July 6, 2009 at 10:12 am
Safe Surfing
As you all know, the Web is a pretty big place, and just like in the real world, you can encounter all sorts of people. At Yahoo! Answers, we strive to improve your community experience, and we are also committed to your online safety. That’s why we offer many ways to control the personal information you display, and the people who can contact you.
Since the amount of information you display on social networks is completely up to you, we wanted to remind you how to control your privacy on Answers.
Want privacy?
- Don’t display your real name. Pick a nickname or a screen name. A nickname without any personally identifiable information is best.
- Don’t post your real photo. Pick an image, an Avatar, or no image at all.
- Don’t reveal personal information in your profile.
- If you don’t want the community to see your questions and answers, make them private.
Want to control who contacts you?
- Limit your network of friends. Your contacts can view your activity on Answers. Control your network by adding or removing friends, and blocking users.
- Activate or deactivate contact options. We never display your email address, but through this feature you can control whether other people can contact you or not.
And now, a question for you: Do you think too much personal information is shared in the online world? 
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Yes. I think so because of social networking websites. For example, Myspace and Facebook. And cameras make it easy for people to take pictures of themselves.
If Y!A did it’s job correctly, privacy wouldn’t be a concern.
Way too much!
Nice blog entry, folks!
One important piece of information that is not mentioned here is that people should be warned right from the beginning that they won’t be able to delete their “embarrassing” personal/private posts if it so should happen that their mom, husband or boss find their YA account.
Yes, I know it’s mentioned in the Terms of Service, but how many people read that?
Please give YA users such a warning! At least think about it, I’m sure lots of people would be really grateful and it won’t stop them from participating, it’ll just make them more careful.
Please, please, please do something about those who openly state in their questions and answers that they are only 10 yes TEN years old. Many parents don’t know what their children are doing on the net and YAHOO does state that one has to be at least 13 to use YAHOO ANSWERS. PLEASE enforce your own policy. Ten year olds don’t have the sense to be careful about their net usage.
Woooooooooooooow.
Check out!
Yes i think too much information is shared in the online world.Willingly or unwillingly.Consciously or subconsciously.Some spyware program is stealing your and my personal information as we speak.
Yeah every year we in ireland something along the lines of “girl raped over bebo” now i dont think thats a good example im working on a social network at the moment and its going to be strict as ever im not going to let them even say where there from!Im trying to get socia-lite.com as the domain but the not saying where your from should prevent the headlines saying “girl raped over socia-lite”
All of us who own a website or websites need to control our visitors and keep their information safe.
I own about 20 websites and id say have over 100,000 visitors every day and guess what ive never once had a problem with privacy or anything that is to blame on any of my websites!2 years expereince in web hosting(who and im going 14 in august imagine what ill have for a cv when im 18 and finished school)
People share way too much personal information online and I find it quite surprising that they don’t understand that it’s not private. Once you do anything online you are at risk of having it spread around the world and it doesn’t matter if it’s in a private mail to a friend, accounts do get hacked.
Common sense isn’t common and I do agree with the earlier suggestion about warning Y!A users that their private questions and answers will never be deleted.
Way too much. You can look up anyone’s screen name even on google and their questions pop up. That’s also why I live in an apt that comes with utilities, including cable. No bills=unable to find my on line.
No not really. Any information you choose to share on the internet is your choice and yours alone. Should any negative consquences arise because of your actions then the only person who is to blame is yourself.
Wow, this new update is going to damage the Yahoo industry by a milestone.
in a world so short on heart, so short on integrity – so short on honesty – the web fills that whole.
just be careful of the blood suckers that feed from the fountains of purity.
we need to bring the net into the real world – we need to bare our souls to those in real life and call them on their fakery.
That’s good to know as there are a lot of weirdos in this forum. Makes me kind of scared to see kids in here asking inocent questions and getting perverted ansewrs.
Just wish Yahoo would really get on their toes and watch some of these trolls.
Yes, please remind the public educated that not all people are too dense to figure out where you live when you post many, many clues on the web.
To everyone asking for Yahoo to “police” (inhibit free speech) the forums, try this.
Down at the bottom of EVERY answer/question is a Report Abuse button.
Use it IF the poster has truly crossed a line. Not if you just disagree (even if you really, really), but if the poster has violated a Term of Service.
We have to quit treating Americans like babies and start demanding personal accountability. You know, the way it used to be.
bwwwaaahaahaaa, like that will happen
It really gives me the creeps when people ask me personal info online! If they insist then I just stop talking to them and ignore them completely. Or I just fabricate something that is obviously not true and that also get the message to them. Some people delete me, and that is okay! I would never meet someone from online. I know I’d be killed.
Wow! I didn’t even think about that, I posted my name, an actual picture of me, and in the profiles section, pretty much everything there is to know about me. Next thing I do after I submit this will be to remove all that info. thx for the heads up.
sometimes you can tell people that you thought you can trust about something personal and they will turn around and display it on the web.
safe surfing? no such thing.
OK guys, but this is just one side of the coin.
Precaution measures are relative to the place where an individual lives, his occupation and the amount of information revealed publicly in the net.
And – of course – of what he reveals.
If we accept what you say, letterally, (in order to protect ourselves) then we have to accept that socialization through internet is gone far away!
Virtual reality, is the spectrum of the reality that everybody lives. Just a little bit broader and darker, I mean anonymous.
Sorry, if I am very long, I say this and then I close.
If we accept that a concerned person would never do that, there is an emerging danger: progress, that is based on information exchange, is impeded.
So, in this case it is worthy to take the risk and open ourselves.
You see, every coin has two sides.
Just limit the exchange of information, like when you will have your holidays, so you will be out of home, never posting your house’s photos ecc.
Lots of info is shared on the internet. But some websites are filtered (so if you say something it won’t show or you will get banned or it is blocked, and so on).
I think the best ways to keep you safe:
1. Don’t share ANY personal info.
2. If someone asks you a personal question, leave the chat room, or if you can report them, just report them.
3. Probably go on FILTERED websites.
4. Go on websites with a Trusted badge or something.
Plus, I think a first name is OK to share, but nothing else.
I think i did much imfo online…it is not in the least necessary…
Maybe instead of computers and all the info maybe they should worry about cell phones.Really I am more likely to be hit by a textr then a drunk driver.And I sure as he** don’t see anyone on a pc or lab.