A couple recent security issues have cropped up — enough to remind me to beg all you online daters to stay safe and sound!
Recently, Gawker Media’s entire username and password database was compromised. So please, be prudent and switch up your passwords for all of your email accounts and online dating sites (as well as all the other big stuff!).
Secondly, my local Starbucks barista and I were joking about how the guy who had the current FourSquare mayorship of that Sbux location was probably faking it. After kidding about how we were going to track him down to find out if he actually worked in the same building with us, we made a few extremely minimal efforts to do so — and it was astounding how quickly we found out his full name, workplace, etc. It was SO EASY! (This is largely because his Facebook account was set to totally public.)
So please, daters, be safe — it’s fine to reveal a certain amount to your actual real-life friends, but we DON’T USE FACEBOOK FOR DATING. SERIOUSLY. I know it’s the most simple and easy way to just pass on a link about yourself with a summary of everything ever, but it’s just not appropriate in the beginning (and it will leave NOTHING new to talk about anyway). Be prudent! Have fun! And happy holidays. 🙂