PLEASE don't use photos as avatars!

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Hi, everyone....some of you may have noticed this topic in other threads on other forums/boards, but I see some of you are quite new and maybe would be seeing this for the first time.

AllNurses is a great place to exchange information, do some research, and vent frustrations. It's also not even close to being as anonymous as most new members seem to believe it to be. With the increased use of the internet for searching people's backgrounds, it doesn't take much effort at all to find out where someone works, lives, the hours they keep and where they shop, where their kids go to school....you get the idea.

Please don't make it easy for the psychos out there by posting your PHOTO, for heaven's sake!

Beyond that, even if you believe yourself shielded from those sorts of troubles (as if we could ever be sure of that?), you should DEFINITELY realize that students have been kicked out of their nursing programs for posting messages online that someone in their program (fellow student, teacher, clinical instructor, you name it) found objectionable.

You could lose that long-awaited program spot because of a message board post, YES. You could find yourself as a new grad, in a shiny new RN position, only to be dropped during your probationary time because of message board posting that vents about preceptors, employer's policies, scheduling, etc etc.

I'm NOT saying to never post these kinds of messages. WE ALL DO. I AM saying that putting your FACE, and oftentimes name, email address, town you live in, school you attend, just makes it blissfully easy to identify you and REMOVE you from your school or employment.

Word to the wise, that's all....guess that's my Public Service Announcement for Today :)

[BusiestBSN]

Oh yes! I have seen some new members who put their name as the username, their actual picture and state the name of their school.

It is better to leave a little mystery. And AN offers that luxury, unlike many websites now that require your full name, birthday, picture, etc.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Please take note that my current avatar is a dog. I'm not Stan, the "Dog with a Blog" or a cousin/relative of his. On no social/professional forum have I ever posted my actual photo and I do not intend to.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

The only place my photo is published is facebook. I would never use it on a site like this. I don't want people to know who I am. My facebook page has privacy settings so only my friends can see my pics because there are a lot of my son and with the internet these days you never know who is copying pics. Gotta be safe on the net.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

And Ruby Vee is not my real name!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

And I do not drink green tea. Blechhhh. :)

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I don't use my picture because I don't want you all to be jealous.

(Not that you'd be likely to be jealous of an overweight, middle-aged lady with all-natural, eco-friendly, organic 'highlights' in her hair, but I digress.)

[BostonRN13]

I couldn't even if I wanted to! Not that I'd put my face up here but every picture of a sunset or whatever never works!!

[sharpeimom]

And I do not drink green tea. Blechhhh. :)

Good! I have always thought that green tea tastes like the African violet fertilizer my grandmother used smelled!! Bleck!

[sharpeimom]

I don't use my photo, my husband's, or any family members who aren't toddler age or below (as viewed from the rear) on any forum or site. It's simply too dangerous because there are too many wingnuts out and among us.

I post pictures of our critters and use their pictures as my avatars, which I change frequently and not just because they're so darned cute. Once in a while, I add a picture of a doggie littermate, with permission.

Aside from bosses, future bosses, schools we're applying to checking up on us, what we post, who we friend, how "normal" and "mainstream" our friends appear to be, all types of people can check out our FB pages, our photos, some of our interests. I don't

care who knows I'm an I Love Lucy or a Honeymooners fan, but it wouldn't be an employer's or prospective school's business that a friend and I went to Woodstock if I were that young and job or school hunting.

You have to participate in facebook, allnurses, etc. as though your grandmother were going to look at and read everything! I have a young cousin who is grad school shopping now. He's squeaky clean. Has never done drugs, volunteers with an elementary school reading program, doesn't drink because he's diabetic, is active in his church, volunteers at the animal shelter, was a University Scholar,

etc. He uses the same stupid avatar for every site he visits. It's a photograph (not of him) of a frat brother who's so intoxicated he's almost unconscious, plus a couple of spare elbows, and he wonders why oh whyyyyyyyyyyyy none of the schools he's interested in want him. Several of us have tried on many occasions to knock some sense into his hard head, but no luck yet.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

it is my real dog....

I agree it is important to keep anonymous as possible especially when you are in school. I never post anything that I wouldn't shout in the mall. But that is just me.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I really am a cat.