Outlaw - I appreciate your worry about predators, and I think I have taken appropriate precautions. Indeed, I am more private than many here. I am cautious about what I share with who. For instance, I am not yet prepared to post on one of my "bad days", because there is no guarantee that all those that reply would be sympathetic. Participating on a free board like this means you can attract attention from all kinds of people.
What a predator can do depends on their motive, correct? To hurt me in person, they would require enough information to contact me in person. That, I have given to no-one except Simon. Would the motive be to try and mess with my head on a public forum? Then they have to be prepared for me and others to respond in kind. Our words and thoughts are not private here. It is very much like having a conversation at the local pub. And just like being in a public place, I have the choice to walk away when I want to, and to chose who I do or don't want to talk with.
Regardless of all this, there is a genuine atmosphere of warmth here. I feel more free to talk about the painful things here, than I have felt anywhere else.