Profiles

Not really a photographic topic but why do so many users of this forum (and others) choose to omit personal details from their profiles?

Has the world become paranoid over "third parties" obtaining personal information?

When replying to a topic it would occasionally be nice to know a little bit about the person your corresponding with, at least where in the world they are from.


.........or is it me thats just too damn friendly?

I agree, so why not start with a name

Cheers,

I live in Canada.

This means I'm from somewhere else.

Ok Mr Spider,
I've added that I live in The Netherlands to my profile. More than that I am a (just) 50 year old Englishwoman, lived here for 22 years, interests are photography, dogs, particularly ones rescued from abroad, reading and embroidery.
Enough info?
And you?

If you read a post from today "Bargain *istD + lenses + grip = £350" under "digital photography" in this forum you can see that there's a person selling a camera & he may be a plumber and a guitarist in a band, add name, phone info etc. and keeping in mind that posts in a forum live on the internet for years and years and you end up perhaps giving too much information to the world. Would you like the world to know your name, address, phone number and occupation, for example. I myself think PM (private messages) within a forum is probably a better way to go to provide people with more personal/specific info.

Paranoid for good reason From what I've heard and read, identity theft is a thriving business these days.
Matt

Identity theft is being massively overhyped by a government that wants to impose ID cards, and by people like shredder-makers who profit from people's largely ungrounded fears.

People have been stealing credit cards for years. Now the crime is termed Identity Theft. It's easy to make a problem seem bigger, or seem to be growing, by changing a few definitions.

And why does the government want ID cards? Seats on the board, that's why. Remember Blunkett?

Spanish ID cards didn't prevent the Madrid bombings. Nor will UK ID cards prevent anything.

G

PS: I'm against ID cards.

I guess that demonstrates how easy it is to gather information if you are prepared to look. I provided that information only because I research buyers & sellers to hopefully prevent myself becoming a victim of fraud. I thought it would help. The information was actually provided by the seller himself in his previous auctions. Some, all, or none of it may be true.

I have no objection to that information being removed if the moderators deem it sensible or necessary.

Regards,

With a name like Gwyn I would have thought you were 100% welshman, ho hum

Welsh mother and it's Gwyneth!

Matt,

Before I start I would like to say that one must be extremely careful about what information you give out, and that one must ensure it cannot be used against you maliciously.

I follow the rule that any personal information about me that can easily be obtained without my knowledge, I give out freely. My name for one, my address, phone number, where I work, which bank I use, what car I drive and its license plate number, my age and birthday, what camera equipment I use, my religion. For every person, this info is easily obtainable by googling them or following them for a few hours, so feel free to give it out.

Being too paranoid makes one a target for people like me who find out tons of info, and live for the look of surprise when it's all "revealed" to the person who strives for secrecy.

WOW!

I didnt expect so much response.

Peter: My name is in there if you look deeply enough, check my email address

kcmadr: good, now I know you live on planet earth.

Gwyn: Isn't Netherlands just a posh name for Holland?

David: Fair point, It doesn't bother me that the world knows my name or occupation or even my interests. I wouldnt dream of expecting anyone to place a phone number in their profile, or even a contact email address for the matter, My email is listed, but only because of the slim chance that someone may be nosey enough to visit the wifes website. True I get an awfull lot of spam from this but we have a damn good spam filter.

Matt: I dont expect enough info to amount to ID theft (mine doesn't give enough)

George: Agreed ID theft is overhyped, but I have no objection to ID cards, anyone can find out all about you via your NI number anyway.

Actually, Holland is a loose term for The Netherlands. Citizens refer to their country as Nederland. The passport says "Kingdom of the Netherlands" (translated literally). There are two provinces within the Netherlands called North Holland and South Holland. They lie on the west coast of the Netherlands.

Hi Alan!

Just had a look , can I suggest you replace the picture at the top (the Text and Photo), which I'm guessing is one jpeg, with a gif for the text, and a jpeg for the photo - I reckon this would look clearer and do your photographic skills more justice.

And you can take the "This website is still partly under construction..." bit out now surely, I didn't find a link that didn't work.

And, sorry to be picky but unfortunately it's in my nature, but it's 'professional' (home page, 3/4 of the way down).

Nice, simple site though - does the job!

And we know where to send the Christmas cards now.

Dan

Nice to meet you Mrs Spider! Pity you live so far away or I may have made use of your services! And nice to meet you too Alan. I'm married to an Alan.
Yes the English tend to call the Netherlands Holland, just as the Dutch tend to call Great Britain Engeland. Dunno if thats posh or just lazy. I live in the province of Utrecht in the cnetre of of the land, so I'l stick to the Netherlamds. Don't want to be linked to Holland as a along time Stichtse inwoner.

I use assorted user names online and assorted e-mails. Just so I spread the spam about a bit really. A bit if research will find me, and everything about me, for anyone really desperate to find out!.