Post codes/zip codes online

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Please don't post your postcode or zip code online in forums or social media.

I know that many of us on here are 18+ and therefore adults but we're also autistic & can be naive to potential harm.

Bad people might use this information to hurt you irl or track you down for physical fights if they argue with you.

It's best for your own sake to keep this stuff separate.

100% agree KT67.

On a slight side note don't post your real name or pictures with GPS coordinates.

The rule of "you never know who is watching" should always be adhered to especially with social media and forums. This could extend to not showing off your jewellery collection for example....some celebs found this out the hard way.

I wouldn’t post my zip code.....

Real name alone on some forums (not this one) can be ok imo.

Depends what it is.

Google yourself before deciding if it's ok. If a bunch of people or a celebrity come up, it's probably fine. For eg if your name is Maroline Monroe or Mary Smith.

I worry for my cousin cos her name is [Common Indian First Name] [Common German Surname] and she's English. Google her and every single thing that she ever did since she was a kid comes up. She's 29, it's still all readily available.

My nephew on the other hand has [Common English First Name] [Common English Surname]. Google him and a bunch of stuff about a celebrity comes up. So he has a bit more lee-way. He lives in a village so I hope he has the sense to say he lives in his county and not in his specific village.

With post codes etc, you're one in a hundred ppl or less with that, might seem like loads but it really isn't - there's billions of people on the planet so it actually really narrows it down. Even [full name]+[your town] is the same esp in a town rather than a city* (don't name your village! If you're for eg from Essex, say you live in Rural Essex. Treat it like a post code)

Personally I only upload my shortened first name or an alias like KT67. Giving first name on sites where that is common (not this one) breeds a sort of familiarity without giving away too much.
*I think Americans call villages 'towns'? I mean a small rural place.

Towns are usually rather large places.

Smaller places are usually called villages or hamlets.

Another thing is don't use the same nick at multiple sites.
I am lazy and reckless, so I have done it, but I wouldn't advice it.
It is usually quite easy to gather a lot of information about a person if you can harvest the information from many sources.

/Mats

Yeah I've done it and regret it.

Same as here then.

Small place which is remotely a place at all is a village.

Medium sized place is a town.

Big place is a city.

Hamlet isn't a proper place at all imo lol. When I was in a taxi going to school, we used to pick up a boy who lived in a hamlet. He lived in a street of houses out in the countryside which they hadn't bothered giving broadband to (it was around 2007?). Just one street then fields and fields. No church, no shops, no post office, just about 6 houses.

We have a "hamlet" (Levittown, NY), that has over 50,000 people LOL

Lol that's about half my home town and it was a town. Definitely village or even town size at that point imo. Hamlets to me is a few families off in the wilderness.

Maybe it's a 'Yankee-Dixie' divide rather than a 'Yank-Brit' divide?

Or maybe there's other reasons why country music seems to be all about villages but set in towns? 'Small town girl' that kind of thing.

I'm getting the idea there's a distinction because of country music.