The most extraordinarily piece of bad advice that I regularly see on bodybuilding/steroid forums is the prohibition against the use of multiple online identities for members.
The basic reason behind this terrible advice is the observation that bad people use multiple identities for nefarious and dishonest purposes. For example, scammers create multiple identities to continue to perpetuate the theft of money from members. The commonly proposed solution is to ban the use of multiple identities in an effort to thwart scammers.
Let's look at another example outside of the steroid world. We all suspect that the majority of terrorists and pedophiles probably use anonymity and privacy tools such as TOR and PGP. But does that make the tools themselves evil? Should TOR and PGP be banned for the masses?
No. TOR and PGP are neutral. Just because they can be used by bad people doesn't mean that the good guys shouldn't be allowed access to such tools.
TOR and PGP are indispensable for anyone interested in privacy and anonymity in the steroid world. And so is the use of multiple online identities.
This is why.
(1) Your already use multiple online identities: Who actually uses their real name when posting on a steroid forum? The irony is that practically everyone here uses a pseudonym so that their real identity is not connected to their pseudonymous identity on steroid forums. Some members may have pseudonyms they use on other special interest forums such as AV or car forums that are different from their steroid forum pseudonym. Why? They want to keep the identities separate given the stigma of steroids and the illegal acquisition of steroids and PEDs. If one pseudonym is good, the use of additional pseudonyms (identities) simply provide additional layers of security.
(2a) Your pseudonym isn't really anonymous: Most members are active in the forum "community". It's not just about sharing ideas; members who participate long enough in a forum community develop a sense of comraderie and even friendships with several members.
It is inevitable that, during the course of such friendly online exchanges, little bits of identifying information will be posted. Any single piece of identifying info is probably insignificant. But taken as a whole, with dozens of self-disclosed facts and thousands of posts, an identity will emerge that resembles the real-life identity of the member to some degree.
Let's say that sometime over the course of the past 2 years, you disclosed the following in unrelated posts: You live in Las Vegas, you grew up in a suburb of Denver, you went to the University of California San Diego, you're 38-years old, you work out at 24 Hour Fitness, your area code is 702, you are a personal trainer... You may not have revealed your name but you've made it a lot easier for motivated entities to identify who you are.
Bottom line is that most people have no clue how much identifying information they voluntarily disclose.
(2b) You are participating in an illegal activity: Too many people believe they are safe (and anonymous) since they are using a pseudonym when they admit to illegally buying anabolic steroids. Given the concerns listed in 2a, it wouldn't be too difficult to connect your illicit transactions to your real-life identity.
If you admit to the illegal acquisition of steroids, the use of the SAME single pseudonym across multiple steroid forums spanning thousands of posts over several years is the absolute worst thing you can do if safety is your primary concern.
If you care about "respect" and "status" in the community and all the shit that comes along with it (like free and discounted gear), then fine. Just don't delude yourself into thinking it's the safest approach.
(3) You need protection against sources: Sources aren't your friends and buddies. They are criminals participating in the illegal drug black market. Most are scammers or will turn into scammers. For this reason, you should never, ever, ever trust them.
If you have a bad experience with a source who steals money from you, most people will be afraid to publicly speak out against the source. Why? Because the source has a lot of identifying information about you that they could disclose if you say the wrong thing. Do the majority of people who buy steroids use their real names when sending WU/MG and having product shipped to them? (Or more importantly, do you?) Even if they use a fake name, they often give their home address or the address of a PMB, a relative, a friend that is easily linked to them.
If you dare say anything bad about such a source, no matter how justified you are to complain about the scam, the source has you by the balls. They will blackmail you , threaten you, maybe not with violence (although this is not uncommon) but by disclosing your name and/or your physical address; they may send you a "hot" package containing narcotics, steroids, etc. that is packaged with the express purpose of attracting the attention of law enforcement/customs.
TOR and PGP won't help you in these situations. You are SOL. Your best bet is just to be quiet and swallow the loss. Some people may call you a coward for failing to speak up and protect other members from being taken by the scamming source. That may be. In retrospect, you should have taken precautions to avoid being in that situation.
So what can you do?
Multiple identities, anyone?
I can't advise participating in illegal activity. And I certainly would recommend against admitting to it in a public forum. But if you must illegal acquire AAS and discuss your criminal actions in public, the safest approach would be to use ONE identity for regular participation, discussion, comraderie on the forum, a completely SECOND separate identity to interact and engage in transactions with a source and a THIRD separate identity to publicly discuss the transactions with that source.
Furthermore, you should use a separate identity for each and every source you contact.
If anonymity is at all important, you will make regular use of multiple online identities. It will likely be one of the best bets going forward in a world where anonymity will soon disappear.
