FabGuys.com forum: Privacy on here is a joke

By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

Did you know these forums are publicly visible on Google?

And that Google search works better than fab guys forum search?

For another reason, I googled 'fabguys mumsnet' expecting to get results where fab was mentioned on mumsnet.

But I also got a load of results where mumsnet was mentioned on here.

I opened one of these links in a separate browser to see if it was visible to the public, and yes it is.

Google picks up words in the comments, not just the titles.

So, married guys in particular, if you make a comment or comments that give too much away,say, where you live, along with other detaiks, literally anyone can Google 'fabguys (town where you live)' and read everything you've written, if they want to.

That could be literally anyone. Your wife, if she suspects anything.

Someone with a grudge.

Someone you've blocked.

Someone just being nosey about what goes on in their town, maybe your boss, and some people (naturally because they feel safe here) put too much info in their comments sometimes that could identify them.

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

If there was ever a scandal, a journalist could find it all whilst googling for research

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By *hototed54Man
2 weeks ago

leeds

You can turn it off in account settings on here so search engines don’t find your account

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

Forums are separate from accounts.

Take blocking for example. You can block accounts from seeing your profile but not from seeing you on the forums

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By *argoMan
2 weeks ago

East Southampton

The public can still see the forum, topic, your username and location.

It's pretty poor by the site owners to have this level of privacy set.

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

"You can turn it off in account settings on here so search engines don’t find your account "

For example I have just blocked you as an example, and you can still read my thread

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

"The public can still see the forum, topic, your username and location.

It's pretty poor by the site owners to have this level of privacy set."

And Google search is infinitely better that the sites own search. It picks up words from comments, not just the thread title

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By (user no longer on site)
2 weeks ago

I found out a couple of days ago that you can stop your orofike being visible by adjusting privacy settings on here. When you do this it says it can take up to two weeks to take effect.Will see what happens.

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By *annyDanielleMan
2 weeks ago

Street, Somerset

"I found out a couple of days ago that you can stop your orofike being visible by adjusting privacy settings on here. When you do this it says it can take up to two weeks to take effect.Will see what happens. "

I just tried searching on google. I can view threads, comments and profiles of contributors including my own despite have my profile blocked from search engines.

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By *lackbootzMan
2 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx

We need to publicise this more!

What a brilliant method to thin out all the tedious wanking in my wife’s knickers, who else is cheating on her, chat over my wife’s pictures etc etc threads… the sunlight of publicity!

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By *annyDanielleMan
2 weeks ago

Street, Somerset

I just tried searching on google. I can view threads, comments and profiles of contributors including my own despite have my profile blocked from search engines.

Ok, so i was logged in. Tried after logging out and i can still view the threads but no images and can't view individual profiles so maybe it's not such a loophole.

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

It's about people posting comments that add up to give away more about themselves than they realise.

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By *amantha111TV/TS
2 weeks ago

Beeston

Mumsnet is so ironic, I've literally seen a lot of my old female friends just spend their entire time on there instead of actually being a mum to their kids lol, don't worry, TV does a fine job at raising them instead lol. But yeah, they do literally gather online in mass and squark and conspire against anyone and anything, make stuff up and go full blown vulture mode, I was a target for years, let's see how they get away with anominity with the new policies. They'll have to turn against each other with the cornucopia of info they keep on each other too, should be funny to watch them devour each other, no loyalty with those kinds. The guys could actually use the opertunity to make a clean break from their partners and start anew, why spend time shackled to their partner that gives all the time and energy to narsasistic sites anyway? Only a mumsnet person would mention mumsnet to try to put fear online, ironic again. Live free and enjoy life, its the greatest show on earth

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

A thought experiment :

As everything on Google gets scraped by AI are we approaching a time when someone asks the AI on their device 'is my husband being unfaithful to me?'

And the AI replies, yes it seems to be the case.

There is a guy on fabguys named xxx who lives in your town, drives the same car as your husband and works in the same sector, who says he has not had sex with his wife since 2013 and has been having bareback sex with men for the past 5 years dressed in your underwear and giving his male partners his wife's underwear to sniff.

All these kind of snippets I have seen posted voluntarily on here.

