Ways to be unprofitable

The easiest way to avoid being attacked is to be unprofitable; few players will pay for the pleasure of attacking another player, unless there is bad blood, or a vendetta. So, here would be a good place to accumulate our knowledge of "ways to be unprofitable"

Something worth mentioning?

A SC takes 43 min to fly next door (at this early stage) or anywhere else in the same solar system. Therefore, the most immediate threat is from same system neighbors, as they try to get the closest/easiest resources available. If an attack is launched, the red idiot light (red blinking triangle in upper right corner) comes on, warning of an attack. That gives the player being attacked some time to defend/hide resources/launch ships. DON'T PANIC!!! You have time to respond.

Assuming you have built some minimal defenses, you have time to:
1) launch your ships with your resources and get them in the air - airborne resources cannot be attacked and taken;
2) commit resources to building ships or research, so they become untouchable. But beware - just because a building is in a building queue doesn't protect the resources until the building starts, and those resources CAN be taken;
3) some players will build dens early on, until they get established, then demolish them later in the game. While this takes resources in the beginning, a certain amount of your free resources will be held here, and cannot be taken.

So, DON'T PANIC!! (unless there are less than 2 mins to arrival - then you can panic!)

GREAT POST, THANKS BANFA, moved it so more people could see