If you want to participate on the Aftermath Forums

[Paul]

Welcome!

If you are interested in participating on the Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy Foundation’s forums you will have to register, which means entering your email address, password and creating a screen name or user name.

You email address is kept confidential and only our Administrators can see it. We never sell or circulate our email list to anyone. Protecting your privacy is paramount to us.

Your screen name, however, is clearly visible to all others who have joined the Forums, both those that post and those that simply “lurk.”

Each request for membership is carefully checked by our Administrators for a variety of things. To facilitate your speedy acceptance, we want you to know the most common reasons we reject applications for user names:

1. The screen name is a real name. DO NOT use your real name as your screen name. In fact, do not use anything that looks like a real name. You will be rejected. Why? Anonymity is important to our members, whether they are here to read and learn about psychopathy or they have had interactions with a psychopath in their lives. Therefore to maintain consistency, we will not allow anyone to use a screen name that seems to be a real name. For example JohnSmith, SmithJohn, and JSmith would not be approved.

2. The screen name is the same as your email address. DO NOT use any part of your email address as your screen name. You will be rejected. Why? Consider this, if there is a psychopath in your life and he or she read your posts and thinks you are talking about him or her, how easy would it be for him or her to simply take your screen name, add in your local ISP (Internet Service Provider) name and find you and harass you?

Here is an example: Let’s say your email address is: “Serendipity @ TheTelephoneCompany.com” If you choose as your screen name “Serendipity,” it would be quite easy to guess at your real email address. Also, because we do not allow our posters to contact each other outside of Aftermath, having a screen name that is the same as your email address seems too close for comfort for us. In this example, Serendipity would not be approved.

3. The screen name is the same one you use on other “psychopathy” sites or social networking sites, such as FaceBook or LinkedIn. Please DO NOT use the same screen name here as you may on another site that deals with psychopaths, sociopaths, relationship issues, etc. or that can be identified with you. While this one is difficult for us to manage, consider this: If you post details about your life here on Aftermath and similar details on another site, how easy would it be for a psychopath or “stalker” to put two-and-two together? You may not think this is problematic, but we have members here who are in legal situations or are hiding from their aggressor. It’s best for everyone if we all follow this simple rule.

4. The screen name is a celebrity, trademark, or readily identifiable name. DO NOT use a screen name that is famous or well known. For example, Oprah, JackieO, LadyDi, Madonna, Pink, AMA, CocaCola, etc. would not be approved. We don’t have the resources to deal with legal issues that may arise and it’s not really fair to these people for you to use their highly-recognizable names on a website about psychopaths.

5. DO NOT use a screen name that is inflammatory or off color. For example, A**hole, I-Will-Kill-Him, etc. This may sound strange, but you’d be surprised what we’ve seen (and rejected).

Picking the right screen name for you, some thoughts:

When you read our threads you will find that each poster has developed a personality or persona amongst the other readers, and this is tied to their screen name identity. They share details and receive feedback, support and sometimes advice along the way, and we are pleased that we have a Forum populated with good people.

Many simply select a word or even a short phrase that captures who they feel they are or want to be. Some use phrases that describe their current situation and mindset; others their goal for a better life. Give some time to selecting your screen name.

Technical Specifications:
Passwords: 6-30 characters long
Screen name: 3-20 characters long
Processing time: as this is a manual process it can take anywhere from 1 day to a week to be approved. Those that follow the above guidelines are obviously approved more quickly.