It would indeed take someone determined to add them all up.

More likely someone would Google and recognise elements of a comment which would lead to them creating a profile here to look at the profile in question.

Or an AI.

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By *airyScot40Man
2 weeks ago

Glasgow

Gotta be logged in.

End of scandal.

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By *rownriverMan
2 weeks ago

Crawley

I went to the doctors as I was feeling generally unwell. He asked me what my diet was like. I said I eat snooker balls. Blues and reds for breakfast, pinks and reds for lunch and browns, blacks and reds for dinner. Ah, he said, that's your problem- not enough greens!

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

"Gotta be logged in.

End of scandal."

No you don't.

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By *tar33Man
2 weeks ago

North London (outer)

[Removed by poster at 18/01/26 12:46:03]

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By *tar33Man
2 weeks ago

North London (outer)

I do some Private Detective work and have access to specialist tools and software that are not available to the general public. I'm licensed, professional and have a lot of experience.

People would be surprised at what we can find out, my 'toolkit' extends far beyond Google. People leave footprints all over the Internet, and quite often use the same or similar usernames and other data across different platforms. Patterns of speech, misspellings and various other writing styles can quite easily lead to them being identified.

This is how people are doxxed, something I don't engage in by the way.

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By *airyScot40Man
2 weeks ago

Glasgow

"Gotta be logged in.

End of scandal.

No you don't. "

To see pics and profiles, yes.

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By *eo PublicMan
2 weeks ago

Lincoln

"Gotta be logged in.

End of scandal.

No you don't. "

Gweddol you might want to change your account privacy settings as your account is visible to anyone who googles it.

You make a good point about the forums, if anyone posts too many clues as to who they are they could be put together. If a thread comes up on a google search the first character of the user name is asterixed out, but the threads are visible in full so it's something to be wary of.

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By *tokerY2OMan
2 weeks ago

Bournemouth

Easy way to find out - testabcprivacy

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By *tokerY2OMan
2 weeks ago

Bournemouth

Ok so testabcprivacy doesn't come up in a Google search for me

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By *tar33Man
2 weeks ago

North London (outer)

"Ok so testabcprivacy doesn't come up in a Google search for me "

It doesn't work instantly you know.

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By *erscumdumpMan
2 weeks ago

Watford

This is the same for pretty much all websites that have forums. Put in the website name + what you're searching for, everything will come up that matches. Its not a back door to the website profiles. For anyone active on forums, it would not take a genius, or a stalker, or a wife, very long to create a profile of who you are if thats their intent.

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By *heo6SGMan
2 weeks ago

Lincs

well it depends what info you have on your profile? not worried, have no wife.

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By *tokerY2OMan
2 weeks ago

Bournemouth

"Ok so testabcprivacy doesn't come up in a Google search for me

It doesn't work instantly you know."

Ah ok - well doesn't bother me anyway as im not cheating on anyone so its a moot point for me.

Easy answer dont want to get caught cheating - dont cheat - or at least dont put anything online.

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By *0yguyMan
2 weeks ago

Cumbria

"Gotta be logged in.

End of scandal.

No you don't.

To see pics and profiles, yes."

In fact I found it’s easier to see the forums without all the bother of logging on and entering alphanumeric access codes- maybe need to be more careful in what I post!

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By *tar33Man
2 weeks ago

North London (outer)

"Ok so testabcprivacy doesn't come up in a Google search for me

It doesn't work instantly you know.

Ah ok - well doesn't bother me anyway as im not cheating on anyone so its a moot point for me.

Easy answer dont want to get caught cheating - dont cheat - or at least dont put anything online. "

The risk of being caught is part of the thrill for many people. It's a well documented phenomenon and doesn't just apply to sexual infidelity.

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By *tokerY2OMan
2 weeks ago

Bournemouth

"Ok so testabcprivacy doesn't come up in a Google search for me

It doesn't work instantly you know.

Ah ok - well doesn't bother me anyway as im not cheating on anyone so its a moot point for me.

Easy answer dont want to get caught cheating - dont cheat - or at least dont put anything online.

