[amandalouise]

Like I said in my integration thread, when I first found out I had DID and my treatment providers were mentioning that dreaded word integration and explained it to me, I went on the internet and registered for many DID/ Dissociation forums. I didnt know much about the internet back then and didnt know much about internet safety, But I learned a few things real fast....

After visiting and registering for so many forums I learned that it was a situation of "same old same old thing"

many times you can tell where / what "build your own website template site", they used because the layout of the forum is the same as that one you visited yesterday. theres only so many "build your own website" websites out there for free or for hire.

They have a home page that usually has a pretty picture or information about the forum site or their home page is an index that lists what boards their forums have.

They have between 1-15 boards where members can post things unless they have been on the internet quite some time.

the boards are also mostly the same on DID specific forums. The site name may be different and the boardes may have different names but they are the same old same old thing.

theres usually a board where only the administration/ moderators post. usually this is notificaitons of changes, rules, and who the admin/ mods are.

a board for get to know you, introduce yourself, get to know your neighbors... this board is usually called by things like the Cafe, the mall, the garden, the terrace... anything that shows this is where you just chit chat, have a cup of coffee or tea together.

A board for Alternate personalities in general that everyone can post to regardless of if they are a child or teen or adult alter.

a board for mixed aged child alters. this board is usually called names like the sand box, the playground, the play room. its a place to play and talk about little kid problems and interests.

A board for teen alters.. this board is usually called things like the mall, the game room, named after a popular video game or activity.. posts in here are things like the latest movie or fad, dating and other teen activity.

A board for adult alters... this board is usually adults only conversations including sexualized conversations. Again the names of this board are adult only kind of names. the dark room, the sauna, the den, inner sanctum...

On rare occasions you will find a baby/ toddler alter board where everyone tries their hardest to talk like a babbling baby still in diapers and unable to hold their bottles but yet can boot up a computer, do an internet search, log on, somehow being too young to read and say the word Play and still be able to find the board called playground or sand box and post using th instead of S, and k instead of c, and w's instead of L's, and other alterations to words to make it look like a baby or toddler is talking. everyone participating in this board understands its all pretend but gosh forbid someone break that world by mentioning the reality that a toddler still in diapers and bottle cant actually do whats being talked about. a fun way to pass the time if someone is willing to act like a babbling baby for a while.

A board for mental disorder... this board is usually where everyone posts information and links about DID and dissociation or any other mental disorder that someone is asking about. sometimes there will be a separate PTSD board and each dissociative disorder may have its own board unless the whole site is specific to DID

a board for integration... this board usually turns out to be a complain about how much people dont want integration. though I do have to say I have found a handful of places that now have integration boards where people are actually sharing what integration is, links to things about integration and the brain and other things too about integration and problems/ issues and the joys of it.

Some will have music and gaming area where they have an outside websites games and music site linked in with their site. example click on the word checkers you might be taken to a page with a checkers board sponsored by big fish games or some other checkers game from some other website.

Sometimes there will be a chat room attached or on site of the Dissociation/ DID forum, if not theres usually a post or two in the general forum with a link where a member created chat on facebook or yahoo or other chat room site. this member created chat rooms off the websites usually changes hands and web addresses often.

Sometimes online forums for DID and dissociation contains options like editing where members can edit their own posts either all the time, until a certain time frame or not at all.

Sometimes online forums will have a section where you can talk directly to the founder of the site or a hired therapist but most do not have this section.
sometimes in this section there will be someone that can answer question but they only go so far. they can tell you opinions but they cant treat you as if you are their clients. why because if something should happen because you followed their opinions they can lose their credentials just like off the computer. online therapists have a line that they can not cross. and they have to be very clear that what they are telling you is not meant for diagnosis or treatment (evidenced by their terms of use pages)

to be continued..

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

Like I said in my integration thread, when I first found out I had DID and my treatment providers were mentioning that dreaded word integration and explained it to me, I went on the internet and registered for many DID/ Dissociation forums. I didnt know much about the internet back then and didnt know much about internet safety, But I learned a few things real fast....

After visiting and registering for so many forums I learned that it was a situation of "same old same old thing"

many times you can tell where / what "build your own website template site", they used because the layout of the forum is the same as that one you visited yesterday. theres only so many "build your own website" websites out there for free or for hire.

