Why not have a profile?

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Seeing Chris Machin's post about his lathes electrical fault, and knowing how depressing it is for a machine to break at an awkward time I thought, I'll see where he is located and, if local, offer to help.

Like many (most?) other members Chris does not have a 'Profile' so this post is just a reminder to those that have not yet put up any details, to at least, state an approximate location. There is no need to add anything else if you dont want to, but at least viewers would know if you were in the same country!

Ian

[Anonymous]

I concur, at least county and country would be useful – Andrew

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Ian,

I also agree. With this sort of fault it is so much easier to be able to work on the fault in person than having to ask questions and wait for the answers to diagnose a fault. This is one of the things that made me start the "Forum nigggles" thread.

Les.

[Keith Wardill 1Participant @keithwardill1]

While I appreciate Ians motives, there are two reasons I will never provide any profile data in a forum like this – one is the sheer rudeness of some of the answers which have appeared in this forum in the past, so I don't want to provide any information. The second is the proven insecurity of the Internet.

If this results in a lack of response or accuracy to any posts I may make, then so be it. If people need to contact me, or I need to contact them, then it can be done using the private message service in the forum, without making the information public. (or at least with slightly better security)

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Wotsit,

Whilst I understand your reluctance to reveal too many personal details, a profile on this forum does not.

You can say as little or as much about yourself as you wish, and you choose whether to reveal your 'true' identity, location, country etc.

As there are now many contributors in various countries, it is often useful to know where the person is located.

As for the rudeness, well, ou can choose as many of us do, to ignore the content or ignore the member.

Just my 2 penneth

CB

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Wotsit

For all we know you might be a spotty teenager, politician, brain surgeon, or just a crank. To hide your general location on the basis of the internet's 'proven insecurity' is bordering on paranoia. If you were that concerned why even use the internet?

You cannot regard this reply as sheer rudeness, its one thing if I was to insult or criticise you face to face but now I am only responding to an anonymous comment..

You said rudeness was the main reason for not giving your location, is that rudeness that has been directed at you? or just that there are occasionally threads that become enflamed?

Ian

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I think country should be displayed in the bit to the left of the posts and possibly county too. Helps make sense of some posts.

On another forum a few years ago we were trying ot help a guy who kept 'breaking' wire as he wired up his garage which just didn't make sense. Enentually it transpired he was in Canada at 30 below zero and the plastic insulation was literally shattering if moved. A location would have got it solved in seconds.

Better go and add something myself.

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

Well at 70 I cartainly never had any problems there are times when things get a little bit heated but that is what ME is all about a good discussion. but as a local parish councellor for many years and used to haveing my full details known everywhere. So I do not regard it as any big deal if a person is that parenoid they should not be useing the internet at all. If I really felt like it I could ping your IP address and take it from there… I feel it only courtesy that you give at least the country and county you live in.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

A Profile is a precis of information about yourself including such things as age, location, hobbies and perhaps marital status.

This Forum is open to a large number of people all over the world and there are people who would like your detail for their on purposes.

Think about Face Book and some of the ramiications of personal details and the telling of tales on that platform.

Another piece of information that might make your ears prick up is that Google goes through all these sites with Bots and picks up details and it is then recorded in Google.

Type your name into Google and see if any of your posts from this Forum appear under your name in Google! You will be surprised.

Clive

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Clive

A profile (for this forum) only contains what you want it to. The list of things you mention could not appear if they are not there.

All I suggested was aproximate location. From that Google (and others) could calculate how many model engineers etc are in an area, so not exactly earth shattering news, but it will help them find the right area for targeted marketing.

Totally agree with you though regarding what Google already knows about us all. They are not the only ones trawling the net with bots. Whatever they all do with the information gained is anyones guess, I'm sure its not really to our benefit though.

Ian

[Keith Wardill 1Participant @keithwardill1]

Coalburner,

As you say, I can choose to reveal as much or as little as I want – I already made my choice, for the reasons stated.

