Privacy Awareness and Internet in General *Concerning Internet Safety*

[STtennis]

Hey everyone,

Firstly, although I am not a frequent poster, I've always used TW for the past five years to read up reviews and opinions from other public members. For the entire time, I've always had a positive perspective on the community as a whole.

But as you may know... I've recently asked for some help for my project for a competition. But at the same time... someone from the TW Forums themselves traced my email and started doing some really.... weird stuff? and asked about my video, etc. I just thought I should bring this to the attention of everyone whether its browsing TW Forums or any other site in general. Internet safety is not a joke. This was straight from a fairly popular user on this site... I have no clue who he is.

Here are excerpts from the convo (12345 is used to hide my msn name at the time):

(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*i see. you got any idea how the banking system works?
12345 says:
*haha a brief idea yes
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*continue
12345 says:
*haha this seems rather awkwards
*awkward*
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*why?
12345 says:
*i dont really know you? lol
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*so what?
*so you're <my name>?
12345 says:
*yes...
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*im guessing you're the taller one in the video
12345 says:
*uhh...
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*im Marcus
12345 says:
*why would that matter
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*that's me in the display photo
12345 says:
*ok..

12345 says:
*uhh i think im okay with 'my life path'
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*you think so?
12345 says:
*no i mean
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*so you're about 16,17 now?
12345 says:
*uhh
*no
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*not yet
*ok, so you're 15?
12345 says:
*no...
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*just
*tell
*me
12345 says:
*why would my age matter?
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*time
12345 says:
*?

(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*the last time my racquet was restrung the tip flexed a bit
*so my stringer had to go with a slightly lower tension
12345 says:
*haha w/e
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*when's your birthday?
12345 says:
*why
*wtf
*unless ur sending me a great big present i dont think so buddy
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*whatever, you're not worth talking or helping
*mr know it all *******
12345 says:
*wat??
*why are u so ignorant?
*do you not see how your violating my privacy?
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*chicken
12345 says:
*how?
*do u not hear abt pedophiles over the internet all the time?
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*how is disclosing your age and so forth a violation of your privacy
12345 says:
*if i were really 'chicken' i wouldve blocked u ages ago
(H)HyperHorse(H)...... Happy hardcore is ********... says:
*you act like im a covert spy from the CIA or whatever

Note: All excerpts were copied and pasted from convo, just my user was 'cropped'.

Well that was the most part... To be honest, if you're wondering why I stayed in this convo, it was since I knew what type of scenario I was in. I told him nothing and even if I did, it was 100% false. If I did happen to be one of the misfortunate 'youths' who were attacked by these people, it probably wouldn't have end well. Spread the message so these people won't attack others anymore. What are some of your perspectives?

Thank you.

 

[SuperFly]

Was this just some random dude from online?

 

[Ventolin]

Was it definitely someone from this forum? That's weird dude....

 

[mathieu]

LMAO it was probably Fedace:lol:

 

[Wakenslam]

Privacy on the internet is non-existent. You should be aware of that fact.

 

[STtennis]

Was this just some random dude from online?

Hey,

Haha no it wasn't Fedace. He goes by the name '120mphBodyServe'. At first, he was acting all 'nice' saying it was a 'good video and post more of yourself'. But after I pretty much told him to *GTFO*, he edited his comment to "Meh. If you think that's what being an account is about then you should be a film stunts person." Weird eh?

To be honest I don't want to sound like a 'rat' or anything but for the entire time I used this forum, every seemed so friendly. I was really surprised at first when he added me saying 'Hello from TW Forums' on MSN but after that, I learned to hide ALL my contact information from any forums.

I looked at his posts afterwards... seems like he just goes around bashing around at everyone's comment. I asked me 'why am I questioning/ so concerned about my own privacy' so I was like 'It's personal information you're demanding for?' but he kept trying to slip in 'Where I lived' 'When's my birthday'. I mean I know about trolls and haters but this was seriously eye-opening for me.

@ Wakenslam- Haha I totally understand that anything posted on the Internet is no longer 'private'. That's why I deleted all my contact information and bumped up my privacy settings on everything I have related to the Internet. Thanks for your concern.

But like I said before, I really enjoy using these forums- spend most of the time doing research about racquets and strings and occasionally 'fool around' reading entries in Odds and Ends Other than this incident, I still like this forum a lot.

Ultimately, I just thought I would bring this up to everyone's attention that no matter how friendly or welcoming a forum is, there will always be a few 'unusual' people like this. Hope everyone else on here is safe

 

[FTS]

that's a bit creepy

 

[heycal]

Isn't/wasn't there a poster named HyperHorse?

 

[Topaz]

^^^yes and he was banned.

