Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

OOoooo a bit nasty, thanks for that info.

M :eek: :scared:

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

Yes, I agree that people posting their real names/addresses/phone numbers/emails are asking for trouble - and I have asked the mods to remove these in the past to protect people.

But by the time we follow these rules, plus leaving out all the threads that have been previously complained about, we end up with a very boring impersonal forum. Might as well say bye bye forum now as it folds through lack of interest.

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

The Mods seem to be on the ball with closing down possible hot potato threads (no pun intended).

My question is "Where do you draw the line?"

M :o

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

It is obviously important to only give away the right information, such as:

"Oh yes, we will be at the meet at the weekend, but we will be a little late as I have to repair the fence to stop Fang and Lucifer getting out again..."

"Our electric bill was pretty much the same as in the UK before we had the fence wired up, now it is much higher...."

"We really get on well with our new neighbours and coincidentally we have policemen on both sides of our property..."

"We had to get the second phone line put in for the alarm system ..."

You get the idea :D

Cheers,

DagBoy

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

Oh, I forgot to say. NEVER EVER tell them that Fang and Lucifer are your Guinea Pigs.

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

Yes I have had it done twice.

When I go on holidays I pay someone to stay in my house to secure it plus I have someone stay there in the day to look after my dog, gives her a chance to catch up on work plus keep an eye on things.

Also, my dog has to be muzzled in public, so bearing in mind she smashed my bedroom door trying to get through the door to attack the gas fitter, she is not one to be messed with.

You do have to be careful on here and yes I have written tales of my bus route and it wouldnt take a brain surgeon to put two and two together.

BUT, I am a firm believer that if you break into my home and I happen to be there, I will do what I have to to defend myself. I believe that you enter my property and you lose the rights as a human being and I will take the law into my own hands.

I will hurt you and what I cant do, my dog will. I come from a large family that extends from the UK to Algeria to Cypress. They will support me and you wont know what has hit you.

Try and mug me and you're in for a shock. I will track you down. I am totally disturbed from things done in the past. I have a memory like an elephant and I don't forget those that hurt me or mine.

Sick people come from all walks of life and I have met a couple of fantastic members from this site and have been proud to do so. I am also well aware that you should trust people with caution.

I might look like a bimbo and sometimes write like one, but I can be a bitch and I don't make a good victim.

This is a very well written post and fair play to the person that started it.

But an open mind with whoever you meet in life and wherever you meet them should be considered.

Oh yes, I am very hormonal and potential weirdos should sod off.

From a damaged-by-life Expat member.

Sam

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

It's weird this thread is here today - over brekkie in a cafe this weekend I read an article in 'Madison' about a 16 year old boy who created several characters in a chat room and ended up convincing someone to kill him. Very dramatic story (it might have been a huge story in the UK press but I hadn't heard about it) but did get me to thinking about the fact that I hadn't considered anyone on here wasn't who they said they were. Still can't find it in me to be suspicious though. I've never used a forum before but think this is probably one of the safer ones. Will probably think twice about mentioning if the other half is away though.

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

A commonsense approach is what is needed. Meeting people from here is just like meeting anyone else you don't know. I personally like to keep myself anonymous however some here know that isn't a hard and fast rule that I keep. Not publishing meet up times is IMO a bit OTT.

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

Agreed.

You put your address/email address/phone number on here, then yes, you probably will get crank calls/email or worse. Not being able to put a group meet-up time and public place up on the forum does seem to be a bit OTT.

On my first girlie night out I arranged for my partner to pick me up at midnight from the city. Not because I really thought anyone was going to be an axe-muderer, but because I didnt know anyone there or exactly where they lived to be sharing cabs home etc... Now I know the girlies we arrange via email/phone our way in and out of the city etc etc... just like you would do whenever you meet someone new I think.

Like anything you just need to take the right precautions, then go out and have fun :)


I like Dagboys approach too; In future I will post that I will be meeting for drinks but may run late as my three very scary guard dogs need to be fed first ;)

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

I think the chance of somebody coming and well... doing what...?? at one of our meetups for example, is smaller than than having a car accident on the way there.

I post quite a bit of personal info, but no last name, and no address, no email address, no mobile phone!!!!
I think if someone is going to take the trouble of looking for my house(going by the photo's) through my whole suburb.......... well, I think the chance is much bigger we'll just be randomly robbed.


But, there's some good points in there, and we do have to be aware of these things.

I saw somebody posted an echo (of baby in tummy) on the photopost. Problem was... it had the name and everyone on the echo thing.
I should've said something.. Now I don't even remember who it was... It's probably still up... I think it was someone on this Aus forum...

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

I didn't mean not to publish meet up times! What I said was this information combined with other information (such as an address, etc) which could be ascertained from earlier more careless posts, could then potentially cause problems.

My post was not warning about meeting people from the forum. I would hope that people on here are sensible to exercise precaution in that respect. I was talking about the information which is often divulged in general postings by some posters.

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

Yep, good points :)

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

Yep, I posted once the where I work. THat wasn't the smartest move.... Deleted it though!

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

So does that mean you don't wear your seatbelt? No, you still take precautions!!

Given we have a wide range of people on the forum who quite regularly don't 'get on' and argue a lot, if someone should take major umbridge with someone, I would think that they could with a little bit of effort find out where that person lived, whether they has posted their address, telephone number or not.

This is only a bit of helpful advice... you can take it or leave it

Re: Caution - Too Much Information
 

Yes, after I posted I realised I was not making much sense... :o

As I said later, yes, we need to be careful that tidbits of info don't add up to more.

And it's definetly good you posted this thread, as some post more personal stuff than others.

:)