Ian,

What business is it of anyone on the forum what I am, whether 'spotty teenager, politician, brain surgeon, or just a crank'? And why should a wish for privacy be verging on 'paranoia'? This is no reason for not using the Internet. It seems that every time someone raises a potential warning about something, one is accused of 'paranoia' and told one should not use it. Might as well say 'why are you breathing, when so much pollution is about'. The Internet exists, and unfortunately there are many clowns who think it is clever to steal and/or misuse information circulating on it – I choose not to provide that information wherever possible. I would be interested in your comments when you become a victim of Internet intrusion.

Clive has pointed out some of the pitfalls of various areas of the web – this is not 'paranoia' – just sensible.

As for rudeness – there has been at least one thread (I believe) on this forum that resulted in the Moderator deleting large chunks of it. There was also a recent thread in which a contributor announced his intention to make no more contributions to the forum.

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

Posted by Ian Phillips on 09/04/2012 19:54:23:

All I suggested was aproximate location. From that Google (and others) could calculate how many model engineers etc are in an area, so not exactly earth shattering news, but it will help them find the right area for targeted marketing.

I changed my profile (just using the tick boxes at the top) and now it says that I live in Surrey, UK. If that's all it does, then I would have thought that was more than adequate – and since half the world seems to think that I live there anyway, it's hardly an issue. Joke is that although it assumes from the postcode that I live in Surrey – actually I live in one of the outer London boroughs!

[Chris machinParticipant @chrismachin]

Hi Ian , Point taken , just updated my profile , I'm in Matlock in Derbysjire.

Cheers

Chris.

[ZiggarParticipant @ziggar]

im in full agreement with wotsit. where is it written that people HAVE to divulge their whereabouts just because someone suddenly thinks its the right thing to do ?

im quite happy sitting here in the wings watching, reading, learning and generally observing. telling everyone where i live has no bearing on anything at all.

99% of the time it makes no difference whatsoever to the outcome of a thread where anyone resides or stays

but im much more interested in exactly what springbok thinks he can do to me or anyone else simply by pinging their machine. and if he does suddenly start pinging and scanning my IP address, why does he think i should'nt or would'nt immediatly report him to his ISP and mine for attacking my machine ?

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Ziggar

We know you use an iMac with a 10.7.3 OS and run Firefox, but,

1, Nobody said you HAD to divulge details

2, How do you get from 'pinging' to an attack on your machine?

Ian

PS

Most of the forum members that use a nickname/pseudonym (or whatever its called) still put their christian name at the end of their posts, I cannot see how that gives much privacy away, and its much nicer to start a message a name rather than 'Viggar' or whatever. 

Edited By Ian Phillips on 09/04/2012 22:00:00

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

Posted by Ziggar on 09/04/2012 21:18:27:

im in full agreement with wotsit. where is it written that people HAVE to divulge their whereabouts just because someone suddenly thinks its the right thing to do

but im much more interested in exactly what springbok thinks he can do to me or anyone else simply by pinging their machine. and if he does suddenly start pinging and scanning my IP address, why does he think i should'nt or would'nt immediatly report him to his ISP and mine for attacking my machine ?

(Unfortunately, stupid editor won't let me interleave comments – or I can't figure it out – so …)

1st para – that just about sums it up.

2nd para – Sprinbok only mentioned pinging (not scanning). From that, he could get your approximate location as well as the state of connections between you and him. Not much more. I strongly recommend that you don't "report him to his ISP" for pinging you (again, we're not talking port-scanning) unless you want to give them a good laugh. (Always assuming you can detect his ip from the ping).

[ZiggarParticipant @ziggar]

Hey Sid

fully appreciate what your saying, and i absolutely had no intention of reporting anyone….too lazy…. ))

pinging me [or anyone else for that matter] would only give a VERY general location and is just about useless for locating people generally.

and detecting an errant IP addy from my firewall logs would take only seconds if i were of a mind to look for one

the point i was trying to get across is that some people seem to think that if you dont want to tell the world your business then there must be an ulterior motive. Well theres not ! Some people just like to protect their privacy for no other reason than its nobody elses business.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I think it is up to the individual as to weather they wish to have a profile or not and it is for everyone else to accept it. The reasons for having or not having a profile is also up to the individual. I don't currently have a profile, but for what it is worth I live somewhere in England and it takes me approximately 2 hours to get to Ally Pally, 2 hours to get to the Midlands Model Exhibition, nearly 4 hours to Sandown and 3 hours to get to Harrogate.

