MONTANA TALK TO ME

Montana: do not - I repeat - do not contact this person!!
You're a good hearted, decent person with integrity, but.....

unfortunately, not everyone is a "friend" here, and the familiarity within a2k
makes us believe we're safe here. FOW has proven that this is not the case -
we all have to be more careful with private data, and revealing too much of
our lives.

actually this is a time that I am very glad that we do not have a PM function here. Can you imagine if the stalker had PM'd Montana with his/her/its overtures. I'm glad s/he/it had to do it publicly. It's safer this way.

There's a though for the programmers to consider. Maybe it could be designed that if you put a member on ignore, it would also block PMs from that member?

What the ****? That is truly fucked up.

Reminds me not to be complacent on here. ******* hell.

Ok, just getting up and need coffee, so before I start talking with Fountofwisdom, I need to ask you all to do me a huge favor by letting me and Fount talk without interruptions.
Thank you all for your concern, but I promise I won't be doing anything stupid.

Fount, I wish we still had PMs here, but we don't and I don't know you well enough to contact you outside of A2K. It's a safety precaution I take with everyone on the internet.

I'm going to make a pot of coffee and I'll be back in a few minutes.

How is a PM safe? or unsafe?

No one can hurt you through PM.

They can say what ever they want there.. just as they can in a forum.

A pm does not allow anyone close to your physical person. They are no danger.
But a PM does take away our ability to watch the drama unfold and for that I am shamelessly happy.

I think any site is safer without PM's as people can't get at more vulnerable forum members in private.

There are psychological dangers on the internet, for adults as well as children.

Not all forum members have the same level of emotional toughness. Others give away information that other posters/readers take advantage of. We've seen a few examples of that at Abuzz and A2K over the years. I've seen it at other sites as well.

Without PM's, people get to be idiots in public - and can be called on it by the community.

Some people consider what they post publicly more carefully than they do what they put in PM's.

People generally won't post their names/locations/emails on public forums - tend to be looser about that sort of thing in PM's.

Verrry true..

true, once when we had pm's i ended up meeting four people and having a very nice afternoon, including lunch and some beverages

oh, wait, that was a good thing

nevermind

Ummm, I'm not stupid

I'm gonna start another thread for this and I'm going to ask you all again to please let us talk without interuption.

I did too.
I traveled across Texas and half way through new mexico.

Im so lucky Im alive.
Dangerous bastahhhds those new mexico people. Maybe they were just scared of me , since Im black .. yeah.. thats it.

cool, but i'm so gonna read it

Fountofwisdom, I started a new thread so when you're ready I'll be there.

http://able2know.org/topic/128145-1

Sometimes we're lucky. Others aren't so lucky.

I never take it lightly, even though I've met literally dozens of on-line acquaintances.

Oh I agree.
I had a strange run in with someone when I first started internet stuff.
96? i believe?

Someone i was on AIM with ended up parking outside my home calling himself the love of my life.

Scary. Very scary!
I thought I had 'chatted' with him long enough to know him. Eh. Live and learn.

oh yeah, that reminds me, i think i lost your address

Well, that's exactly what happened with other a2kers too.
I would hope that people are mature enough to handle a PM function. I for one
don't need to be deprived of that feature to safeguard others who shouldn't
be in a public setting anyway, if they can't handle a PM feature.

(quietly pulls bayonet off wall)


yeah.
About that..

I moved.
To Argentina..

My suggestion for an ability to block PMs is not for protection but rather for peace and quiet and not allowing an internet stalker or chronic abuser to keep at it in PMs. Isn't that why the ignore feature is appreciated by some? To achieve emotional peace and quiet?

I haven't used AIMS in awhile but AOL has a lovely function allowing you to block people you do not want to receive IMs from. I have yet to use it for anybody I know or who I have had internet communication with. But every now and then it does come in handle to prevent chronic harrassment from people I don't know and never have had any interaction with. You might not believe some of the really disgusting stuff people will IM to strangers.

I worked for AOL in 96, that was my introduction to the internet so to speak.

We would get some... amusing to say the least.. posts / IMs from people.

The things others would report were, scary, sad, embarrassing, funny.. you name it.

Being anonymous really opened up flood gates for some people. It was an odd thing to watch.