They have a home page that usually has a pretty picture or information about the forum site or their home page is an index that lists what boards their forums have.

They have between 1-15 boards where members can post things unless they have been on the internet quite some time.

the boards are also mostly the same on DID specific forums. The site name may be different and the boardes may have different names but they are the same old same old thing.

theres usually a board where only the administration/ moderators post. usually this is notificaitons of changes, rules, and who the admin/ mods are.

a board for get to know you, introduce yourself, get to know your neighbors... this board is usually called by things like the Cafe, the mall, the garden, the terrace... anything that shows this is where you just chit chat, have a cup of coffee or tea together.

A board for Alternate personalities in general that everyone can post to regardless of if they are a child or teen or adult alter.

a board for mixed aged child alters. this board is usually called names like the sand box, the playground, the play room. its a place to play and talk about little kid problems and interests.

A board for teen alters.. this board is usually called things like the mall, the game room, named after a popular video game or activity.. posts in here are things like the latest movie or fad, dating and other teen activity.

A board for adult alters... this board is usually adults only conversations including sexualized conversations. Again the names of this board are adult only kind of names. the dark room, the sauna, the den, inner sanctum...

On rare occasions you will find a baby/ toddler alter board where everyone tries their hardest to talk like a babbling baby still in diapers and unable to hold their bottles but yet can boot up a computer, do an internet search, log on, somehow being too young to read and say the word Play and still be able to find the board called playground or sand box and post using th instead of S, and k instead of c, and w's instead of L's, and other alterations to words to make it look like a baby or toddler is talking. everyone participating in this board understands its all pretend but gosh forbid someone break that world by mentioning the reality that a toddler still in diapers and bottle cant actually do whats being talked about. a fun way to pass the time if someone is willing to act like a babbling baby for a while.

A board for mental disorder... this board is usually where everyone posts information and links about DID and dissociation or any other mental disorder that someone is asking about. sometimes there will be a separate PTSD board and each dissociative disorder may have its own board unless the whole site is specific to DID

a board for integration... this board usually turns out to be a complain about how much people dont want integration. though I do have to say I have found a handful of places that now have integration boards where people are actually sharing what integration is, links to things about integration and the brain and other things too about integration and problems/ issues and the joys of it.

Some will have music and gaming area where they have an outside websites games and music site linked in with their site. example click on the word checkers you might be taken to a page with a checkers board sponsored by big fish games or some other checkers game from some other website.

Sometimes there will be a chat room attached or on site of the Dissociation/ DID forum, if not theres usually a post or two in the general forum with a link where a member created chat on facebook or yahoo or other chat room site. this member created chat rooms off the websites usually changes hands and web addresses often.

Sometimes online forums for DID and dissociation contains options like editing where members can edit their own posts either all the time, until a certain time frame or not at all.

Sometimes online forums will have a section where you can talk directly to the founder of the site or a hired therapist but most do not have this section.
sometimes in this section there will be someone that can answer question but they only go so far. they can tell you opinions but they cant treat you as if you are their clients. why because if something should happen because you followed their opinions they can lose their credentials just like off the computer. online therapists have a line that they can not cross. and they have to be very clear that what they are telling you is not meant for diagnosis or treatment (evidenced by their terms of use pages)

to be continued..

in the above post I laid out the general universal layout of DID specific forums.

I also learned something else about online forums for DID...

Most are free sites
Some are pay sites
some free and pay sites you have to register to see and be part of the forums

but they all have the same something in common...

they all carry the words that they are ...

safe
secure
reliable
free of spammers
free of drama
have only people with DID
those sites where they have hired a treatment provider or a treatment provider is part of the sites creation or guest you will see the wording leading you to believe by being a member of their site you can have access to professional advice.

but then when you actually take the time to read the "terms of use" you find out that the site whether they are free, see now, free register to see, or pay sites is not safe, secure, reliable, free of spammers, free of drama, nor do they guarantee that you will be posting and talking to only people with DID and that any thing on the site is not meant for diagnosis, treatment nor medical or mental professional advice and that for such you need to contact your own treatment providers. And that the founders, treatment providers and website can not be held accountable for any breaches of confidentiality, harm or death that may happen because of something on or those associated with their site.

in other words every DID specific forum has these too good to be true "hook, line and sinkers" that they are not able to deliver on, nor promise, and are not enforceable But it looks good on the home page and hardly anyone reads the "terms of use" page. They are able to put these words on their home pages because they cover their behinds in the "terms of use"