As long as MyHobbyStore knows exactly where I am, that's all that matters here. If you have deduced where I am, I request you keep it to yourself.

I have Googled my name, and there are many with the same name one of which is an actor, but that isn't me, (allthough I might put on an act sometimes) and yes it will lead you back to posts made on this forum.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 09/04/2012 23:50:33

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 09/04/2012 23:49:22:

I have Googled my name, and there are many with the same name one of which is an actor, but that isn't me, (allthough I might put on an act sometimes) and yes it will lead you back to posts made on this forum.

I tried that with my name as it appears on the forum, and after about eight pages of results which have nothing whatsoever to do with me, I gave up. But I do know that if you put an even more abbreviated form of my name into it, you'll get quite a good result – although it has nothing to do with engineering in the sense that it occurs here…

Despite the fact that I still spend some time in an environment where data security is a real issue, and it's taken very seriously (databases physically disconnected, even locally, when not actually in use), I've got to the point where I really don't care too much about who can see what about me on the web. Mainly because I've been pretty careful about what's got onto it in the first place I suppose, so I don't have too much to worry about. And it's not as though I'm a recent convert, either – I've been using it since it escaped into Universities in the late 80's. Yes, there are traps for the unwary, but a lot of the hype about it is just that – hype. Mainly caused by media scares, which I regard as a far more insidious threat to society as a whole!

Edited By Steve Garnett on 10/04/2012 10:04:35

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

How VERY odd!! Not wanting to put location on your profile … one must suppose that these members don't ever make on-line purchases or have any deliveries made to their addresses – either of which will give access to vastly more information to vastly more people than simply appending County and Country. Just a thought … how does one avoid giving all this personal info to MHS when subscribing????

Rgds

Bill,

Norfolk, England.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

What a lot of fuss! It's just a matter of personal choice to have a personal profile or not – and the majority choose not. The private message facility works well for times when a more personal contact seems appropriate and, if a visit is possible and desirable, then arrangements can be made there.

"Wotsit" made a reasoned case for not wishing to add any personal information to his profile and , sadly, he is derided for this. Comments such as "Spotty Teenager – or even worse "Politician"! which, whilst I acknowledge not intended as insulting to him, introduce a negative aspect and encourage emotional response. It's not an action " bordering on paranoia" if he wishes to protect his security – it's his business and his right to do so.

Can we not just stick to ME, deal politly with each other and respect other folks personal preferences?

Norman

P.S.

Cornish Jack – I've just seen your post and that you can't see why folk don't put their location in their profiles – then I see you don't have YOUR location in yours!  ( Having "Cornish" in your name doesn't count – it is possible, after all to buy a Cornish Pastie anywhere – or is that a sausage roll!!)

Edited By NJH on 10/04/2012 10:44:32

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

It's my choice how anonymous I choose to be…..

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Where I think it counts is when you want help.

I often look at a profile to see if i can tailer help to the guys location. No good telling some guyin the US to go to Aldi and buy a cheap caliper is it ?

Quite a few times I have offered the poster help if he comes round having found out he's local.

 

However many times I have refraned from helping due to not knowing where the poster is.

I personally cannot see anything wrong with county and country, unless you are one of the three people living in Rutlandshire

 

John S.

 

Bloody lack of a spel chucker.

Edited By John Stevenson on 10/04/2012 11:29:14

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by John Stevenson on 10/04/2012 11:28:16:

Where I think it counts is when you want help.

I often look at a profile to see if i can tailer help to the guys location. No good telling some guyin the US to go to Aldi and buy a cheap caliper is it ?

Quite a few times I have offered the poster help if he comes round having found out he's local.

However many times I have refraned from helping due to not knowing where the poster is.

I personally cannot see anything wrong with county and country, unless you are one of the three people living in Rutlandshire

John S.

Bloody lack of a spel chucker.

Edited By John Stevenson on 10/04/2012 11:29:14

That was my point exactly.

I think I made a mistake in saying 'why not have a profile' as that encouraged people to think of reasons to not have one, rather it would have been better just to suggest people to put their general location.

Ian

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