Some suggestions

[Bruce Benjamin]

I have 3 legal names plus a nickname that some people close to me use. (old family name) The name I use includes 2 of the 4 names but it's not the same as in the phone book and I have a good reason why. Several years ago I was very active on a 4 wheel drive forum. I gave a lot of friendly advice and the forum was a pretty friendly place in general. I used my legal name and city and state I lived in and started getting phone calls that weren't very friendly along with some matching emails. I eventually figured out who the emails were from but I didn't have any evidence about the phone calls other than the things said on the phone matched the things said in the emails. The guy was from the 4wd forum and I at least got him kicked off of the forum and he lost his DSL account. I have no idea why that psycho did what he did but I never want to get those scary phone calls again. I ended up having to change my phone number and unlisting it and changing my email address and both of those were very inconvenient. The phone number issue has cost me money.

I have a wife and two young children and there are all sorts of crazy people out there. Call me paranoid if you want but I've had at least one experience that changed how I do business in my life and I don't ever plan on getting another. Anyone who can't figure out any other reason for not using the same name as in the phone book other than being a criminal or being ashamed is just a bit thick in the head in my opinion. It can happen and it did happen to me. Paranoid? Yup, and I have a 3 good reasons living in my house that I plan to protect.

I am very proud of my name and it comes from with a history that includes a civil war hero, a world famous artist, a direct relation to a U.S. President, and a man on the cover of Time Magazine. My last name is fairly well known in my town and my father recieved a special award from the California governor and the state legislature had a special vote for that award when my father retired. But none of that mattered when I had to explain to my (then) 6 year old daughter why the bad man on the phone said those nasty words to her when she answered.

Bruce (My legal first name)

[nic obie]

But none of that mattered when I had to explain to my (then) 6 year old daughter why the bad man on the phone said those nasty words to her when she answered.

Bruce (My legal first name)

.

I've also had my phone ring in the middle of the night with "comments" from forums I visit. My wife got very upset. I almost quit the www because of it. It is way easy to track people down here.

So far I don't think it has happened too much on this forum, But It HAS been a problem. Just ask a few of the more vocal posters.

[Keith Outten]

Bruce ?

I read your story but did not see any suggestions.

[Bruce Benjamin]

Bruce ?

I read your story but did not see any suggestions.

Hi Keith. My story was in response to the posters who couldn't figure out any other reason to not use a full and legal name other than shame or fear of the cops. I was pointing out to these short sighted individuals that there are indeed some other reasons for not giving the legal name that's in my local phone book. I was explaining that I have no reason to evade the law and that I'm as proud of my family given name as anyone can be.

I'm not sure what you mean by not seeing any suggestions but if you mean suggestions to keep this from happening to you and others, well, I think that's obvious. Do what I do. Alter your name in some way and/or don't list your phone number. I did both. About 5 years ago when this happened I was using my legal first and last name, in that order, along with my home town and state. Some psycho with whom I'd barely ever conversed decided he didn't like me and looked me up in an online phone book, (I assume). Not hard to get yours or anyone else's phone number if you're listed and maybe even your address. Not normally a problem until you're unlucky enough to cross paths with a mad man. I did or said nothing to provoke this guy. If you're listed in the phone book this could easily happen to you. It probably won't but it did to me and let me tell ya Keith, there's nothing that will get your blood boiling at the same time as it chills you to the bone as that. Just knowing that someone from across the country can reach out and easily get my phone number and address and actually talk to and verbally abuse my innocent daughter...Well, I didn't find out where he lived but I can imagine a situation where I'd spend a long time in prison for murder if I had known where he lived. Nothing sparks my parental instinct like fear for my children's well being. I don't know what else to suggest. You and everyone else will probably have zero problems but if you're unlucky you'll feel helpless. I did. I hope this explains things and you understand where I'm coming from.

Bruce

[Keith Outten]

Bruce ?

You would be surprised what anyone with the proper knowledge can find out about you via the Net. Even a middle school child running a Linux box can camp on your connection and caprure every data packet you send and receive. Once they have your IP address they can setup a sniffer program and record everything you do even when they are at school.

With access to the various databases anyone can find out how much you owe on your car or home and a whole lot more. The bottom line is that this is the world we live in now.

I don't need your real name at all and neither do others if they intend to do you our your familly harm. This holds true for the local teenagers in your neighborhood or the wacko down the street you live on, if they want to harm you they can.

The title of your origanal post is "Some Suggestions".

[Bruce Benjamin]

Bruce ?

You would be surprised what anyone with the proper knowledge can find out about you via the Net. Even a middle school child running a Linux box can camp on your connection and caprure every data packet you send and receive. Once they have your IP address they can setup a sniffer program and record everything you do even when they are at school.

With access to the various databases anyone can find out how much you owe on your car or home and a whole lot more. The bottom line is that this is the world we live in now.

I don't need your real name at all and neither do others if they intend to do you our your familly harm. This holds true for the local teenagers in your neighborhood or the wacko down the street you live on, if they want to harm you they can.

The title of your origanal post is "Some Suggestions".

