Privacy & Staying Anonymous

[EPAdmin]

Privacy & Staying Anonymous

Many people affected by family estrangement are understandably concerned about privacy.

Estranged Parents is designed to allow you to take part under a pseudonym, and we strongly recommend avoiding unnecessary identifying information in public posts.

Choose a pseudonymous username

Do not use your real name, date of birth, town, workplace or another username that people already associate with you elsewhere online.

A simple, unrelated username is usually best.

Your email address is not shown publicly

Your registration email address is used for account administration and is not displayed as part of your public profile.

Remember that public forums can be read by non-members

Unless a section is specifically restricted, anything posted there may be visible to people who are not registered with Estranged Parents.

That includes search engines and anyone who happens to visit the site.

Avoid identifying other people

Please do not publish the real names, addresses, workplaces, schools, phone numbers, email addresses or other identifying information of your adult child, grandchildren, former partner or anyone else involved in your situation.

It is usually better to write “my son”, “my daughter”, “my former partner” or similar.

Be careful with screenshots and correspondence

Emails, text messages, social-media posts, letters and screenshots can contain more identifying information than is immediately obvious.

If you need to discuss something someone has written, consider summarising it instead.

If you do post an image or quotation from private correspondence, remove names, photographs, usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses and any other identifying details first.

Think about distinctive details

Sometimes a combination of apparently harmless facts can identify a person.

A rare occupation, unusual family circumstance, exact location and precise dates may make a story recognisable even when names have been removed.

You do not need to give every detail for other members to understand what you are going through.

Private messages are still private conversations with another person

Private messages are not publicly visible, but you should still be cautious about sharing information you would not want passed on or copied elsewhere.

Do not assume that anything sent online can be guaranteed to remain confidential.

Your posts may remain visible

Forum discussions make most sense when conversations remain intact.

For that reason, joining the forum should not be treated as a guarantee that every post can later be removed on request.

If you accidentally reveal sensitive personal information, contact a moderator and we will consider what can reasonably be done.

If you are worried about being recognised

You can change small, irrelevant details when describing your situation if doing so helps protect your identity without changing the substance of what happened.

For example, you do not usually need to give exact ages, dates, occupations or locations.

Protecting privacy is a shared responsibility

Moderators will remove personal information where we notice a serious privacy problem, but we cannot guarantee that every identifying detail will be spotted immediately.

The safest approach is to think carefully before posting and share only what is necessary.