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.