The risk of being caught is part of the thrill for many people. It's a well documented phenomenon and doesn't just apply to sexual infidelity."

So whats the problem then?

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

It doesn't just apply to married men, I was just using that as an example.

We all end up putting things on here that we don't necessarily want the whole world to see.

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By *nimaAnimusMan
2 weeks ago

I am NOT in

I believe that if you are not logged in you cannot see posts in the forum. Just tried it.

Maybe a moderator will confirm.

However, nothing to stop someone creating a profile and browsing the forum to gather information.

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

Gweddol you might want to change your account privacy settings as your account is visible to anyone who googles it.

Ah! Thanks!

But another reason why privacy on here is a joke.

When I set up my profile I made sure that I checked the box to hide my profile from search engines.

It seems that is not enough though.

There is another box to hide your profile from members, which I think also has to be ticked?

Ive now ticked that one as well.

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

Fuck sake now I've googled my profile, it actually does appear that setting your profile to not appear on search engines doesn't actually stop your profile appearing on search engines

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By *dstefiMan
2 weeks ago

Solihull

As open as this site may be at least it's not as leaky as the whole Meta ecosystem.

Case in point: I arranged a meet via WhatsApp a couple of years ago. Went great, really good sex.

Then a few weeks later I get Facebook suggesting the guy who'd had his (lovely, erect and girthy) cock up my fundament as a "somebody you may know" real life friend, with access to his vanilla life profile, real name, lovely wife and family, everything.

Needless to say I didn't and removed the suggestion, but I've been very wary of WhatsApp ever since and keep it strictly vanilla and work, nothing else.

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

I had that when I used to be on Facebook. Had a chat with some on grindr and a week later they were a suggested friend

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By *lex46TV/TS
2 weeks ago

Wells

I’m not fussed what people see of me, I’ve nothing to hide. In fact I’m sure that any of my friends or colleagues would be too embarrassed to tell me they’ve been on fab guys and spotted me.

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By *dstefiMan
2 weeks ago

Solihull

"I had that when I used to be on Facebook. Had a chat with some on grindr and a week later they were a suggested friend "

So it may be even more leaky than just across Meta platforms? Although I'm well aware that it picks up all sorts of cues for pushing ads at you.

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By *u2usemeMan
2 weeks ago

hyde

Seems I can't see anything in Google

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By *arzaMan
2 weeks ago

devizes

Just checked mine with no result. I have reset my privacy settings way in the past. Plenty of other local guys tho

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By *etterbiggerMan
2 weeks ago

Scunthorpe

"You can turn it off in account settings on here so search engines don’t find your account "

I've just done it. Very easy. That's if it works that is

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By *ancsbisexMan
2 weeks ago

Burnley

We are not allowed to delete past posts and the only way I see to disassociate from the post is to delete the profile. This is a very clunky website that hasn't been updated and I expect it does not comply with modern day data standards.

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By *eefandfurMan
2 weeks ago

Edinburgh

Remember reading 1984 and thinking that could never happen. Turns out Orwell didn't predict the stupidity of people willing downloading various Big Brother Apps filling in all their personal information and then willingly carrying them around in their pockets.

At least Fabguys has clear and easy privacy controls to restrict access from external tracking/visibility.

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By *nimaAnimusMan
2 weeks ago

I am NOT in

"Fuck sake now I've googled my profile, it actually does appear that setting your profile to not appear on search engines doesn't actually stop your profile appearing on search engines "

Historical data (cached). Your profile was public. Once on the internet is usually out there forever.

Even if it has been deleted websites such as Wayback Machine are continually grabbing data and storing it.

Changing your username and profile photo is only way to separate your profile as it is now from that historical data.

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By *ewBrumBiMan
2 weeks ago

Birmingham

Local man discovers how internet searches work

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By *ildwestheroMan
2 weeks ago

Llandrindod Wells

I'm sure thousands, nay millions, of homophobic non-gays and anti-gays spend all their waking hours searching the forums to find evidence against us. If you are so paranoid then just stop posting. Personally I couldn't care less. The forums are meant to be fun as much as anything else.

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By *lackbootzMan
2 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx

"Local man discovers how internet searches work"

This was partly my reaction.