Any time I see a DID website professing to be secure, safe, reliable, free of drama, free of scammers, free of spammers and only people with DID are on the site I take the fastest route to the "terms of use" where all the disclaimers and legalities are laid out. you see websites have to have terms of use, it covers their behinds from prosecution should someone end up suffering an emotional break down, self harm or die due to something they have read on a website.

there have been many times on DID specific forums I did question this situation. they get very offended when you point out that they are saying their site is all these things but then in their own terms of use their disclaimers are saying its actually not those things.

bottom line I discovered in all the years I have been on the internet and in DID specific forums, no matter what DID specific website you register for, whether its free or not, there is no promise that a site is secure, safe, reliable, free of riff raff.

I cant say it enough when looking for DID specific websites I read the terms of use right down to every fine printed line.

my opinion its better to know ahead of time that not even register before you see and pay sites can promise all this, then to suddenly have my safety and home in danger because I didnt know enough to follow internet safety because a site said they already were safe, secure and such...

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

in the above post I laid out the general universal layout of DID specific forums.

I also learned something else about online forums for DID...

Most are free sites
Some are pay sites
some free and pay sites you have to register to see and be part of the forums

but they all have the same something in common...

they all carry the words that they are ...

safe
secure
reliable
free of spammers
free of drama
have only people with DID
those sites where they have hired a treatment provider or a treatment provider is part of the sites creation or guest you will see the wording leading you to believe by being a member of their site you can have access to professional advice.

but then when you actually take the time to read the "terms of use" you find out that the site whether they are free, see now, free register to see, or pay sites is not safe, secure, reliable, free of spammers, free of drama, nor do they guarantee that you will be posting and talking to only people with DID and that any thing on the site is not meant for diagnosis, treatment nor medical or mental professional advice and that for such you need to contact your own treatment providers. And that the founders, treatment providers and website can not be held accountable for any breaches of confidentiality, harm or death that may happen because of something on or those associated with their site.

in other words every DID specific forum has these too good to be true "hook, line and sinkers" that they are not able to deliver on, nor promise, and are not enforceable But it looks good on the home page and hardly anyone reads the "terms of use" page. They are able to put these words on their home pages because they cover their behinds in the "terms of use"

Any time I see a DID website professing to be secure, safe, reliable, free of drama, free of scammers, free of spammers and only people with DID are on the site I take the fastest route to the "terms of use" where all the disclaimers and legalities are laid out. you see websites have to have terms of use, it covers their behinds from prosecution should someone end up suffering an emotional break down, self harm or die due to something they have read on a website.

there have been many times on DID specific forums I did question this situation. they get very offended when you point out that they are saying their site is all these things but then in their own terms of use their disclaimers are saying its actually not those things.

bottom line I discovered in all the years I have been on the internet and in DID specific forums, no matter what DID specific website you register for, whether its free or not, there is no promise that a site is secure, safe, reliable, free of riff raff.

I cant say it enough when looking for DID specific websites I read the terms of use right down to every fine printed line.

my opinion its better to know ahead of time that not even register before you see and pay sites can promise all this, then to suddenly have my safety and home in danger because I didnt know enough to follow internet safety because a site said they already were safe, secure and such...

so what is internet safety when going through the natural integration process that I explained in my first integration thread?

( Integration )

back then when I was first starting out I knew nothing about the stuff that I posted above. it was only after a strange situation happened that my treatment provider started educating me on all this....

I would be in DID specific forums talking about the fact that I was doing natural integration and I was very open and forthcoming with what I was going through right down to actual names of my alters, websites I was on and what my user name was on all the forums. I had no problems using my bank account to pay for a pay pal account and had no problems using my bank card for paying for registration sites. I had no problem at all disclosing information that should not have been disclosed.

but then I took a computer course in college. did you know that if someone doesnt like you in one forum they can follow you to another forum and cause problems there. thats what the instructor of the computer course explained to the class. we wouldnt stand out on the street telling everyone we dont know who we are, where we live, what our banking information is, what places we visit, what we do there. we shouldnt do that on the internet either. its common protection that elementary students are learning.