 

[Andres]

Yeah. Marcus. Remember him. Still have him on Facebook. He is an overall nice guy, but always got on constant arguments and fights with other forum members, both in here and in the chatroom, and got eventually banned.

 

[TheOneHander]

Well, I think you won't have to worry about him anymore. He's been banned.

 

[ReopeningWed]

Marcus tried to talk to me a few years back when I was barely in high school. If you phrase it as "15 year old boy stalked by 50-something dude in Australia", it sounds pretty creepy.

The majority of the posters are very intelligent and considerate though, he was just the exception.

 

[heycal]

Marcus tried to talk to me a few years back when I was 50-something dude in Australia

We still talking about HyperHorse? Thought that guy was about 15 himself.

 

[STtennis]

We still talking about HyperHorse? Thought that guy was about 15 himself.

Hey,

Yeah his alternative account before was 'Hyperhorse'- both had the same email he added me with :S To my estimate hes around 30-40-ish, definitely not under though. He kept telling me to 'look at his photo' or whatever; very disturbing.

@ ReopeningWed, yeah I'm not much older than you then and he's at least double our age. Haha and I agree that most, almost all, of the users here are really friendly and knowledgable about tennis and even other things. Just wanted to make sure no one else gets attacked by the 'odd ones out'.

He recently sent me another message through email... he still think its 'normal' and insists on asking for my age, info... He even threatened me- no joke. Like I am legitly worried now.

@ Topaz, But I think he's the type who would probably re-make accounts over and over again. So I guess we just have to aware of this and work around it :S

 

[SoBad]

I think I remember that poster - back in the day he used to focus on Australians in his random fits of rage via MSN chats? What do you know - he gets banned, he goes global, and meanwhile posts are disappeared. Good luck searching the forum to put together peoples exhibit one.:lol:

 

[Andres]

Hey,

Yeah his alternative account before was 'Hyperhorse'- both had the same email he added me with :S To my estimate hes around 30-40-ish, definitely not under though. He kept telling me to 'look at his photo' or whatever; very disturbing.

@ ReopeningWed, yeah I'm not much older than you then and he's at least double our age. Haha and I agree that most, almost all, of the users here are really friendly and knowledgable about tennis and even other things. Just wanted to make sure no one else gets attacked by the 'odd ones out'.

He recently sent me another message through email... he still think its 'normal' and insists on asking for my age, info... He even threatened me- no joke. Like I am legitly worried now.

@ Topaz, But I think he's the type who would probably re-make accounts over and over again. So I guess we just have to aware of this and work around it :S

Marcus is 34 or so, IIRC

 

[ProgressoR]

and do you know his birthday?

Marcus if you send me your credit card details I can make sure your security is not compromised on the internet.

 

[Dedans Penthouse]

stumbled upon this thread, gave 1/10 of the long op a read....and after reading the trusted poster's followup....my suspicions have come to fruition... as in,

wha? ...... as in, no 'diss' meant, but...

Bye>

not worth it.....i have no idea what this is about.....

 

[Fee]

In some cases, in many cases I suspect, your level of security on the internet is directly correlated to the amount of information you put out there on it. It's nice to believe that we are a closed community here, but we are not. Anyone can read the posts here, and the info within those posts. I think it is safe to say that there are more people reading this forum and NOT posting than there are people who actually do post.

 

[H2O]

Sorry. It's too subjective. It's fair to hear the other side of the story before commenting further on this. Take care.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

Marcus tried to talk to me a few years back when I was barely in high school. If you phrase it as "15 year old boy stalked by 50-something dude in Australia", it sounds pretty creepy.

I always thought it is just a matter of time before there is a Bill Tilden incident on this board which would result in a massive lawsuit and lead TW to nix the board entirely.

There are a lot of young, unsupervised, clueless kids here so it is a pedophile's playground. I am surprised nothing untoward has happened already.

Hey Bobby, you seem exceptionally intelligent and I think you have a lot of potential. I can help you improve your backhand and serve because I used to be a touring pro. In fact, when I lived in Spain, I coached Nadal when he was a kid. I will be visiting your area next week on special assignment for the USTA to coach a few promising juniors. Meet me at Tilden Park on Tuesday afternoon and later we can go have some dinner anyplace you want. It will be fun!

Unfortunately, many young kids would probably fall for this sort of ploy. They lack the healthy skepticism one acquires (hopefully) as an adult.

 

[diredesire]

Looks like he got banned (again), the admins are on top of things lately, it seems...

If you get any continued harassment, let me know (or the admins via the contact us link). HyperHorse was always a character, didn't realize he came back with a new screen name. He's contacted me multiple times before, too. I'm not much of a small talker, though

 

[mozzer]

Lol... he added me too, i had to block him, some of the stuff he chatted on about was ridiculous. He added me on facebook too but i just ignored the request...