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I have been a geocacher a few months and I have noticed that most users of geocaching.com and this forum choose to be anonymous. The vast majority of users have no profile and most never sign their name when logging a cache. This is widespread on a lot of internet sites but seems more prevelant here. What are you afraid of? No one is waiting to pounce on you, seek you out and do bodily harm. If anyone wanted to steal your idenity they sure would'nt start here. I want anyone to be able to contact me if there is a problem with one of my caches. I would be willing to bet most don't use a credit card on line either. This is just an observation (not an opinion of any kind). What are your thoughts?

Sincerely, Mick

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Maybe it's because most of us are celebrities of some kind and we want to keep low profile here.

 

For example, don't tell anyone, but I'm the grandson of the second cousin of former president of Finland. (Not the previous one, but the one before him.) :grin:

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Do you mean in user names? posting email? My experience is that it is the norm for people to be somewhat to completely annonymous on the internet. That doesn't bother me. Sometimes I wonder what kind of crazy person would use his or her real name anyway. :grin:

Edited by carleenp
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I think most of the anonymousity (word?) is probably due to people not wanting you to know who they are.

 

I think the word you are looking for is "anonymity." I kind of like anonymousity -- like a cross between anonymous and animosity. You can dislike someone without giving away your identity...

 

EUREKA! That may be the single best word for describing some of the forum interactions ever seen!

 

:grin:

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Ever "Google" your own name? Kinda scary sometimes!

 

Me, for example- The first return Google gives is a link to my works' webpage,

to the staff section & a picture of me (plus work #, etc)

 

I dont mind being online, or people knowing things- but To pull up a pic of me & my employer is a bit much. Plug Pto into Google, well there are some funny results, but nothing that points to me.

 

IM not all that worried, but you never really know what people will choose to do with info - if given the chance.

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oy. it's not a global conspiracy, it's a game. i am not worried my identity will be stolen. i have a lovely collection of identities, which i wear as suits my whim.

 

my name for practical purposes here is "flask". i have also been know to sign as "peej", "nancy francis", "bob petersen", "lucinda latham", "ben brown", "shen ku sockpuppet", "mjolnirssparke" and about a dozen more names including my given one which gets the least airtime. it's the one i like the least.

 

i have a couple of identities that are secret, just to confuse the mix. and i've been accused of being puppetmaster for some other names for which there are actual honest-to goodness people.

 

it's also helpful to remember that this is a stealth sport. if i'm in the mood to meet other players on the trail, fine. but if i don't, i reserve the right to dive into a ditch when i see them coming.

 

if you want to email me, you can. if i like you enough to reply, you'll get one of my actual email addresses. if you're not doing anythign the first saturday of november, you can come to my house for a party.

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oh, and i'm also famous.

 

well, not really, but i'd like to be, so i'm practicing.

 

if you do a search on my given name, you get a LOT of pages, and i don't think i want everyone to connect everything i say here with all of that.

Edited by flask
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I have been a geocacher a few months and I have noticed that most users of geocaching.com and this forum choose to be anonymous. The vast majority of users have no profile and most never sign their name when logging a cache. This is widespread on a lot of internet sites but seems more prevelant here. What are you afraid of? No one is waiting to pounce on you, seek you out and do bodily harm. If anyone wanted to steal your idenity they sure would'nt start here. I want anyone to be able to contact me if there is a problem with one of my caches. I would be willing to bet most don't use a credit card on line either. This is just an observation (not an opinion of any kind). What are your thoughts?

Sincerely, Mick

Your perception that it is more prevalent here is no surprise. Not many forums or billboards have as large a membership as this one does so the perception that it is more prevalent really is skewed.

 

Unscientifically speaking, my take is most people here are also more than just a little Internet savvy and know the hazards of posting too much info on any forum.

 

You can tell a lot about a person in how they act behind the anonymity than when you have some idea of who they are. So it isn't surprising that most people on this forum are also more than willing to meet up with each other to share a common interest which lead to more friendships than other forums tend to have. At least from my perspective.

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I have been a geocacher a few months and I have noticed that most users of geocaching.com and this forum choose to be anonymous. The vast majority of users have no profile and most never sign their name when logging a cache. This is widespread on a lot of internet sites but seems more prevelant here. What are you afraid of? No one is waiting to pounce on you, seek you out and do bodily harm. If anyone wanted to steal your idenity they sure would'nt start here. I want anyone to be able to contact me if there is a problem with one of my caches. I would be willing to bet most don't use a credit card on line either. This is just an observation (not an opinion of any kind). What are your thoughts?