I went to this one DID specific forum I was in, I copied a sentence of mine then pasted it in the search bar and spent days reading all the personal information I thought was protected because hey no one can see unless they registered or paid for it right. I even found posts of mine that other members of a register and pay site copied and pasted as their own. wow right. Im talking integration stuff in a closed and pay registration site thinking everything is safe and secure and there is my own post repeated as someone elses. I could not believe it at first.

thats when I made some changes and real quick.... I contacted the police officer teaching the internet class.. he explained to me what I needed to do...

The first step was closing out my bank account at one bank and opening another somewhere else and never using that bank account on the internet.

the next step was buying a store bought disposable/ reloadable card. reload it at the store with cash not bank card. this way if someone should hack into a forum or a forum member gets elevated to administrator that would have access to registration information of members they dont have my actual bank account information. every month reload the card for the exact amount required on the website. have a different card for each website I had to pay for. to keep them straight I write a key word somewhere on the card that lets me know what the card is for but does not alert anyone else to its use.

The next step was closing out all my registrations/ accounts with all the DID specific websites and re registering with the new card, a completely new user name that is very popular on the internet that hackers, scammers and others trying to locate me from one site to the next cant filter me out from one to another, and this time with a different user name with every singe website I was a member of.

The next step was a rule of never cross posting, and never telling anyone who I am on any websites. so for example if someone on Sunshine USA (made up website) has a problem with me they cant follow me to Dark and Dreary (again made up site) to cause me problems there. My profile on Sunshine USA doesnt match up with my profile on Dark and Dreary. the problems, fun and games and such that I post about on Sunshine USA are not the same problems, fun and games and such that I post about on Dark and Dreary. In each of the DID specific forums that I am a member of I keep my posting separate /not crossed over to what I do in another website.

I have been asked over the years which sites I am in and sometimes I will break my rule just enough to answer that persons question of what I think of the sites I am a member of but I never disclose personal information (name profile and all that).

you see where doing the natural integration process is concerned it can be very triggering for others. many think integration is a choice but for ......me...... it wasnt. it was just how the brain naturally works and how it happened with me. but sometimes when you are in these forums sometimes it upsets other when they come across someone who is different, not posting the regular dont want to be integrated kinds of posts.

Sometimes on the internet you do end up with folks that will want to start problems if they recognize you from one site to the next. all anyone needs of proof of this is visit facebook. its people posting about their selves and their lives but what happens along comes someone striking out at them for voicing their own opinions of a pic or meme.

DID specific forums are no different you have people posting about their lives and personal opinions and not every one agrees and suddenly theres someone pitching a fight over that persons own life and own opinions.

So when you are different like me who did the natural integration process rather than the typical same old same ole, you learn to use internet safety in the process.

sometimes on some DID specific forums where integration topics are concerned that means getting support through each sites not so public ways. other times people accept you for your being different in these DID specific forums.

it does take a while to find which sites welcome integration topics and which ones dont. and which members accept you for being integrated and who dont but you know what, its the same out there off the computer.

I am glad the psychcentral is a site where there are members that are or have been integrated that have been in the past year venturing a question or post about their integrating memories or a traumatic event or like betty and I were doing in my integration thread my talking about my integration and betty finding common ground in what I went through.

it was actually betty;s statements of
"I think there would be more discussions about integration if there were more discussions about it.LOL

I kind of get the feeling there are members who do have thoughts ,questions,fears,etc about it but they don't feel comfortable enough to post about them,or maybe they don't really feel safe enough to.It's a tough subject to talk about whether a person is DID,is going through the integration process or they are fully integrated and I think it's important members feel safe and comfortable enough to do so.

Anyone have any suggestions that would help with that?"

and her statement in the same thread of...

"I think if this board wasn't available for public view and was private,for members only,I would feel more comfortable posting."

which are found in my thread asking if there was any interest in having an integration board that made me want to write this thread, great question betty and here is your answers of what the forums I have been a part of have been like.

one last thought.... I dont wait for that perfect forum anymore because they are all alike.. people posting about their problems and questions and lives. the the names may be different and the boards may be different names and you may have to register first or pay first but the bottom line is what matters is what you yourself brings into it.

so what psych central is free and not a register first pay site. I say post away.

if you want more discussion on integration someone has to post about it and I cant be the only one here doing that. Sooner or later someone is going to get awfully bored with my being the only one starting integration threads. post away.

