3 ms·

Even private socializing. How well do you really know most people when it comes to sensitive subjects?

yial 2y ago
Not the person you’re responding to, but I’m careful with what I share with people. I once had someone share something rather personal, followed up with a comment that they suspected I’ve had similar experiences. The reason? The language and phrases I use when referencing parents. Nothing negative per se, but the way in which I refer to them (example: my mother) and others. I was giving away more than I realized. Which wasn’t so much of a concern in this context, but I’m more away of it now around people I don’t know especially. (This comment actually puts me a little outside of my normal personal opsec, but I’m going to let it stand here)
- giantg2 2y ago
  Yep. Supposedly you can match writing styles across accounts on the internet to identify someone.
  - walterbell 2y ago
    Stylometry: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33755016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33755016 & https://web.archive.org/web/20221129004703/https://stylometry.net/about https://web.archive.org/web/20221129004703/https://stylometr...
- matheusmoreira 2y ago
  Even something as simple as a single word can give away absurd amounts of information about us. I used to be ashamed of my nationality and actively tried to hide it. I was very successful at it too, never had a single person identify me... Until I tried playing an MMORPG I used to play when I was a kid and was still learning English. Long story short, I misspelled the name of an item because of my childhood memories. Turns out that mistake was very specific to people of my country.
  - zo1 2y ago
    I once had my nationality "leak" just by the specific addition I chose when ordering a specific hamburger-like dish at a food-stall. Something akin to choosing to put mustard on a hot-dog kind of situation. The person looked at me, knew, got confused as I had a perfectly neutral and non-native accent, and then just had to ask to confirm their suspicion.
    - dewbrite 2y ago
      Mayo with fries would be a German likeness. Very odd in the States.

yial 2y ago

Not the person you’re responding to, but I’m careful with what I share with people. I once had someone share something rather personal, followed up with a comment that they suspected I’ve had similar experiences. The reason? The language and phrases I use when referencing parents. Nothing negative per se, but the way in which I refer to them (example: my mother) and others. I was giving away more than I realized. Which wasn’t so much of a concern in this context, but I’m more away of it now around people I don’t know especially. (This comment actually puts me a little outside of my normal personal opsec, but I’m going to let it stand here)

giantg2 2y ago
Yep. Supposedly you can match writing styles across accounts on the internet to identify someone.
- walterbell 2y ago
  Stylometry: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33755016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33755016 & https://web.archive.org/web/20221129004703/https://stylometry.net/about https://web.archive.org/web/20221129004703/https://stylometr...
matheusmoreira 2y ago
Even something as simple as a single word can give away absurd amounts of information about us. I used to be ashamed of my nationality and actively tried to hide it. I was very successful at it too, never had a single person identify me... Until I tried playing an MMORPG I used to play when I was a kid and was still learning English. Long story short, I misspelled the name of an item because of my childhood memories. Turns out that mistake was very specific to people of my country.
- zo1 2y ago
  I once had my nationality "leak" just by the specific addition I chose when ordering a specific hamburger-like dish at a food-stall. Something akin to choosing to put mustard on a hot-dog kind of situation. The person looked at me, knew, got confused as I had a perfectly neutral and non-native accent, and then just had to ask to confirm their suspicion.
  - dewbrite 2y ago
    Mayo with fries would be a German likeness. Very odd in the States.