Maybe, maybe not. There's no real way to know what will trigger someone to jump over the 'appropriate' line. Wackos rarely follow a normal set of rules. When I was stalked (twice), neither time did I purposefully put anything "out there". The problem was that once they decided that I was a target, they used whatever information was freely available on the interweb to track me. And that's really the bigger issue. So if people post completely anonymous photos of themselves - with no way to get to their full name or facebook page or race results... ok, while getting creepy PMs sucks, at least there's no real tie to your Real Life. Post a photo or a flirty comment with someone who takes it the wrong way.... and they know where you live or your real name or can get to your FB page or whatnot, then shit gets scary.
Maybe, maybe not. There's no real way to know what will trigger someone to jump over the 'appropriate' line. Wackos rarely follow a normal set of rules.
When I was stalked (twice), neither time did I purposefully put anything "out there". The problem was that once they decided that I was a target, they used whatever information was freely available on the interweb to track me. And that's really the bigger issue.
So if people post completely anonymous photos of themselves - with no way to get to their full name or facebook page or race results... ok, while getting creepy PMs sucks, at least there's no real tie to your Real Life. Post a photo or a flirty comment with someone who takes it the wrong way.... and they know where you live or your real name or can get to your FB page or whatnot, then shit gets scary.
One thing is that if you ever use a photo on a site that you've used on another site, that other site can be found with a google image search. This will happen even if you alter the picture in photoshop (crop it, change the size, change it to sepia or b/w etc)
So if that site has personal info on it, even if you are anonymous on one site, you will not be on another one.
What's even scarier is I just had a spam post show up on FB, posted by me from Twitter, that I didn't post. I have been hacked!
Grrrr...
be curious; not judgmental
Feets don't fail me now
No I didn't......
*snork*
Squidward Bike Rider
That is awful. Thanks for making this public, Heidi. I only got a PM from him about some of my routes being public, but that was it. Somehow, I still got a creepy vibe from him, though...especially after that whole, "Unfortunately, yours are private" post. Glad he's gone now.
On the subject here, I once had a FB stalker too. It was someone I used to work with. I had to block him from FB because he would send me messages and comment on some of my posts. He ended up getting weirder and weirder as time went on. I ran into him again IRL and was totally creeped out. Best thing I did was block him. One thing to mention to anyone that is reading this, is to avoid using the check in function on FB if you don't want to be tracked down. I am totally guilty of this, and have thought once or twice before I use it.
Running is my mental-Ctrl-Alt-Del.
race obsessed
Holy crap, I get a little busy and *not* haunt the forums and a run-away thread sparks up.
I feel left out, I never got a PM from him and I show skin damnit.
One thing is that if you ever use a photo on a site that you've used on another site, that other site can be found with a google image search. This will happen even if you alter the picture in photoshop (crop it, change the size, change it to sepia or b/w etc) So if that site has personal info on it, even if you are anonymous on one site, you will not be on another one.
Their going to find us no matter what. What happens to the pictures that we put into tiny pictures that get downloaded for us to post here?
Hip Redux
And you have to make sure you aren't posting you EXIF data/Geotags, etc which can have location information also...
Also don't use the same user name across multiple forums because a google search will be a quick catch of everything you've posted, if someone wanted to go hunting for information on you. Even if you don't post explicit information, if you are a member on the Birmingham Mommy group or something, people can draw connections to where you might live pretty quickly.
Maybe it's paranoid, but better safe than sorry and all that stuff.
Team TJ
I'm sorry to read that you ladies have had to deal with this kind of crap.
I make sure my commentary here (most of it anyway) is something I would not be ashamed for my mama to read. That usually keeps you out of trouble in life.
On a side note, this dude has to be at least 1 sammich shy of a picnic. I mean, you don't harrass women first of all...this dumbass harrasses a lawyer! In my best Monday Night Football commentator voice, "C'mon Man"!
Running for TJ because he can't.
Geesh another gal that he PM'd.
I was on RW for 2 years and I think I PM'd 6 different people in that entire time.
He wa a busy busy boy.
Many of us post race reports with our finish times and/or post our personal records on sig files. It's not that difficult to track us down with that information.
I usually just assume that people will be sound asleep by the time they get to the part in my race report where I discuss my specific finish time and placing in the results. There's always the chance that somebody might make it to the section wide awake, though.
Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.
What happens to the pictures that we put into tiny pictures that get downloaded for us to post here?
By linking them, you've just made them a lot more searchable, i.e. they are going to be found under more searches, and be higher up on the search. Then other people, in "quoting" you, with the picture you posted, increase that further.
Do a google image search of nevrgivup. it's interesting.
I too am going to say something slightly unpopular, then a couple other things, then step back.
I have been around message boards (old school: bulletin boards) for about 30 years and running message boards for about 11. Of all the folks I have encountered, BF is a very touchy-feely-flirty group, in an electronic sense at least. Not everyone. And not every post. But there's lots of "I love x" and smileys with hearts and pictures, in various states of dress... all tasteful, but anyway.... my point is not to call anyone out but just to signify that the culture here is "close" but at the same time, I'm really not sure everyone quite understands just how EASY it is to use that information for social engineering creep purposes. ESPECIALLY RACE PICTURES WITH YOUR NUMBER ON IT. I think people should take a step back and think about boundaries. Everyone's boundaries are different... but there seems to be a lot of freewheelin around here because of "the anonymity of the internet" and that just aint so, not really. And it doesn't help that you also do lots in facebook. Believe me.
Do NOT NOT read that as me saying "you get what you deserve" because no one deserves being creeped upon.
To borrow something from homeland security: IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. If someone is creeping on you, tell them no. If that doesn't work, tell one of the group admins. Or all of the group admins. If everyone does this in a timely manner, then connecting the dots will go a lot faster.
Talking about stuff in private is good, but apparently a lot of this 'let's talk about the issue' happened over in facebook. That's fine, no one can make you talk in one place or another or whatever... but stuff starts getting fractured and it is hard to tell who knew what and when and who didn't.
Three final things:
1. To the point that lots of evil happens in PM, um, probably not. Not really. If it did, more people would speak up. Let's not make extra drama where it doesn't need to exist. IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.
2. Let's not spend a lot of time discussing The Miracle of IP Banning in this thread. As noted, it is a fine step, but it doesn't work very well and has some gnarly unintended side effects sometimes. And more importantly, "Dave's not here". What I mean is that yall are talking about it with the wrong people. Stop postulating. It just extends the thread.
3. I was wrong about admins versus owner. Apparently owners can designate banning powers to admins. Well, good. There is still the power to kick someone out of a group that is different from banning.
3a. A banned-from-the-group user can still send PMs. IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.
To any person who has been creeped/stalked, that sucks and I'm sorry. I have too. It is annoying and weird and can be very unsettling.
Weird enough and totally on topic, DH comes home and has no clue what we're discussing here and asks me if I've ever googled my name. I got goosebumps from this. Such a weird coincidence and on topic!!! He said that my name came up all over the place with the running community, which is obvious. Just thought I'd mention this because it freaked me out a bit. I told him what we're discussing here. So weird.
Shakedown Street
I just want to say I am very sorry for all those in the middle of this crap...
It hits home on me pretty bad. Not that people have 'stalked' behavior with me, but I have had it with the wife/kids. Not cool.
Namtor and I once exchanged comments about defensive carry. People like this are example #1. Internet is one thing (still not good), but when it gets to real life like with Beth...well...
Not that it matters, but I support what the board admins did...and appreciate it.
Started-5/12, RWOL refugee,5k-24:23 (1/12/13),10K-55:37(9/15/12),HM-1:52:59(3/24/13)