the first post:

We are working with our ad hosts to prevent these kinds of malicious advertisements but, they do keep popping up because we don't have any control over policing those ads and require the ad host to deal with it. We apologize for the inconvenience.