The Commandments 

- Do not be in a hurry to join a social / community site. 

- Do not jump to the tempting invitation by someone on your mail box. 

- Do not hesitate to consult some wiser and experienced people before you click 'yes' on it. 

- If at all you decide to join one, give an assumed name. 

- Never upload your real profile picture. 

- Your profile should be brief and inconclusive. 

- Never upload your solo picture. Always show yourself in a group. 

- Don't upload your recent photo. 

- Reduce photo's pixels down to a few KBs so that it's enlargement becomes grainy and useless. 

- Don't give your contact ( phone / email ) on these sites, for public view. 

- Your email should be available to a selected, trusted few near ones. 

- Never ever share your passwords with anyone, however trusted he/she may be. 

- Never give away your actual passwords to these sites. This way they retreive or contact list. A never- ending 'vicious' cycle of common friend permutation and combination starts with much wider ramifications than you you can think. 

- Never be impressed to see your box full of friends waiting in the queue to be approved by you. Those 'friends' don't even know that their names are being displayed in this manner. In case you do approve, they don't even know who has approved them. This process injures many self-esteems. And you are one of them. 

- Chatting with strangers - the real danger zone. Restrict your chatting to your family and the trusted near and dears only. Chatting has put more girls in harm's way than any other cyber means. The trouble in case of 'Stranger Chatting' and 'Random Chatting' is that you are never sure who really is on the other end. Many criminals of sex offenses and pedophilia are lurking behind the key boards to victimise many innocent and unsuspecting young women and children. 

- About the men with such intent, many psychologists believe,there are only two kinds of women : 

1) Dignified and inaccesible. 

2)Easy and available. So, do not ever present yourself as fodder for such people. Maintain your dignity. You have to be smart enough to protect yourself. Don't lower your guards. 

Remember, in today's modern society, a section of men target not the dignity of women, but the tarnished image and lowered grace, for which another section of women are responsible at some other time and some another place. 

By: Shekhar Prashar 
V & PO Santokhgarh,Distt. UNA (HP)