BTW, here is a very useful website for that purpose : Generate a Random Name - Fake Name Generator
The basic reason behind this terrible advice is the observation that bad people use multiple identities for nefarious and dishonest purposes. For example, scammers create multiple identities to continue to perpetuate the theft of money from members. The commonly proposed solution is to ban the use of multiple identities in an effort to thwart scammers.
Let's look at another example outside of the steroid world. We all suspect that the majority of terrorists and pedophiles probably use anonymity and privacy tools such as TOR and PGP. But does that make the tools themselves evil? Should TOR and PGP be banned for the masses?
No. TOR and PGP are neutral. Just because they can be used by bad people doesn't mean that the good guys shouldn't be allowed access to such tools.
TOR and PGP are indispensable for anyone interested in privacy and anonymity in the steroid world. And so is the use of multiple online identities.
This is why.
(1) Your already use multiple online identities: Who actually uses their real name when posting on a steroid forum? The irony is that practically everyone here uses a pseudonym so that their real identity is not connected to their pseudonymous identity on steroid forums. Some members may have pseudonyms they use on other special interest forums such as AV or car forums that are different from their steroid forum pseudonym. Why? They want to keep the identities separate given the stigma of steroids and the illegal acquisition of steroids and PEDs. If one pseudonym is good, the use of additional pseudonyms (identities) simply provide additional layers of security.
(2a) Your pseudonym isn't really anonymous: Most members are active in the forum "community". It's not just about sharing ideas; members who participate long enough in a forum community develop a sense of comraderie and even friendships with several members.
It is inevitable that, during the course of such friendly online exchanges, little bits of identifying information will be posted. Any single piece of identifying info is probably insignificant. But taken as a whole, with dozens of self-disclosed facts and thousands of posts, an identity will emerge that resembles the real-life identity of the member to some degree.
Let's say that sometime over the course of the past 2 years, you disclosed the following in unrelated posts: You live in Las Vegas, you grew up in a suburb of Denver, you went to the University of California San Diego, you're 38-years old, you work out at 24 Hour Fitness, your area code is 702, you are a personal trainer... You may not have revealed your name but you've made it a lot easier for motivated entities to identify who you are.
Bottom line is that most people have no clue how much identifying information they voluntarily disclose.
(2b) You are participating in an illegal activity: Too many people believe they are safe (and anonymous) since they are using a pseudonym when they admit to illegally buying anabolic steroids. Given the concerns listed in 2a, it wouldn't be too difficult to connect your illicit transactions to your real-life identity.
If you admit to the illegal acquisition of steroids, the use of the SAME single pseudonym across multiple steroid forums spanning thousands of posts over several years is the absolute worst thing you can do if safety is your primary concern.
If you care about "respect" and "status" in the community and all the shit that comes along with it (like free and discounted gear), then fine. Just don't delude yourself into thinking it's the safest approach.
(3) You need protection against sources: Sources aren't your friends and buddies. They are criminals participating in the illegal drug black market. Most are scammers or will turn into scammers. For this reason, you should never, ever, ever trust them.
If you have a bad experience with a source who steals money from you, most people will be afraid to publicly speak out against the source. Why? Because the source has a lot of identifying information about you that they could disclose if you say the wrong thing. Do the majority of people who buy steroids use their real names when sending WU/MG and having product shipped to them? (Or more importantly, do you?) Even if they use a fake name, they often give their home address or the address of a PMB, a relative, a friend that is easily linked to them.
If you dare say anything bad about such a source, no matter how justified you are to complain about the scam, the source has you by the balls. They will blackmail you , threaten you, maybe not with violence (although this is not uncommon) but by disclosing your name and/or your physical address; they may send you a "hot" package containing narcotics, steroids, etc. that is packaged with the express purpose of attracting the attention of law enforcement/customs.
TOR and PGP won't help you in these situations. You are SOL. Your best bet is just to be quiet and swallow the loss. Some people may call you a coward for failing to speak up and protect other members from being taken by the scamming source. That may be. In retrospect, you should have taken precautions to avoid being in that situation.
So what can you do?
Multiple identities, anyone?
I can't advise participating in illegal activity. And I certainly would recommend against admitting to it in a public forum. But if you must illegal acquire AAS and discuss your criminal actions in public, the safest approach would be to use ONE identity for regular participation, discussion, comraderie on the forum, a completely SECOND separate identity to interact and engage in transactions with a source and a THIRD separate identity to publicly discuss the transactions with that source.
Furthermore, you should use a separate identity for each and every source you contact.
If anonymity is at all important, you will make regular use of multiple online identities. It will likely be one of the best bets going forward in a world where anonymity will soon disappear.
BTW, here is a very useful website for that purpose : Generate a Random Name - Fake Name Generator
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