New to Net: Safe Chatting By Linda C. Allardice

One of first places I visited when I signed up for my Internet service way back in 1993 was public chat rooms. It was so fascinating to have all these strangers gather together and talk about everything from politics to just how much they really hated their bosses. My mouth gaped like a sea bass when I noticed some folks spilling their guts onto computer screen and admitting to stuff that should be kept secret – such juicy gossip I couldn’t get at my hairdresser on one of her busiest days.

Chat rooms are still enormously popular, but rules of safety remain as steadfast as a palace guard.

If you’re new to Web, you’ve got to be extremely careful in chat rooms. There are some major don’ts you need to follow to keep your chatting an enjoyable yet safe experience.

 Don’t ever for whatever reason enter your real name, address, city, phone number, password, or any other personal information into a chat room discussion.

Oftentimes, a perpetrator who may want to hack into your computer -- or worse your home -- can come up with clever ways to get inexperienced Internet users to reveal personal information. They might get you to talk about landmarks, places of interest in your community, where you work or go to school to zero in on your location.

 Don’t respond to Instant Messages if you don’t know sender.

Instant Messages are those private messages that pop up on your screen apart from main chat room. Some are easy to detect as spammers when they send you an IM saying they are a model and want you to look at their pictures. That screams “yes, I am a porno perp” loud and clear. Some spammers have password sniffers on their end that can snatch your password if you reply to message. One they have your password they can have a field day with your account. Spammers might send you an IM that says “Warning: you cannot continue in Chat Room without entering your password here.” This catches many new Internet and some veterans off guard and they mistakenly comply with request.

Email and newsgroups have qualities that seem to invite unusual behavior. Again, these are very rare occurrences, but when they happen they exhibit very clear patterns:

For some men, anonymity of email and newsgroups seems to provide a rare ability to express strong emotions without filters normally (and quite rightly) imposed by society.

For some women, email is an easy way to pose as morally superior without nuisance of actually ~being~ morally superior.

EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE MEN

(No, girls, that's not redundant. Let's not be catty.)

Sorry fellas, but it would be reverse-sexist of me to pretend that I get this kind of email from women:

Dear Ms Cox,

You said that people who don't like spam have small brains. Well, I HATE spam and I have an extra large brain, so you are stupid and everything you say is stupid, and you are stupid, and anyone who thinks you are not stupid is stupid.

You're welcome,

Mike S. Angry Young Man

Wow! I guess someone wasn't breastfed.

If anyone actually walked up to me and spoke that way in person, they'd walk away with a wake-up dose of pepper spray sluicing through their freshly violated colon.

Obviously, "Mike S." possesses kind of brainpower that makes one-card monty dealers rejoice in their career choice, but is that an excuse for such a self-indulgent attack? What is?

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist black flag, and begin slitting throats." --H.L. Mencken

Sweet Jesus!! That's NORMAL ones?!? Thank God there are so few. (Oops, catty.)

I suppose that all men have a demon of rage crouching deep within, tightly coiled, set to spring at least provocation like a runner off blocks--some murky throwback to cave days when survival might depend on a split-second transition from sound sleep to ferocious bloodlust; a mood swing on steroids.

"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of pain of being a man." --Samuel Johnson