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By *onstant.Man
2 weeks ago

Middlesbrough

Tolal drama queen

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By *weddol OP Man
2 weeks ago

Dolwyddelan

Well on the plus side, I had suggested in the past that the green tick could also appear on peoples profiles, as they are usually more honest on the forums than on their profiles.

It seems that function actually us available, just on Google rather than on the site

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By *0yguyMan
2 weeks ago

Cumbria

I just googled my user name and found a reference to it in a post somebody else had written. Clicked on the *username and it came up as profile blocked. Maybe we’re worrying too much?

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By *andomguy321Man
2 weeks ago

reading

Nothing online is ever truly private.

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By *ishop666Man
2 weeks ago

ls19

True

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By *awihMan
2 weeks ago

Aldershot

I just tried searching on google. I can view threads, comments and profiles of contributors including my own despite have my profile blocked from search engines.

Ok, so i was logged in. Tried after logging out and i can still view the threads but no images and can't view individual profiles so maybe it's not such a loophole.

Well if someone were to read the thread, there is nothing to stop them creating an account then logging in to view the profile. So there is a “work around” if someone really wanted to find out more about a particular profile. Yes they would need to be age verified, but that process doesn’t pass any details to the site other than if age verification was successful or not.

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By *essa_MTV/TS
2 weeks ago

Red Rose County

When I got my first job in IT. Working as a bench engineer. My boss at the time warned me never put anything on line or in an email. You wouldn’t be happy reading on the front pages of a news paper.

As my career developed and I got into more the security side of IT. I realised how insecure some stuff is and what good advice it was.

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By *atch22999Man
2 weeks ago

Southwest

Just googled Fabguys Bridgwater (my location) and a load of local profiles came up. You could click on them and it displays all their profile information. You can’t view their photos or verifications without signing in. But be aware if you have any identifying information on your profile page it’s all out there for the general public to see. It also tells me who is on line right now.

Try it for yourself.

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By *lackbootzMan
2 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx

I was taught at an early age that, if I had something really private and confidential to say to someone, you said it in person. (On the basis they probably weren’t the type to have audio-recording devices on them.) If they went and told someone else what you said afterwards, this can only ever be ‘hearsay’.

You didn’t write something so sensitive or confidential down as letters [ye olde dayes] could be intercepted. As famous examples in history illustrated.

When technology developed… you were taught / quickly learnt yourself that what you commit to a screen is never 100% private as there is always the possibility that it can be shown on from the first recipient… plus hacking… plus site management and those in charge of servers… plus internet archaeological history… plus etc etc etc as computers and phones have evolved. So the basic lesson was and has continued to be:- don’t presume true confidentiality on the internet and do not commit to writing online something you’d never want to be revealed.

This should be common sense to all adults really. But apparently not.

Whilst saying all that - on the other side of the coin - there is this almost charmingly precious belief amongst some on FabGuys that their profiles and utterances are the source of great interest to the world at large. You aren’t. None of us here is important enough for our data to be ‘scraped’ - there is too much anonymity for marketing data to be gleaned - no-one’s going to wade through pages of Forum twiddle to try to blackm&il anyone - the University of Sydney is seriously not interested in your blurry cock shots.

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By *urfing SpeedoMan
2 weeks ago

shrewsbury

Just been educated by this info 🤔 explains how couple work mates have cum onto me, just super friendly at mo

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By *abguysOfficialMan
Forum Mod
2 weeks ago

Nearby

The forum has always been visible to all. It is best not to put any personal information on them

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By *aremanMan
2 weeks ago

Norwich area

"The forum has always been visible to all. It is best not to put any personal information on them"

Fine, but I had assumed that the forum was visible only to registered and signed-in members of FG. My bad. Never assume, check.

And I'd say the current state of affairs is at least debatable under the General Data Protection Rules.

Particularly as some legitimate information is withheld from registered and signed in members. In my case, very recently.

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By *atch22999Man
2 weeks ago

Southwest

Further to my previous post.

I’ve discovered that if you set the following account privacy setting to ‘hidden’ then your profile will not be available to view on a google search:

‘Show profile to non-registered users’

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