After reading the guide, levelling up, and lurking in the shadows for months; I’ve finally made an account to share how critical FDS advice is for your emotional and physical safety.

NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR REAL NUMBER.

I recently ventured into OLD armed with several precautions outlined on this sub. One post that was particularly helpful, outlined a number of ways to use a burner number. The ladies in the comments named several options, and I chose one that worked best for me after weighing them out.

Today I came to the point in chatting with someone online where it was more convenient to move to text, and possibly a phone call.

We started texting and he asked if my name was my short form for something. Think along the lines of : name on the site was ‘Lina’ short for ‘Marlene’.

When he first texted me, he said “Is Lina short for something? Or should I save you as something else?”. I let him know it’s a short form, but that’s what I go by. He proceeds to guess what name it’s short for. This struck me as off. Alarm bells were starting. I let him know what it was short for, Marlene. It didn’t matter too much, my first name isn’t a secret but it felt weird.

If a man goes by Dave, does a woman say... “is that short for David?”. No, because it doesn’t matter. I introduced myself by what I wanted to be called. The end.

Anyways we kept talking, and he says “are you talking to a lot of guys?” strike two. I ignored him. He then messages and asks me to send him a picture of myself so he can save it as my contact. No. I didn’t respond.

I was done at this point, and heading to the app to block his profile. While I was doing this he calls me!

An additional safety concern here: was he trying to get my first name to search it with my number to get more info on me?

I cannot express what a relief it was to block him from the burner knowing I’m as untraceable as I can possibly be online. I was instantly free of him, no consequences.

A couple of takeaways 1. Consider using an alias 2. Stick with it, that’s your name “Nope, just Lina” 3. Smash that block button and fast. Don’t waste time when things feel weird.

Thanks ladies, hope this helps one of you like y’all have helped me❤️