[Betty_Banana]

it was actually betty;s statements of
"I think there would be more discussions about integration if there were more discussions about it.LOL

I kind of get the feeling there are members who do have thoughts ,questions,fears,etc about it but they don't feel comfortable enough to post about them,or maybe they don't really feel safe enough to.It's a tough subject to talk about whether a person is DID,is going through the integration process or they are fully integrated and I think it's important members feel safe and comfortable enough to do so.

Anyone have any suggestions that would help with that?"

and her statement in the same thread of...

"I think if this board wasn't available for public view and was private,for members only,I would feel more comfortable posting."

which are found in my thread asking if there was any interest in having an integration board that made me want to write this thread, great question betty and here is your answers of what the forums I have been a part of have been like

I was surprised to be mentioned in this thread because I assumed it was started because of some posts you made in another thread tbh.And although I didn't ask for opinions and experiences on other sites,thanks for sharing yours I guess.

I would still feel more comfortable posting in private.It's not about any specific site it's about my own personal comfort level.And I wish there was a private area here at PC.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Betty_Banana

I was surprised to be mentioned in this thread because I assumed it was started because of some posts you made in another thread tbh.And although I didn't ask for opinions and experiences on other sites,thanks for sharing yours I guess.

I would still feel more comfortable posting in private.It's not about any specific site it's about my own personal comfort level.And I wish there was a private area here at PC.

there is a more private board but you have to have a certain number of posts(forget how many but its in the thousands if I remember right) or contribute monetary wise to psych central or to a fund raiser for another member. once you do that then your profile will receive a badge on your profile saying premier poohbah and you will have access to the more private forum here called the premier poohbah forum.

[MickeyCheeky]

Thank you for making this thread, amandalouise. Sending many hugs to everyone

[Betty_Banana]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

there is a more private board but you have to have a certain number of posts(forget how many but its in the thousands if I remember right) or contribute monetary wise to psych central or to a fund raiser for another member. once you do that then your profile will receive a badge on your profile saying premier poohbah and you will have access to the more private forum here called the premier poohbah forum.

Thanks for the info,I had no clue that was available or an option here at PC.

Originally Posted by amandalouise

there is a more private board but you have to have a certain number of posts(forget how many but its in the thousands if I remember right) or contribute monetary wise to psych central or to a fund raiser for another member. once you do that then your profile will receive a badge on your profile saying premier poohbah and you will have access to the more private forum here called the premier poohbah forum.

So that’s what that means? Lol

I had no idea....

[amandalouise]

I was just revisiting my book marks for some of the DID specific forums that I was on in the early years of my integration journey. most have closed down or just disappeared into cyber oblivion. I was amazed at three pay sites. my accounts were still active even after all these years. and so I was re reading their terms of use, privacy practices and came across something very strange...

all three profess to collect personal data including what sites you visited right before and after visiting their sites...

um scary sugar considering the only way they can do that is if their websites have spyware attached to their websites....

please be careful out there. spyware is software disreputable websites use to gain access to your computer/ hard drive to siphon off your personal information for their own use... everything you do on your computer is stored in your hard drive... your banking, your emails, your passwords, if you get medical, mental , social security information through data bases they can now access it. make changes and steal your identity, use your SSI,SSDI and everything for their own personal gain....

I was also shocked to discover in these old sites in their what do we do with your personal informaiton privacy pages it says by registering you are giving them permission to use your personal information as they see fit, trade your personal information with outside companies, their employees, contractors, and sent to other countries in some cases.

theres even clauses that have been added to many privacy pages with those still active DID specific forums that if they close down, sell out your personal information is considered part of the sale and goes where ever the new buyer of the company is...

I closed my account with 4 places and waiting on three to do so. and I notified my local police department to find out if its legal in the states for websites to attach spyware to their forums. out of the country they may not have the same cyber laws that america has so...

when before you register for an account ...........anywhere.............. read their privacy information and make sure you understand what personal information they are collecting and for what and what happens to your personal information. and be aware that any site that says they know what you and your computer are doing outside their site means they have spyware attached.

there is spyware removal kits and spy ware protection that you can buy that work through microsoft that will make it impossible for these sites to spy on your internet activities and protect your computer and notify you if any attempts to access your computers internet activities /other information is accessed. you will get a notification and your computer will block it /Quarantine it for your removal.

