Would you care if someone in real life reads your posts on this BP forum?

Yes, I would -- but I think I'd be fine with my therapist reading my posts. Sure, I write some embarrassing stuff, but she wouldn't judge me because I trust her enough not to do that.

Nope. I poured my life out into a blog that I shared. I also talk about all my issues on Facebook. I have some friends from PC on my Facebook page too, so its all intermingled. I am who I am.

Even though I am very vocal about my mental illness online, no one in my real life besides my therapist and family know how deeply rooted my issues are. I also keep most of my stuff out of Facebook.

That being said, if my therapist or family were to come across some of my posts here in on PsychCentral, I definitely wouldn't mind so much.

I don't want anyone I know to read my posts on online bipolar forums. I keep my anonymity. Since I've written about tdocs and my pdoc before, I wouldn't want them to know about it either.

I do share my story and other mental health related writing on my blog. Family and some friends have read my writing there, but even that access is limited. Given that these limited people read my blog, that obviously does restrict some of what I could write. Obviously I can't vent about a family member there. I also don't link my blog with social media. Actually, I closed down all of my social media accounts. I know doing so limits some access to good things, but overall I feel I'm better off without them.

I greatly value my anonymity. I vent here about people close to me when I am upset. IRL, I have a bit of a facade about my home life being happier than it is. Also, very few people know about BP.

My answer depends on who that person would be and how would they deal with it. Look, there aren't that many bipolar forums online so if someone were looking for information, surreptitiously, for a bipolar person they might look on internet forums to see if they could identify their target.

I'd feel really bad if IRL people close to me read my posts. The picture I paint here is a sub par wife and mother with lots of psychosis and two steps away from ending it all. Now I know I have issues but in black and white it sounds worse then it really is.

I wouldn't like it at all. I would, however, prefer it to people in real life seeing a YouTube video of me at peak mania ranting like some fool.

I would not care at all.

Nobody who knows me even wants to! I’ve told everyone close to me I post and nobody was even curious, lol. They are much more interested in their own stuff than ours.

No, I don't. My moniker is pretty much everywhere, so it doesn't matter anyways. Who knows--someone might find some old fanfic

My mom found my bipolar blog and was going through it. Well it is written to explain to people so....

I always write with that in mind.

I would absolutely hate if anyone -- including my therapist (maybe even especially so, as I write about her a lot) -- read my posts here. The beauty of anonymity on forums like this is that I can feel safe sharing feelings that would never be comfortable sharing with a person in "real life." And that said, I often get paranoid that I post too much identifying information on these forums that if a friend ever stumbled upon PC, they would be able to identify me by my posts.

Hell naw

Meh. If a determined person or group wanted to scan through everything I've ever written online and put it together with me "in real life", nothing is going to stop them. It would take a savvy person just a few hours, at most, less if they were a professional investigator. I'm not going out of my way to advertise my activity, but I've been around tech long enough to know that, unless I take plenty of precautions that I never ever forget about, the web is a big old public swimming pool.

So, I guess part of me would be flattered to find that I was worth someone's time to look into, and part of me would wonder why they didn't just ask me what they wanted to find out. And as far as privacy goes, I think of it the same way I think of someone bothering to hack one of my cameras - if they manage to do it, they deserve every unsavory thing they happen to see.

I think i'd be seriously upset if I knew someone I know was brouzing these forums and reading my posts

what I try to remind myself is, that that no one knows my username and even if they did, and they read it, they are unlikely to comment

I come from a family where mental health is nothing more than a legend, so if they saw any of my posts, they would just think.... what a bunch of attention seeking crap.

as for my friends (like tara), if she read some of the stufff I put on here, I think i'd leave..

their is plenty of stuff she doesn't know (which she maybe should), but I've not told her yet

It would be okay if certain people read my posts. There are people I would not want reading my posts -- they are too judgmental.

WC

Since this place is anonymous, I don't really pay much attention to what I write. It's not a worry for me. Tisha Buv's comment really struck home for me...My therapist drilled this into me when I'd get paranoid about other people:

I stay anonymous for several reasons. I've done some crappy stuff that I've shared on here in the past. I'm open with people about being bipolar, but there are aspects that I'm very private about IRL. Also, there are triggers for my wife that I avoid IRL that I need to be able to share somewhere. I'm completely honest with my wife, but I also have to be sensitive.

I'd rather keep it anonymous. I may say something unflattering about someone.

In the past I used the same name as I do in my email address. The user name I chose was pretty unique on the Internet. Searching when using this name would turn up allot of posts that I have made in the past. So I changed my handle on this site. Now I am much more anonymous when I post here. This is the way I like it.

For the most part, I do not actually care if anyone finds out that I am bipolar. This is not the end of the world for me. However, there are people that I want to keep from knowing this and reading my posts, such as the people at work on a future job.

Yes I would mind.

I wouldn't care if someone read my posts.

I feel ambiguous about it. I don't really post revealing or deep stuff, still this is my place and I'm anonymous for a reason.