Some advice about your chess profile

 I am often shocked about how much information some people include in their on-line profiles.  Full name, date of birth, city of residence, and occupation?  What are you thinking?  Trust me, I work with identify theft all the time in my field.  First name and State of residence (no city) is fine but don't include more than you need to. 

If I have your full name, date of birth, and city of residence then I can get information about you that would shock you.

yeah, people are really lax in what they will put online. maybe they should think about the super worm that is in the works to seriously jack people.

This is good advice. For example, I was looking something up about chess on google, and here came something I had written on chess.com. Now that is OK, but we have to realize what we write goes everywhere!  I am not paranoid, but I do think we have to be careful and keep our identities a little more private.

Thanks for reminding us of this, Taglarry.

stwils

Yeha probably a good call. I changed mine, but I'm sure the old info is still available...Once it's posted is it already too late TAGLARRY?

yep. since I put my picture, people on the street don't stop bother me.

i have more debts than poland, but if you would like to hack my identity and pay off my loans, that would be great!

I am sure it is available only to the staff at CHESS.COM once your public profile is changed.

I have to say that I think it's ok to put down your first name and city, I mean how many people by your name are in 1 city, I bet atleast 100 for some less common names.

I guess it may be different in England, but in the US this is a huge problem.  I work with people who have had checking accounts opened up in their name, checks bounced all over town, and angry businesses and collectors wanting thier money.  It can, temporarily, cause you a big headache. 

Anyway, back to chess..........

That is what I suggested, in the original post.

Very good advice, thank you. Also to be careful about using credit cards online, especially at sites where monthly or yearly renewal is set to automatic. Even when you've discontinued the service/product,  you might find you would still be billed for the next renewal.

Full name, date of birth, and city of residence are all a matter of public record, along with home ownership, car registration, and plenty of other stuff. Posting it on my chess.com profile isn't putting me at any further risk, though I don't for other reasons.

Yes, my name, DOB, and city of residence are available if you are specifically looking for me, but why put it up for all to see on Chess.com or any other site.

That is EXACTLY why I don't do social networking.

hi everybody

Or in the phone book for that matter...