On doxxing in Site Updates (Josh)

As I’m sure many of you have heard, a PB community member was doxxed last week. If you’re not familiar with that term, it means that someone copied content from this user’s journal and shared it with someone the user knows in real life. Additionally, they taught that person how to create an account and view the user’s Members Only entries. It wasn’t pretty.

Prosebox is built on anonymity, so it’s been devastating to hear that a community member’s content has been compromised and affected their personal lives. Unfortunately, because of that built-in anonymity, and the fact that the information was spread via third-party apps using fake names, it makes it nearly impossible to tell who the perpetrator was.

I’ve seen a lot of rumors flying around, and a lot of accusations leveled against community members that they are perpetrator. Doxxing people is absolutely against our community rules, and if I can get any indisputable proof of who did it, it will result in an immediate ban. However, so far all I’ve had sent to me is suspicion, rumor, and history of arguments in comments. I don’t feel that it would be fair to ban a user based on just those things. It’s not fair that the perpetrator gets away with this either, and believe me when I say I would love to see them get consequences for their actions, but I don’t feel right banning people without enough proof to do so.

That being said, one of our community members made some excellent points about internet privacy which this situation has brought to light, and I think they’re important enough to share here:

• Anyone can create an account on Prosebox, which would give them immediate access to Members Only entries. Writing your entries as Members Only as opposed to Public blocks them from search engines and puts them behind a login wall, but that’s easy to get around by simply creating a login. It’s safe to assume that anyone from your real life could find your diary at any time, and as such, it’s always best to keep your information as anonymous as possible. Assume that your boss, your coworkers, your family members, or your friends, could find and read your at any given moment. If you wouldn’t want them to read it, it may be best to write the entry as Friends Only, instead.

• Be sure you trust the people on your Friends list, if you’re writing more sensitive content there. Also, the smaller your Friends list, the easier it would be to track down anyone suspicious if any of your PB information were to ever leak out.

• Don’t put your real-life personal information, or those of your friends or family members, into your entries. Use nicknames for people and places.

Also, please try to keep in mind that this is an isolated incident. One member was doxxed; another member was doxxed years ago. This incident, along with rumors and allegations, have spread through the community like wildfire, and it seems to have led people to feel like this is a widespread attack, and that anyone could be next.

While it is always good to consider your own privacy, there is no indication that this is any kind of mass event. I encourage you to clean up your Friends lists and consider your entry privacy, but again — there is zero indication that there’s a need to worry that anyone is “next” on a mad user’s doxxing spree.

While it’s good to be aware of your own privacy, I would also like to state plainly that I will not entertain comments about how it was the user’s own fault they were doxxed because they were not more careful with their information. If someone leaves their house unlocked and their house is robbed, it is still the robber’s fault. Theft is a crime, leaving your house unlocked is not. The user that was doxxed is the victim here, and I do not support victim blaming. It sucks for her, which I feel is something we can all agree on.

This entry will only be accepting private comments.

Last updated June 21, 2021