SSL reduces the Man-In-The-Middle threat to privacy, but then you are placing the text on an open forum. Does it really prevent your message being corrupted or altered by others? I suspect the greatest threat is that the forum site itself may be hacked, exposing hidden personal data and allowing content to be altered, but message encryption will not prevent that.
The contents of your posts will indicate your interests, and any information gleaned is likely to be offered for sale to those who would send "spam".
I see an almost continuous stream of attempts to hack into my system, and my firewall now has a very long list of blocked addresses, including many from Italy, Russia and eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, Pakistan, China and the Far East, Brazil and South America, and a few from Africa. Many are aimed at known Microsoft security flaws, while I see repeated attempts to use my system to relay unwanted junk to others. However Spamassassin checks incoming emails for sender details and contents, and compares what it finds with on-line reference sites before deciding whether to accept or reject them, or even just wait a few hours until the sender gives up trying.
Christopher Bell ● 2371d