So, due to a thread I saw recently I'm going to talk a little bit about operational security (OPSEC) as it pertains to the internet. The first, most important thing you should know is, if you post something on the internet it NEVER GOES AWAY. Really, it frequently gets told here that our posts are searchable by Google and that is quite true. Also all of your media accounts such as FB, IG, and Twitter. Not only that, but what other people say about you online is also available along with anything you post on other forums (for the most part). And if the page where some information about you no longer exists, it could be cached on a search engine such as google and will still turn up in searches.
One you're fully aware that your information never goes away the next consideration is how much do you want people to know about you? Do you even care if people know exactly who you are and where to find you? I've seen this trend where almost everyone who makes money from social media/youtube does not conceal their name or location or maybe even their specific house. On the other hand, if you would rather not want the CC'ers who ask for money in PM's before they've even made a post to have your information, your going to want to watch what you say.
The first bit of info to be tracked is your user name. If you've used it other places open to the web it can be googled to find the information you've put up there. So for example, you only have divulged your age and a picture of you on CC, but somewhere else you've got an account under the same user that you've posted a post with your first name. Now a person could have access to age, name, and what you look like which is one step away from finding your FB. The only other thing that would make it easy is your location. But you don't necessarily need these certain bits of information to find you. Maybe I have your picture and I know the name of the co-ed softball team you play for. Maybe there's a website with a team picture and names for each person. Then I know your name(possibly first and last), what you look like, and probably the area you live in (wherever that team is located.)
And you have to be careful about what you say. Suppose you wanted to withhold your location. You would also want to not mention the name of you're city's baseball team, or a restaurant or landmark that is specific to only your city. OR ESPECIALLY the name of your college. Likewise you wouldn't want to post images of yourself that are publicly available else where. It works the same as if your trying to find a catfish. I can reverse image search your picture and if it comes up that the picture is from a pornstar (this is actually a common usage) then I know it's fake. On the other end of the spectrum. If I search your image, if it's publicly available, your Facebook might show up instead.
Lastly you need to know that there is information floating around about you that you didn't put out there yourself. Maybe someone reviewed the restaurant you work at and mentioned by name that you were a really good server. Or maybe you bought some land and now your name is attached to a specific address. Or maybe you underwent litigation. Or maybe you were put in a local paper for something good you did. What these sources of info say about you needs to be taken into consideration when you're trying to understand what people can see about you. As you can see OPSEC is exhausting, and it may be that, after some consideration you decide it's not worth it to try and keep track of every scrap of personal info you've put out there. I'm sure that you are aware what people can do with such information and so it's up to you to weigh the risk/reward factor in that.
If anyone has anything to add, because I know that there are some people here more savvy than I, please do so.
One you're fully aware that your information never goes away the next consideration is how much do you want people to know about you? Do you even care if people know exactly who you are and where to find you? I've seen this trend where almost everyone who makes money from social media/youtube does not conceal their name or location or maybe even their specific house. On the other hand, if you would rather not want the CC'ers who ask for money in PM's before they've even made a post to have your information, your going to want to watch what you say.
The first bit of info to be tracked is your user name. If you've used it other places open to the web it can be googled to find the information you've put up there. So for example, you only have divulged your age and a picture of you on CC, but somewhere else you've got an account under the same user that you've posted a post with your first name. Now a person could have access to age, name, and what you look like which is one step away from finding your FB. The only other thing that would make it easy is your location. But you don't necessarily need these certain bits of information to find you. Maybe I have your picture and I know the name of the co-ed softball team you play for. Maybe there's a website with a team picture and names for each person. Then I know your name(possibly first and last), what you look like, and probably the area you live in (wherever that team is located.)
And you have to be careful about what you say. Suppose you wanted to withhold your location. You would also want to not mention the name of you're city's baseball team, or a restaurant or landmark that is specific to only your city. OR ESPECIALLY the name of your college. Likewise you wouldn't want to post images of yourself that are publicly available else where. It works the same as if your trying to find a catfish. I can reverse image search your picture and if it comes up that the picture is from a pornstar (this is actually a common usage) then I know it's fake. On the other end of the spectrum. If I search your image, if it's publicly available, your Facebook might show up instead.
Lastly you need to know that there is information floating around about you that you didn't put out there yourself. Maybe someone reviewed the restaurant you work at and mentioned by name that you were a really good server. Or maybe you bought some land and now your name is attached to a specific address. Or maybe you underwent litigation. Or maybe you were put in a local paper for something good you did. What these sources of info say about you needs to be taken into consideration when you're trying to understand what people can see about you. As you can see OPSEC is exhausting, and it may be that, after some consideration you decide it's not worth it to try and keep track of every scrap of personal info you've put out there. I'm sure that you are aware what people can do with such information and so it's up to you to weigh the risk/reward factor in that.
If anyone has anything to add, because I know that there are some people here more savvy than I, please do so.
But, that was the start of my almost-paranoia internet security habits. For many, many weeks, I had to go through the tedious process of "cleaning up". Had to download all my stuff and deleted them from the face of the internet planet. Learned about domain privacies (which I doubt really is privacy but that's how e-commerce works, oh well). I think the best thing was when I finally learned about network security, which is kinda part of my job as a network engineer. 