[susannahsays]

I don't think DID sites are unique in that their terms of service are a bit of a cop out. That's what TOSes are infamous for, across the board. They are designed to cover the *** of the site owner. As for the credit card stuff, I'm a bit confused about how these sites had your banking information if you used PayPal. The whole point of PayPal is that you can pay for things without transmitting details such as your card or account number to vendors.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by susannahsays

I don't think DID sites are unique in that their terms of service are a bit of a cop out. That's what TOSes are infamous for, across the board. They are designed to cover the *** of the site owner. As for the credit card stuff, I'm a bit confused about how these sites had your banking information if you used PayPal. The whole point of PayPal is that you can pay for things without transmitting details such as your card or account number to vendors.

you misread my post. I stated

"I had no problems using my bank account to pay for a pay pal account and had no problems using my bank card for paying for registration sites. I had no problem at all disclosing information that should not have been disclosed.

but then I took a computer course in college. "

in that class I learned even paypal is not 100 percent secure and protecting your personal information. example... ever buy a new cell phone and throw the old one away, or donate it to a recycling place or have it lost.

just like any other website if you lose passwords and such they email or text you a new one. who ever has that old cell phone now has access to your paypal and emails. emails are not confidential, people who have email accounts have no idea how many hands have access to those accounts information and such...

theres also data breaches. ever watch the news pay pal has gone through data breaches where it left millions of their "customers" banking information and other personal information open and in the data breacher's hands. thats what data breaches are when you hear them on the news someone has gotten access to millions of peoples personal information due to security flaws, software glitches, back doors and hacking.

the point that I was making is that back then I thought it was ok to put my banking information online in paypal and other places to pay for DID specific websites.

after taking that class I realized how not safe it was to use my actual bank card online.

the point of my whole post was that just because DID specific websites say on their home page that they are secure, safe, reliable and all kinds of other nice words for it, if you read their privacy and terms of use you learn that the site does not guarantee your personal information is safe.

pay pal is no different by the way... example do you know every employee at pay pal face to face and guarantee that not one of their employees are not going to use the information about you stored? of course not right. therefore not actually secure just implied secure. is paypal un hack able ... no of course not. it may be hard to hack.

not to mention what happened to me.... a member of many DID specific forums worked for paypal, we all thought it was cool that this member could help us through the process until out personal banking information started appearing posted all over the net as their own. one member tried to get their money back but pay pal told them that the security of their pay pal account is their responsibility, that their terms of use clearly stated that pay pal could not be held responsible. and they were right. paypal recently updated their terms of use and policies but it still holds true that their company can not be prosecuted. they cant help it if your friends and family and strangers end up with your cell phone and email account that is attached to your pay pal account. they cant help it if some one breaches their company software and leaves millions of peoples banking information into the wrong hands.

bottom line you ......expect pay pal or any other pay online accounts to be secure but they are just like any other website out there. its the internet anything you put out there is not 100 percent secure, confidential, reliable.

when a cyber crimes instructor can find software flaws and find your banking information on a website then notify the company how they did it so that the company can issue "patches" to its users, you know nothing is secure.

[susannahsays]

Who pays for a PayPal account? They are free. I am an IT major. I don't think you understand how account data is stored. Employees at PayPal can't just access banking info to steal it. That's not how it works. It would be insane for them to operate like that. If that's what your instructor told you, he was full of ****. Of course PayPal is hackable. But so are banks. It sounds like you still trust them with your money, though.

The situation you describe is not the problem of PayPal,, or any other vendor. It would be like if you gave someone your debit card and PIN number and asked them as a favor to go to the ATM to get $20 out, but they took some money out for themselves, too. That's not the bank's fault that you were naive and gave someone access to your bank account. In the situation you describe, you and these other people decided, for some reason, to give a stranger online access to your bank account via PayPal. How does that show that PayPal is bad? You were the victim of a social engineering scam, but that's an opportunity to learn about not giving your account information (and banking information for crying out loud) away to strangers online. There's no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater and live in the stone age, though.

