Have you heard of Gravatar? It’s a globally recognized avatar that is associated with your email address. You have to set it up, it doesn’t automatically go to your Facebook page, take a random picture from your profile and associate that with your email address.
From their website:
A Gravatar is a G lobally R ecognized Avatar . You upload it and create your profile just once, and then when you participate in any Gravatar-enabled site, your Gravatar image will automatically follow you there.
We had it active on the USCCA Community, but recently turned it off due to an expressed concern about people associating the individuals here with firearms. Do you use Gravatar?
Do you post profile pictures online? How do you balance protecting your privacy online with your social media use?
Pretty much with you on this one… this is the only social platform I’m currently active on. I have had other presences in other places - when they were a primary vehicle for what I was active in at the time. I still use LinkedIn for the business connections and job searches, but not so much the social stuff.
Gravitar has always made me a little uncomfortable, but I’m not sure exactly why.
As for posting - I assume that whatever I put in print is potentially going to be visible or used by someone else when I least want it to. Same thing for spoken words - once out, you can’t get them back. I try to never say or print or post anything that would make me deeply uncomfortable later. My thoughts are mine, but once it’s out there, it may be used in ways I don’t intend. So, I zip up unless I mean to stand by it.
Nope. I think I have my face only somewhere on Internet…
There is no balance here… Social media always wins. Once you post ANYTHING… it sits there forever, no privacy at all. Even you upload as “private”, it is “public”…
These words: You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.
Mean the same as: Anything you post may be used against you in a court of law…
@Fish, you’ll hear no laughing from me. We could probably use each other’s drivers licences and no one would notice. My wife and daughter both thought your avatar was me.
Depends on the platform…I do here and on a professional work related platform as I view them as more secure and more professional.
The couple other SM platforms that I actually belong to like youtube, google, Facebook no. I’m fairly low key on those forums anyway (I only have FB because of Boy Scouts information forum, and my only contacts are other adult Scouters in my Council…I hate it)
I’m registered at a few other firearm-related message boards, most of them sponsored by manufacturers. I use them very occasionally for informational purposes. No aggressive statements or even gallows humor. Even a search of my entire email history wouldn’t turn up anything worse than a strongly worded letter of complaint to a business; nothing strong enough to be considered threatening.
I have no facebook, twitter, or other popular social media accounts, nor do I visit them except for Facebook Marketplace. Bought a riding mower offered for sale there by a guy here in town. The only messages between us were “Is it still available?” , and “When is a good time to come see it?” . Can’t make that into anything very nefarious.
