Should we worry about 'perverts' reading our posts?

I wouldn’t post anything confidential or intimate on GN, even if I had a pseudonym.
I don’t think the problem is perverts ‘getting off’ on threads which discuss such things, but that if a genuine poster does share intimate details, they are then opening up the possibility of receiving private messages from the sort of people they probably wouldn’t want a private message from.

Doodledog & Fanny - I don’t think you don’t need a different email address to change your username. You can just de-register & then re-register with a different one. Some quite prolific posters have had 5 or 6 different user names.
It’s possible that if you have two or more email addresses you could have more than one username at the same time.
But I think that’s against the rules & GN would know because it would be the same IP address. I think ?

Oh no.
I have some standards.
I'd say "fanny".

I didn’t comment on that particular health thread as I didn’t want to add fuel to it, so to speak, but had my doubts. Did the OP ever reply to the posts? Did she (?) have to use such a precise word to explain the area? Would you mention this subject while chatting to a mixed group you don’t know?

I tend to be suspicious of any first time poster who, for example, mentions clitoris in the title.
Tends to happen more when the schools are out.

What angers me is when genuine gransnetters spend their time giving advice when it is some pubescent teenager getting off on it.

So many of us are quite naive and need to be warned that this is an open forum.

It's lovely.
We used to call my mum things like that, because we loved her so much.

I can see why people share their health concerns on here as its easier than face to face. Also good to know if others have similar problems and how they dealt with it,
I do agree with Marydoll though there is no substitute for professional help.

Thank you MissAdventure ?

Being the sensitive little soul that I am, I’ve been embarrassed about it since another poster replied to me and said grannynannywanny or whatever ever your name is it’s too long. Ouch!

Doodledog You say "GN doesn't have a 'search user's posts' function as far as I can tell" but if you put the user's name into the search box, it brings up posts by that user and mentions of them by other posters. That gives you an idea of any obsessions that a poster may be displaying. You can sort the results by date if you want, which makes it easier to find things if you know roughly when it was posted.

Mixed feelings. Yes it is good advice to tell people to see their GP with intimate health problems, but some people won’t unless prompted to do so as they are maybe scared or don’t want to waste their doctor’s time if it’s something trivial. There are, however, medical forums you can go on although like children’s playgrounds they too may attract perverts.

I love your name grannynannywanny

It always makes me smile.

Thank you for your (rather exasperated!) explanation Doodledog
I'm not the brightest when it comes to things like this.

I don't worry about pervs posting on here. They can be ignored. I am, however, very careful about what information I put on about myself and never post pictures of the DGC. For one thing they are not my children and for another once the pictures are posted here they could end up anywhere on the net.

If you worried about it, you'd have to worry about just about anything, really. Anything you can name has someone somewhere who is turned on by it! Even so, no need to encourage the more - umm - mainstream fetishists by adding your own details in reply to a thread newly started about intimate symptoms. Keep them for your GP - or the specialist you are referred to.

FannyCornforth

Galaxy

What do you mean fanny, people change names on here all the time?

I thought that you couldn't name change!?
It mentions it somewhere in 'the rules'. It says that you can change it once.
I could be wrong, but I've seen it somewhere. Also one of the mods told me it wasn't allowed.
Tbh I've never understood when users say that they've been 'locked out' and had to NC.

Of course you can change your name - you'd just re-register using a different email address. How do you think people who share a computer can have separate FB accounts and so on?

You wouldn't be linked to the rest of your posts, as GN doesn't have a 'search user's posts' function as far as I can tell (if we did it would be a very good way of seeing who has asked the same thing over and over, and whether someone shows patterns of behaviour), but presumably people who want to change in order to post a spoof thread aren't bothered about that.

It would be very easy to have several identities on here if you wanted to, and almost certainly there will be people who do exactly that.

On the topic of name changes, I’ve looked at my settings and can’t figure out how to do it. I read it can be changed once. Does it need to be done by GNHQ?

I’d like to change mine as it’s ridiculously long and came about by accident during the registration process!

That post has now been deleted. No more worries until the next one.

A lot of new users find their way here because they've been looking online and a search result showed gransnet.

Suspicions are often quickly aroused when a seemingly new poster starts a thread on a sensitive or potentially embarrassing subject. But I wonder is it possibly a regular poster who has set up an alias as they don’t want to be identified?

It's for each individual to decide.
Someone with a particular fetish will hunt around until they find what they want, and that could be a myriad of different things.

Can't say that I worry about it but I personally wouldn't post anything too personal. I think that people forget that once its up any one can see it. We have a neighborhood group and people start with their entire personal history, relationship status etc. Seems a bit niaeve.

Galaxy

What do you mean fanny, people change names on here all the time?

I thought that you couldn't name change!?
It mentions it somewhere in 'the rules'. It says that you can change it once.
I could be wrong, but I've seen it somewhere. Also one of the mods told me it wasn't allowed.
Tbh I've never understood when users say that they've been 'locked out' and had to NC.

There are much better places to 'get off' on something than a health forum on this kind of site. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about health posts.

What do you mean fanny, people change names on here all the time?

I think that posters with ill intent are quite easy to spot here, mainly because of user name rules.
As galaxy has said it's a cause for concern over on MN. I do wonder why they don't have the same name change thing as on here.

I'm not worried about perverts reading such threads, but what does concern me is that people start threads about intimate issues hoping for advice from anonymous posters with no medical knowledge, who then starting offering all sorts of solutions or diagnoses.
It is totally irresponsible.
That's why I always advise seeking professional help.

Also I agree with Galaxy, there are people who get kicks out of starting such threads.