Hi, thanks for all this information.I wanted to know,"are there ever instances where this site gets hacked? by someone on the outside? Or from another member? Is that possible? Or do we have very good security that hacking the site from outside is not possible?(or inside?) " The reason I asked this, is because a long time ago,I went on a "nail-art" blog, and became a member. I thought that was safe. That was not true; becoming a member made it possible for another member to follow me, and almost get into my computer. The icon was on my computer, and I was able to block the person off.(I forgot how, making me the only user in my browser, and the only user on the settings on my computer, blocked off any other user.I think that's it.)
But that really scared me. And, I accidentally went on an oekaki site, where a member said,"Your trail of your computer, all over the web, is so easy to follow."I stopped going there, cause someone said, the artist was a hacker,and had special tools to hack into your ISP, find your passwords in five seconds!! Yow. I did not know anything about "hacking", or that they could get your passwords,in 5 seconds, & get into your art!!And, also, THERE IS NO SUCH THING as internet police. My ISP company did not care; any authorities of my country did not care. The owner of the oekaki site did not care. Frankly, I found out, the Web can be a very scary place, and NO POLICE. there are no international,web police!! Your country might not interfere. There are usually no "site police". I was alone with the problem(except, your local computer repairman can probably tell you, how to block someone,Maybe. )
After those experiences, I stopped going on "Social networks" like Facebook & Twitter,(someone wrote, that is where most viruses are let loose.) And as for becoming technically a member of a "popular blog," like nail-art,I stopped doing that. I realized that very popular blogs that anyone can join, can get hackers, who hack other members. This site would probably catch a hacker, very soon. They would get banned. But, that's why I was asking these questions. We have excellent moderators on here, and technical help.Plenty of other oekaki sites, have no moderators, and outrageous behavior is put up with.
I still shudder, when I remember the artist saying,"your trail on the web is easy to follow." That made me very paranoid. If any of our moderators,or technical help, could tell me, us, some good rules or hints on how to make it technically very hard for anyone on a site, or just on the Net, to follow your trail, and eliminate the threat of someone getting into your computer, I would be very grateful. Or, please refer me to any websites that teach you how to safe-guard yourself online. Maybe there are some. I guess I am very gullible about safety on the net.Now I want to know how to really technically safeguard myself.
I even thought,"Is going on the net, like going out in the 3-D world? Would you not ever go into a low-class dive-bar, alone, have a drink, sit at the bar,and talk to strangers?(who could pick-pocket you,or worse.) And trust them to be safe? Or would you go to a huge, very public party or dance, that anyone could get into, there were no chaperones, in a very big city? And you had no idea who the people you met, really are? (people do that in big cities.)" Or join a nail-art club, in real time, and the other members had no proof of who they were? You could not tell anything by their names? And you would trust them to be nice people?"
The answer to this, is "the people giving a party,or dance, or nail-art club, should be good enough to throw out any folk with bad behavior, watch out for its members, even screen applicants or just insist on very good behavior." The whole Web is like the huge, outside world, that you go out into, without a chaperone, although your family can tell you to be safe,and how. But once you go way out on the web, it's hard to tell which site,or club, ect. and members, are really safe. So the owners of the website and moderators are the police of the site. They try to watch out for it's members, and kick out those with bad behavior.They can't police the whole web. I think I have to figure out, where its safe to go,and how to safeguard myself on the Web. It is much harder than i thought, and not so easy to always know at first.You cant SEE THE PEOPLE, or even look up their local credentials.You can't SEE malware, or viruses(but your computer will warn you.) I realize, that is WHY we have these strict rules here.They are responsible.
Sorry for over-writing this post, please cut,or transfer it, if you like.I do not mean to scare anyone, But I am relatively careful, and even I ran into technically dangerous sites. That's why I think our rules here are good. And I would appreciate any advice on safeguarding myself on my computer, and also good sites to teach you how to technically not be so vulnerable.I don't think software can do all of it.It does do a LOT of safe-guarding work. I am considering buying the latest AVAST anti-virus software, it's highly regarded. (Or, trying to get the free version.) Thanks for any advice or referrals.
safely, Doreet.