Ten Things You Wish Your Mother (Could Have) Told You About the Internet
1. Be careful when choosing a username.
You could have to live with it for a very long time.
2. Protect your Facebook page.
It definitely does matter who can see those pictures of your last night big night out.
3. If you don't know how to protect your Facebook page, find out!
If you just Google it, there is sure to be someone out there who can explain the process in a way you will understand it.
4. Be careful what you do in view of other people's cameras.
They are probably not may not be protecting their Facebook pages either or their photos of you.
5. Think log and hard about what you confess on the Internet.
Those messages are out there and searchable forever.
6. Never post under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
It won't be funny tomorrow and you will regret doing it!
7. Don't ask people on the Internet how to do something without Googling it first yourself.
Most people will be very rude when they answer, and even the nice ones are likely to use something insulting like letmegooglethatforyou.com.
8. Ignore the the trolls.
Don't rise to the bait. They're just itching for fresh blood to take them on. And you probably won't come out of it well.
9. Avoid engaging in online arguments (maybe it should stop there) about religion, politics, etc.
Just like in real life, nobody wins.
10. If you find a good domain name that's available, get it!
Even if you can't do something with it straightaway, trust me, buy it. If you leave it, someone else will beat you to it and then most likely just sit on it for years. And then you'll spend the next few years waiting for it become available, only to watch them renew it and probably do nothing with it.
A Day without Wiki (and reddit!)
Due to their strong feelings against the SOPA and PIPA bills being discussed in the US Congress, both Wikipedia and reddit, as well as many other sites, are participating in a 24 hour blackout. Both bills are aimed at copyright infringement, but many people believe the bills will cause more harm than good. You can read about the details on a very good synopsis page – one of the few pages Wiki has up today – here.
Having read about these bills and considered the possible outcomes of them, I agree with the stance against both of these bills and truly hope they will never become US law.
The shadow cast by the blackout, especially of Wikipedia has been very long indeed. All day long I’ve seen and heard comments about the blackout on the Internet, from colleagues at work and even from the DJ on the radio. It seems to be one of the most popular topics of conversation today, and that’s easily understandable.
I must admit, I’m a newcomer to reddit. I should have been reading this site for years, I readily confess, but I didn’t ‘get it’ in the beginning. Since then my son has introduced me to Alien Blue on my iPhone, and I’m now a happy reddit camper! (when they’re not participating in a blackout, of course)
But Wikipedia, for me, has been a really, really longterm friend. I remember Wikipedia in the very early days. You know, back before they had to lock down so many pages due to abuse and nonsensical information that some bright sparks would put up just to have a laugh. Wikipedia has really grown into an amazing entity with information on just about everything. And given just how much information there is on Wiki, it’s usually my first port of call when I need to understand, well, almost anything!
My day without Wiki has been extremely quiet. And several times today I couldn’t find information elsewhere or had to look several places to find what would normally be in the first place I’d look: Wikipedia.
My hat’s off to you, Wiki. You really couldn’t have drawn more attention to your cause in any other way. And I heartily support your decision to oppose SAPO and PIPA in such a public way.
But hurry back tomorrow. I miss you!
About Me
Leanne BennettI'm an American living in England, married to a Brit and the mother of three children. I work for the local council, building and maintaining servers and networks for primary schools.
I think my background, my citizenship, my experiences and my location give me a unique take on life. Herein are my musings on such...
