Pink Poogle Toy Forum

If sharing your first and last name on the internet was dangerous, then I'm sure Neopets wouldn't allow you to put it on your user lookup for all and sundry to see.

Well maybe it's a fear I posses, I do have a very original first and last name.

Yeah, I suppose it is. That's probably why you get some users on Neopets who don't put their full name. I don't. My name is simply Ginger on there. It's not that I think it's dangerous because I'm sure there are hundreds and thousands of Victoria Hill's about the world, it's because Ginger is what I call my internet name. As far as I'm concerned my real name doesn't exist. And I'm not particularly fond of my name either. I find it old fashioned and uber boring. My mom was going to call me Stephanie. I wish she had of called me that now lol.

I've gotten stuff like that before... I generally say "Stop messing with me right now, or I'm blocking you." Only way to deal with idiots. Don't answer any questions, either, unless you actually do know and trust them- and if somebody instant messages you and asks you who you are (I get this a lot), don't answer unless they tell you who they are first. And if you don't know them... ask them how they got your screen name/beat the person that gave them it into a bloody pulp.

Neopets hasn't actually put it against the rules, have they? But I'm quite sure that they do discourage it - especially amongst younger viewers. They put warnings up on several pages, if I remember right. I'd never put my last name up, just my first name, but some people don't mind. I'm sure no John Smiths have ever been worried.

Yeah, there are some weirdos. I've had strange people, but none that have actually asked me for personal information (except one guy). The ones that stick out in my mind are the boys from afganistan who were obsessed with trying to get me to explain the process of baby-making to them - they were 21, apparantly, and their mothers had never told them anything about it so they didn't know.
The guy who was asking for personal information wasn't asking for my phone number or anything - he just wanted my shoe size. He was so angry after me telling him multiple times that I wouldn't tell him. So he tried for my mother's shoe size. After that it wasn't so funny anymore.

There are some strange people on the net - a lot of them are harmless. I wouldn't do it, but I know some of my friends would if they had the net and messengers.
On the other hand, there are always the real dangers out there, and it's not worth the risk. I may have no absolute proof, but I'm sure there was a pedophile after me on ICQ once. Nearly fell into the trap - yes, I was stupid - but I ended up safe because I didn't actually do anything like that.

So, yeah, to sum it up (I know, I talk a lot ) there are all kinds of people on the net. The simple rule is: Use messengers and you WILL get them. As long as you don't give any personal information away you'll be fine. And, hey, if you get them and you're sure it's a prank, play your own. Not that I've done that yet, but if anyone like that comes up to me I'd insist I still had their number and could just call them.



I've made a few friends online without either of us knowing how the other got the other person's addy. They're not anyone I'd trust with private information, but I certainly don't count them as weirdos; often they're quite nice. Really, with me, it's the people who find your email address by a logical way that you need to worry about. (e.g., found it on something like a livejournal or something. I forget where these people find it. )

ETA: Oh, and on ICQ there's a free for chat option, so *anyone* can find you completely randomly if they're bored. You'll sometimes end up with entertaining conversations on this - even the weirdos can be funny sometimes.

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There's nobody on the electoral register with my first and last name, apparently. So unless there are more under voting age, I'm the only one in this country.