Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
I welcome any thoughts on using a VPN. I am currently using Express, but who knows what is the best? I’m not trying to hide from the F Be Eye (hah, as I spell out their name), just wanting to protect myself online from being hacked into. And I really don’t do much as far as social media, just some photo sharing on Instagram of my garden projects, and, coming here to mostly lurk.
Express offers several different sites across the world. Should I change my site often, or would other countries cause me more liability as far as not being secure?
A VPN will simply hide your traffic from your internet service provider & allow you to appear to be coming from a different state/country.
There is some media that isn't allowed to be played inside of, or outside of geographic locations. Using a VPN can help with being able to see geographically restricted content.
Most hackers will obtain your information (in my experience with older family members I attempt to educate) by collecting some contact information from various records/lists that get sold. Your contact info is extremely valuable if you fit the proper niche.
Often a message promoting fear will get individuals to call the number listed so that a hacker can further obtain more information & drain your accounts.
Good basic rule of thumb. If you get a notice that there has been an error, go into your local bank/doctor office/tv provider/power company & ask them about the bill. If you can't go into their office physically, at the very least get their contact information from a web search & then call them directly from their listed number. Never call, or reply to, those texts or emails that make fear based claims.
I have enjoyed Perogi (a blue haired hacker). They expose thieving hackers & often work with other good hackers to bring down really bad thrives. Their channel is Scammer Payback https://youtube.com/@ScammerPayback
edit--Often Scammer use very crude & fowl language. I hate that part, though it is hilarious to watch them freak out as they find their computers are having files of individuals they planned to scam be deleted whole on the call with a "84 year old woman"
If you like Scammer Payback, check out Kitboga. Funny as hell.
Thank you for the reminder. I haven't seen their stuff come up in my feed for some time, though I have really enjoyed them.
I recommend Kitboga too.
I will check them out.