Were you on Myspace back when it was popular?

@JoyfulSilence I remember my first exposure being chat lines in my teen years... but so many creepy groomers. Then there was messenger I think .... I was also one first people on youtube . I miss those days when YouTube had an inbox where you could Dm other YouTubers

@RadiantRuby

I was on something short-lived in college. It was like Twitter: short messages. And it was anonymous! It was so popular my college banned it for using up too much bandwidth!

I have a YouTube account (actually, it is a Google account, since Google owns YouTube). I also created a YouTube page (my SW username) so I could share videos on here. I also use the same account to talk to a few people on Google Hangouts who wished it. These were people I met on SW.

But when I want to see YouTubes of others, I am always logged out. I do not want to be tracked. Although YouTube does track people's IP addresses. But one can clear their history on YouTube, at least I hope that is what it is doing.

@JoyfulSilence I'm very sad because this reminds of the time I lost my account. When YouTube joined forces with google .... I was absent for a few years when I went back I lost everything. Now I don't ever post I only watch and comment.
I miss the days when YouTube was independent and without ads

@RadiantRuby

Yeah, Google is Big Brother, they know everything!

I first created an account when I got my Android phone, since I thought I would need it for upgrades and to get new apps. Yet for SW, I created a second, fake account.

I use Ad Block on my computer browser. But it does not block ads inside videos.

@JoyfulSilence I remember when google didn't need a phone number to have a email. Now google needs the whole shebang

@RadiantRuby I found a website (mail.com) where I could set up an e-mail account without providing any information. I used a fake name. Then I used the fake e-mail to set up most of my social media accounts.

If Google added a phone number requirement, they must have added it later. I wonder what would happen if I tried to create a new account today. I am not using my real phone number on a fake account!

@RadiantRuby Addendum.

I just checked that site and now they want a phone number or e-mail (for
"password recovery") to sign up. I do not recall if they needed this before or what I did. Hmm. Maybe I got in before this all happened?

I guess pure anonymity is dead these days.

@JoyfulSilence yup it's everywhere now. But I did register my phone number The best part is if you do need to recover your account it helps.

@RadiantRuby A lot of sites also require a phone number for authentication. They will send a text with a code that you have to type in to the website.

I do not mind more security but I lose my anonymity. Sigh.

I just need to be careful what I say. It may be used against me in court some day!

@JoyfulSilence stiff upper lip comes in handy sometimes

@RadiantRuby I'm just afraid of the spy agencies storing all my conversations, LOL!