Be Safe Online
This guide applies to both those under 18 and those over 18. If you're struggling to understand some of what I'm saying, feel free to ask others for help in understanding. Asking is not a weakness.
Words that are underlined with dots like this indicate a tooltip that expands or gives a definition to what I'm saying.
This page lives under the motto of: "Internet safety is taught, not intrinsic knowledge. And everyone deserves to learn about it."
The Basics
- Don't give out your name online, especially your middle and/or last names
Use non-identifiable nicknames or random usernames instead. This makes it harder for people to stalk you or find you in real life.
- Don't give out where you live, go to work/school, or frequent either
That's in increasing order of urgency. If you must, give out where you work/study and where you like to go to, but under no circumstances should you give out where you live to anyone on the internet.
- Don't put out your age online unless you're an adult
The most anyone needs is whether or not you're less than 18 years old. Putting your exact age makes you a target for bad people.
- Don't participate in trends like "Draw your path to school/work"
In the same vein as the second bullet point but this is a great way to advertise to kidnappers your location.
- Don't put out your full face online
Try to censor it if you can. If you don't do this, your face can be edited onto photos of people doing illegal activities/nudes/other media that could be damaging to you socially.
- Don't give out your email and/or phone number.
If you do, you'll be harrased by spammers.
- Don't click on suspicious links and, if you do, do it with a VPN and an adblocker
Unfortunately the shows lied to you, HTTPS sites can still be not secure and can still be scam sites or filled with viruses.
- Install an adblocker. If you can't/don't want to, then don't click on any ads
There's about a fifty percent chance any ad you click on is secretly a pop-up for a chain of infinitely redirecting sites
- Don't post anything related to your (or anyone's) banking information at all
If you see a post like "What's your superhero ID? Post the numbers on the back of your credit card to find out!" then that's a scam to get your banking information
This isn't an exhaustive list of everything you can do to stay safe on the internet, but it's what you should
always remember.
Slightly More Complex Basics
- If you have a mental disorder that can be triggered by anything, don't publicly put out your triggers
Yes, there's a high chance that you won't be bothered and can just block people who intentionally try to trigger you. But if there's a day you can't, you don't want to risk it either. It's best to keep triggers between you and those you know.
- Don't post your mental disorders unless neccessary either
Unless you're looking to specifically make content about your disorders, you're essentially just doing a slightly less dangerous version of the first bullet point. People on the internet can be cruel and it's best to remember your account is visible to everyone, including the worst of the bunch.
- Do obfuscate information about yourself
Use the power of misinformation on your side and hint to yourself living in Australia even if you're clearly American. Or tell people your real name is Natalie when it's actually Amy. Remember to only tell white lies though.
How to Detect and Treat Trolls
Trolls are a huge problem within any online space, but this guide will teach you how to deal with them.
Detecting Trolls
Let's say you're online, looking things up about anything in general, when you see a piece of
inflammatory content. You go on up and ahead, opening the comment box to say something about it, but
stop right there!
Consider something: is it a troll who said this?
Check and ask yourself...
- Is the post overly-critical?
- Is the post very blunt, full of cursing, or insults?
- Is the post the opposite of the above where it's written as though it was made by someone from the 1700s?
- Is the post incomprehensible?
If the answer to two or more of the above is yes, then it's likely a troll. And if it isn't, do you
really want to talk to someone who can't bother to clean up their own posts?
Treating Trolls
...if you're already fighting a troll
Step 1, try to disengage. Summarise whatever arguments you've made for anyone else, cease insults if you didn't already, and slowly phase out of the argument. Don't let the troll provoke you by telling you that if you quit, you lose the argument. The truth is that the people who care about who wins that specific online argument are most likely only you and that troll.
Step 2, block them after they stop provoking you or, better yet, block them while they are. Trolls hate being starved and remember that there's a good chance you're the only one feeding them. Block them.
Step 3, if they make alternate accounts to harrass you, take picture evidence and block those accounts as well. Report them and show the picture evidence too.
Step 4, if that doesn't stop them, be ready to move and make a new account under a totally different username.
...if you see a troll in the wild
Step 1, take picture evidence and report them.
Step 2, block them.
No really, that's it, that's all you have to do. If you
really feel like whatever they're saying is damaging, go make a reply or two making your statement and then do steps one and two.