Keith??? Why do you keep adding question marks to my name? I've already said that it was my real first name so how 'bout leaving it at that, thanks.

No, I wouldn't be surprised what some people can do with a computer but I think you'd be surprised to know that the vast majority of people on the internet can't do anything close to what you're describing. Contrary to what you see on TV or at the movies, most teenagers aren't spending their time becoming junior hackers. I have several friends who have junior high and high school age kids. From what I've seen not one of them can do what you describe. I'll bet 99.9% of middle school children don't even know what Linux is. If you're suggesting that I shouldn't worry about giving out my complete name because they're gonna get it anyway, sorry but I don't agree. I'm aware that there are people out there who can do me harm if they want to no matter what info I give them but why should I make it easy for anyone to do it?

What you are suggesting is like asking me why I bother to lock the door of my car or my house. After all, there are people out there who can steal any car ever made or can break into the most secure house. Sure there are but do you lock your front door or lock your car? Of course you do and most people know that you do and that's why your house still has valuables in it and you still have a car. But you know that there are people who can get around your security measures so why do you bother? Because it keeps most dishonest people out, just like I keep most people who would do me and mine harm out. I really don't believe that the ability to hack my computer is common. Of course there are those that can do it but the guy who got to me didn't have those skills and so far nobody else has bothered. Well, now I guess someone, (hopefully not you) will hack into my life just to prove a point. I just don't seen any reason to make it easy enough for even an idiot to do it.

I promise you Keith, if you had gone through what I did you wouldn't be questioning me about this. I don't know what else to tell you other than if you want to ban me from your forum then that's your choice but I'm not giving out my full name on this or any other forum and I have a very good reason. If you think that my contributions to SMC combined with an incomplete name equals banning me then I guess that's that. I'm sorry I ever posted to this thread. I thought I was helping but I can see you think I was wrong.

I didn't have a title to my original post. That was Terre Hooks. Not me. As I said, my post was in response to other posts in this thread. I was never specifically offering any suggestions.

Bruce????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????

[Aaron Koehl]

1. Get rid of the stupid, ridiculous mandate that you wait 60 seconds before sending a 2nd PM. What a dumb idea.

The 60-second waiting period is one of the best defenses against spammers; there are many reasons not to change it.

2. Get rid of the stupid, waste of bandwidth requirement that you must have at least 10 characters in your reply to a post.

It's actually not a waste of bandwidth. It's an insignificant number in relation to the amount of data that needs to be sent to display a single post. I would need a more persuasive argument to change it.

3. Lighten up on the use of real names. The folks that aren't members have some valid reasons as to why they won't use their real names. In case you didn't know, there's some real weirdos out there and the internet seems to bring them out in droves.

This has been covered many times before, and no, we don't intend to change this either. There are many things that are different about SMC that makes this community appealing to many of the members--this is one of them. Jim has posted some other valid commentary about this in the current thread.

4) Get rid of the dumb character limit on the search feature. I could be wrong, but I think it wants at least 4 characters ?? There's tons of acronyms tossed around here in posts that you're not able to search on due to the short search string limit.

The character limit on the search feature is there for a very good reason. There is a search index that is built that links every word ever posted on SawmillCreek to each post that it appears in. Limiting the search index to 4 characters exponentially decreases the size of that search index, which also decreases the time it takes to perform a search as well as decreases the load that a search makes on the server.

(Note: I have entered a number of exceptions to the 3-letter rule as I see them, such as 'MDF'.)

If you want even more flexibility, try Googling SawmillCreek.

[Corey Hallagan]

Original post has a real nice tone. That's one way to get something done for sure! I for one am glad there is a 10 character requirement for posts. Helps keep this place free of some of the ridiculous juvinile banter I see on other forums back and forth that has absolutely nothing to do with the subject in most cases.

corey

[Frank Pellow]

The fact that people use their real names (or what I assume are their real names) is one of the main reasons that I like Saw Mill Creek.

I really get put off by the "handles" that many folks use on other sites. I never use anything but my real name anywhere!

[Dick Bringhurst]

Tyler, I agree. Dick B.

[Aaron Koehl]

Indeed. As for identity theft, open up any phone book and you can find a very long list of names and phone numbers.
Here, we only have names. And unless you choose to give it out, email addresses are not public either.

[Bryan Rocker]

1. Get rid of the stupid, ridiculous mandate that you wait 60 seconds before sending a 2nd PM. What a dumb idea.


2. Get rid of the stupid, waste of bandwidth requirement that you must have at least 10 characters in your reply to a post.


3. Lighten up on the use of real names. The folks that aren't members have some valid reasons as to why they won't use their real names. In case you didn't know, there's some real weirdos out there and the internet seems to bring them out in droves.

Keep in mind that these same weirdos have most people name, address and phone number in the local phone book. I see no problem posting your real name here. As to the character minimum, while it may seem somewhat a pain it does keep the "me too's" down. I run a gaming clan and recently installed an updated gaming forum because our old html forum was getting spammed.....As to the 60 sec wait, you might be able to pull that down some. Keep in mind that alot of these minimums are set to foil automated spamming scripts. It is a balancing act to say the least.