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Yeah, I know, we all heard
it a million times before. Protect your password! Don't give it out! Make it
hard to guess! Yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, here is Tiga0013 to make it a million
and one times. I had to learn the hard way.
You see, though I never
gave my password out, I never really cared how easy it was to guess or who
managed to read my password notebook (yes, I have a small notebook with
passwords in it for different sites, so I don't forget them).
But someone somehow
managed to get their grimy paws on my password. Here is my story.
One December morning, I
logged on to Whyville. Nothing was unusual about it, except I had a new Y-mail.
I got excited, until I saw the title. "Report Decision" it said. It went on to
describe some things that I supposedly said. I will not show the letter here,
for there are some pretty bad things in it.
Apparently someone on my
screenname was swearing. I apologized to City Management and tried to explain;
however, I failed to come up with an answer. Recently, though, I found that one
of my friends had gotten my password, signed on and swore at people. They like
swearing on the computer and were oblivious to the fact that I would suffer
because of it.
Anyway, I did not know
this at the time. My punishment was to be muted for several days. Not long after
this, I received another y-mail about another report decision. I had lost my
y-mail privileges. I was furious and I again apologized, still not having an
excuse, but wishing I did.
Then, the worst news of
all came in yet another y-mail. This one told me that my y-mail helper
application had been received, and that the city management team would love to
consider me for the position. My hopes were high, and then they dropped. I could
not be considered because of my bad record, and would be allowed to try again in
a few months.
I was devastated, and I
responded with an apology and as best of an explanation I could give, even
though I still was ignorant of my friend's actions. Not long afterward, I
received a response from City Management telling me how sorry they were for my
situation, but it didn't change anything -- not that I expected anything to
change.
It was crushing, and yet
also a valuable life experience. For one thing, I am now much more protective of
passwords. On a deeper note, I've realized even further that if you mess up just
once, it can come back to haunt you later. I had witnessed this with my brother
not getting jobs he really wanted because of his mistakes, and with my sister,
but it never had happened to me.
Sure, what I lost isn't
important in the scheme of things, but it made me realize that messing up once
can ruin your future. I changed my password and ever since then I've tried to be
a model citizen. I report people that I see breaking big rules, and try to keep
Whyville safe and clean (clean mouths, that is).
Well, if nothing else, I
hope that from this article you learn to be as protective as you can of your
password. And hopefully you will get more from my story than the obvious.
That is all I really have
to say, so this is Tiga0013, signing off.
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