Be careful what you divulge

[Music in My Heart]

I was chatting with a coworker who looked at me and said, "Are you on AllNurses.com?"

I replied, somewhat noncommittally, "Yeah, why do you ask?"

She said, "Are you ♪♫ in my ♥ ?"

I smiled and said, "Yep."

This is someone with whom I get on very well and with whom there's respect and camaraderie in both directions - and I don't think I've posted anything which I'd prefer not to be ascribed to me but it does drive home the point:

Be mindful of what you post... you may end up owning it and the internet is forever and ever.

I'm pretty sure that anybody who's read a lot of my posts and who works with me could ID me without too much trouble - and I'm mostly OK with that but in >4,000 posts over the last 6 years, I've probably said some things that I wouldn't necessarily say for attribution...

[Wave Watcher]

I wish I could speak with an accent on here....that way I would be even more mysterious! lol

But rest assured that AN is going to damn well do its best to protect members' data.

Some of the world's biggest companies, with huge IT departments get their systems hacked and disclose personal data. One would be foolish to think that it couldn't happen to AN, despite their best efforts.

Likewise, many people are running computers that have ended up with tracking software or other malware on them. These days, you don't even need to download something... you can get infected via 'drive-by' on some websites if your browser and/or OS aren't up to date.

Or, someone may just recognize you from what you say.

Presumption of eternal anonymity is foolish.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

And for the love of all that's holy, don't post from the unit computer. AHS has tracking programmes!

I use AN at home and I don't talk about AN to coworkers. No need to invite problems. That is how I protect my identity.

[DedHedRN]

Its so sad, and also disgusting that I am constantly worried about my coworker or workplace to up and stab me in the back that I have to hide my identity online all the time. Makes me want to go be a mechanic or janitor.

[JDZ344]

For those of you saying you figured out someone's identity from their posts - how'd you manage? With so many thousands of nurses and nursing students, I'd need a dead giveaway (e.g. pic or link to another profile). Just wondering how you figured it out so I know how to protect my own identity on here.

I hope nobody from my workplace ever "finds" me on here :)