[amandalouise]

in general .. has anyone ever wondered how these DID pay sites get their money.

they have your bank account number, credit card number or debit card number or pay pal account number because you give it to them when you apply to their site for registration to be a member.

they go to your account just like we all do here when we do a member search.

after they find the account they want they (who ever is doing the accounting/ treasury/ billing for that site) uses their administrative dashboard which shows them what you have wrote down when you registered including what you put for your bank number, credit card number, debit card number or pay pal account.

then they take your bank account number, credit card number or debit card number and use it to bill your bank or a bill to your credit card or debit card, all of which automatically removes the money from your bank account, credit card or debit card or pay pal account. just like when you actually go to a store and write a check, or use your credit card or your debit card to pay for what you are buying.

banks, debit card companies, credit card companies and pay pal have real live people employees. example the pay pal office here in my city has about 500 real live people employees. Some of these employees I know personally as friends, family, ex co workers....well you get the picture when someone needs a job they check there just like any other place and some that I know have jobs at the pay pal office here in my city.

these employees process the transactions, just like when you walk into a bank to cash a check or when you fill out a withdrawal or deposit slip and hand it to the teller, then the teller brings up your account number on the computer, makes note of your account number, makes sure the number on the withdrawal / deposit slip matches, then they complete the transaction by typing into their computer how much you are adding or subtracting from your money. (any bank, credit card company and debit card and pay pal company can explain this to you)

if using pay pal or other pay option site, pay pal and other sites like this do not use their own money to pay for what you buy, they do their transactions that removes money from your bank account, credit card, debit card that you have on your pay pal account.

when you first register for a pay pal or other account they have you put on your registration your bank account number, or your credit card number or your debit card number. this is called "linking your bank account, credit card or debit card to pay pal"

after removing the right amount of money from your bank account or credit card or debit card pay pal turns around and uses that money to pay for what you buy online..

think of it like you and your friend are out around town, you give your friend money, they deposit what you give them into their own bank account and the friend pays for your lunch using their bank card, credit card or debit card.

by linking your bank account credit card number or debit card number to pay pal you are giving pay pal your money so they can turn around and use that money to pay for what you buy.

Registering for pay pal is free, but in some locations and some pay pal accounts have a transaction fee, just like a bank sometimes charges people a bank fee. it all depends on what type of pay pal account you have and what your location is.

now imagine one of these 500 employees is a bad person at pay pal, they are making the transactions of billing bank account numbers, credit card numbers, debit card numbers for the purchases people are making and they get this wild idea of going on amazon and using someone elses bank account number to purchase a waterbed. they create an amazon account using this other persons numbers, amazon doesnt verify that the numbers actually belong to so and so with photo id and such. they just see someone has made a purchase and puts the card through, sends the water bed to the person that buys it. Same person who works for pay pay thinks hey cool it worked and posts on their facebook page hey I have a new water bed paid for by this bank account number, then they go to twitter and posts hey I just bought a new water bed my bank account number such and such (bank account is not their own ).... on and on all over the internet this person is posting other persons credit card numbers, bank account numbers, debit card numbers.

now picture this person doing this activity is using the numbers of those they met on DID forums. any time he has a conflict with the person he finds out if they have apay pal account and if not helps them get set up, then attacks them by spamming their bank account number, credit card number debit card number around the internet. he may not be the one actually making the purchases against these numbers but is purposely spamming their numbers on the internet making them vulnerable to things like that.

thats what happened. someone who worked in a pay pal office doing transactions was a member of DID sites and was spamming other members bank account numbers, credit card numbers and debit card numbers across the internet.

Any oen who wants to know more about how pay pal works just google their nearest office, they do welcome walk ins, and are open to giving possible employees a general tour of the office structure and what employees do there.

[Betty_Banana]

Hmmm.I was just thinking,a few years ago I made a donation to a forum through paypal and not long after my bank account was hacked.I never thought much about it at the time,never considered the possibility of the 2 things being related,but maybe they were.I don't know.

Thankfully I was able to have my bank account closed,opened a new one,had my money returned and haven't had problems since then(so far).I am more cautious about what I do online now though.

[Gr3tta_0]

I would just like to second that all electronic data is always vulnerable. Even very routine and secure data such as receiving your paycheck, SSI/SSDI benefits automatically deposited, paying utility bills online, and electronic health records are all "out there" to be accessed by dishonest people. This is not the fault of the person who, say, paid their heat bill online, it's just a fact of modern technology. Dishonest people will always go out of their way to target people who may be more vulnerable, such as those who are known to them through their online activities to have mental illnesses.
It is good to be informed of this, and always monitor all transactions of money. For people who dissociate, odd transactions may need extra investigation, but if it feels "wrong " always dispute it right away. If you discover it accurate later, this is a much easier fix. 😊