How to Use Privacy Settings on Eons

1. Privacy and Security on Eons

As a spirited boomer, you know how to navigate the world safely and with confidence. But the Internet is a different place, with new opportunities, new risks and new rules for staying safe and secure.

You should be cautious about your activities on any Web site, particularly if the site is unfamiliar to you. Learn about the sites you frequent before you five them your personal information.  For example, the About Us section of Eons reveals a lot about our executive team, led by Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor, and our investors, General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Charles River Ventures and Intel Capital, and Humana. With well known and reputable companies participating in a site’s business, you can be more comfortable providing registration information.  Did you know that Eons’ investors have played central roles in the startup of some of today’s most successful Internet and technology companies, including Apple, Yahoo!, Google, Monster, and Lycos?

Eons.com is your online community; it’s for you spirited BOOMers who want to explore your passions, keep in touch with friends, connect with interesting people to share life experiences, and most of all have fun. A social networking site should give its members control over who can view a member’s personal information. At Eons, we know that control over your personal information is essential if you are to feel safe and comfortable interacting with one another. Read on to get a clear understanding of what privacy and personal information controls are available to you on Eons.

2. Screen Names and passwords

Create a screen name by which others will know you. A screen name is like a nickname or “handle.” (Most people don't use their real names, for the sake of privacy, but it's up to you.) The most common short screen names (such as "Bud") have been taken already, but you can make yours unique by adding numbers to the screen name ("Bud50," for example). Also, your screen name needs to be one word (no spaces allowed) and must begin with a letter. You may use capital letters, e.g., LukeSkywalker.
Your screen name is always visible to others, members and visitors alike.

3. Passwords

Here are some tips:

• Choose a combination of at least eight letters, numbers and symbols, mixing uppercase and lowercase letters for variety.
• For added security, change your passwords every three months and never write them down.
• To remember a password, choose a combination that makes sense to you but that isn't obvious to other people. For example, choose a memorable phrase like "My lazy dog always sleeps on the sofa;" take the first letter of each word ("mldasots"), and then add some numbers and symbols that resemble the letters (e.g., "m1da$ots").
• Make sure you create a new login password for your computer.  It’s really easy, and if your computer is stolen (or even if you walk away from your desk for a while), a login password can keep someone from getting to the information on your computer.  Be smart, lock your computer up with a login password.

4. Privacy Settings for Eons Members

As we noted before, it is very important for a social networking site like Eons to give members control over who can view their personal information. That control is essential if you are to feel safe and comfortable interacting with one another.

We have a number of privacy settings that allow you to share as little or as much about yourself as you want with the Eons community. You can choose the level of privacy for the following features available on your Profile page.

• Extended Profile
• Full name
• Email address
• Age
• City and State

You set the level of interaction, with other members, deciding who can:

• send you private messages
• leave comments on your Profile
• leave comments on your blog
• see when you are online
• invite you to be a Friend on Eons
• send you a Gift
• see your LifePath™

You can set your privacy settings for these features from "Account Settings", which appears at the top of each page once you are logged in. Your privacy setting options include:

• Visible to Everyone. Under this setting, Eons members and visitors alike will be able to see the feature, for example, your extended Profile (which includes your blog)
• Visible to Only my Friends. With this, only your Friends on Eons will be able to view your extended Profile. Non-Friends will only be able to see limited information on your Profile. To learn about Friends on Eons, read the article about "Friends and Favorites on Eons.")
• Visible to No one. Just as it says, no one will be able to view your extended Profile. Everyone will only be able to see limited information on your Profile.

If you choose to make your extended Profile visible only to Friends or to no one, then only a limited Profile will be viewable to other members and visitors.  A limited Profile displays only your screen name, whether you are male or female and how long you have been a member on Eons.

There are also privacy options for when comments are posted on your Profile, how your Friends will be informed about your activity on Eons, whether Friends are notified of your birthday and whether you participate in the Badge program. All of these options are accessed through your privacy settings page.

Allowing people to search for you by your full name and your email address are new features on Eons. Now, if current friends or old school pals wonder whether you are an Eons member -- and you have set your privacy settings to allow Everyone to view either feature -- they will be able to use your full name or email address as search criteria. The search results will display your Eons Profile and then they’ll be able to connect with you on Eons.

Until recently your age, city and state were visible to anyone who could view your extended Profile. Now you have the option to limit access to this information to Everyone, Only Friends or No One separately.

In addition to these features on your Profile, you can also choose levels of engagement in Groups you start. Go to a How to start a Group to learn more about this.

The choices are up to you! Eons is committed to providing members with a safe community, where members feel comfortable connecting with others.

5. Protecting your identity online

Just going online exposes you to risks such as computer viruses, online fraud and identity theft. So use caution.

• Eons will not reveal your personal email address, unless you choose to display it on your extended Profile. Using our Eons private messaging  (PM) feature you can communicate with other Eons members without either party knowing the other's email address.
• Be absolutely certain before you give out personal information, especially your Social Security number or bank account number.
• Be very careful about posting or giving out your email address, telephone number, street address or anything else you don't want any and everyone to know.
• Beware of spam -- email messages that are really advertisements -- and phishing schemes that fish for your personal information to steal your money or your identity (particularly, "419" scams). To report what appears to be spam or phishing, please use the “Report as inappropriate” link located within the private message or contact the Eons Help Team.

6. Changing your mind

In most cases, members can change a setting or revise and delete something they have written. There are exceptions, however.
Things you CAN do:

• Groups you join: You can leave any Group you join.
• Email address: You can change your email address through the Settings link, which appears at the top of each page, once you’re logged in to Eons.
• Blogs: You can delete a blog, as well as edit it. If you want to delete your blog post, open it and click on “Edit this blog” at the bottom of the posting. When you are in the editing page, scroll to the bottom. Click on “Delete post.” You will get a prompt asking whether you are sure you want to delete it. If you do, click on Yes. If you decide not to delete the post, click on Cancel.
• LifePath™: You can edit or delete a LifePath entry. Just click on the entry, and you’ll be taken to an editing page.

Things you CANNOT do:

• Posts: Wherever you post such as a comment in a blog, a post or reply in a Group, or a comment on a member’s Profile, you cannot delete it.
• Groups you create: You cannot leave or delete a Group you created with the assistance of the Eons Help Team.
• Screen name:  You cannot change your screen name on your own.  Contact the Eons Help Team.

Tip: If you plan to write a long post or blog of more than three or four sentences (or if you find yourself writing one as you go) it is wise to type it first into a word document, using a program like Microsoft Word, Word Perfect or Notepad. Then copy and paste the message into the form on Eons. This way, if your Internet connection times out or your computer freezes, you will have a copy of what you have taken so much time to write.