Sincerely, Mick

Stick around here a bit more. Arguements can be get quite heated here. I seem to recall someone posting something receiving a menacing message for keeping their travel bug too long. Generally those that don't care for anonimity, go to cache events.

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I have been a geocacher a few months and I have noticed that most users of geocaching.com and this forum choose to be anonymous. The vast majority of users have no profile and most never sign their name when logging a cache. This is widespread on a lot of internet sites but seems more prevelant here. What are you afraid of? No one is waiting to pounce on you, seek you out and do bodily harm. If anyone wanted to steal your idenity they sure would'nt start here. I want anyone to be able to contact me if there is a problem with one of my caches. I would be willing to bet most don't use a credit card on line either. This is just an observation (not an opinion of any kind). What are your thoughts?

Sincerely, Mick

Why did you just to the conclusion that it's motivated by fear? Part of the fun of the game is the on-line persona.

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I have not googled my name in a long time, and I was quite surprised to see the results. First of all, I don't have a common name. All of the results were for me and no one else with my name. I was not happy to find out that my work had a picture and information for me.

I like my little geocaching world because of that anonymity.

Hi! My name is ___!

I am ____!

You can fill in the blanks however you want; I'm still just little ol' me :grin: !

Tstar

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I googled my name. Nothing on me though my counterparts include a state senator, and someone who specalizes in sleep apnia.

 

If you need to know who I am, you know. If you don't. You don't. Plus you can ask, or read my logs or posts and find out more than you wanted to know.

 

What could I put in my profile that really says who I am? My occupation? That's what I do for a living. My philosopies and theories won't fit and my most recent hobby is rather redundant if I put it in my profile.

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What are you afraid of?

Nothing. But you should consider the following.

 

1) It's none of your dang business.

2) Why should everyone else bother?

3) It's none of your dang business.

4) Security is a good habit, even when it may not be necessary.

5) It's none of your dang business.

6) It sets a precedent. Not here. Not anywhere.

7) Most importantly, It's none of your dang business.

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I have been a geocacher a few months and I have noticed that most users of geocaching.com and this forum choose to be anonymous. The vast majority of users have no profile and most never sign their name when logging a cache.

 

I've found quite the opposite. As the owner of 70+ caches, it is very rare that I find a strange name in the logbooks. The vast majority do have profiles and do log online. Perhaps its something unique to your area?

 

Unless you're referring to real names, in which case the reasons for not using them would be obvious to a lot of people. To me it's not a big deal. Google my screen name and you can find my real name in an instant and my address in a minute more. In 5 more minutes you can probably figure out my political leanings and what kind of hiking boots and backpacking stove I use.

Edited by briansnat
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I'm not sure what the point is here - my name is RedHillian - there are many people who know me as that, and it's my idenity. If you meet me for real, you get to know who I am for real - I look like my avatar so it's not a secret idenity of any sort, and there are peopel who know me for real, who still call me RedHillian.

 

There is a given name, and it's not a secret either, just I choose to call myself RedHillian electronically - it's as much a part of my identity as any other facet.

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Ever notice how you picture in your mind, a person by their voice when you hear them on the phone or a drive thru only to be very disappointed when you actually see them? Be careful what you wish for.

 

Anonymity?? Not here. Feel free to come by my house anytime.

Jon Smith

Main Street

Butte Montana

59701

 

:grin:

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What are you afraid of?

Nothing. But you should consider the following.

 

1) It's none of your dang business.

2) Why should everyone else bother?

3) It's none of your dang business.

4) Security is a good habit, even when it may not be necessary.

5) It's none of your dang business.

6) It sets a precedent. Not here. Not anywhere.

7) Most importantly, It's none of your dang business.

Thank you Bons. Perfectly said.

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No one is waiting to pounce on you, seek you out and do bodily harm.

I might, just to see the look on your face :mad:

Ever notice how you picture in your mind, a person by their voice when you hear them on the phone or a drive thru only to be very disappointed when you actually see them? Be careful what you wish for.

You said it. Most of the geocachers I've met remind me of me, or worse :grin:

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I think most of the anonymousity (word?) is probably due to people not wanting you to know who they are.

 

I think the word you are looking for is "anonymity." I kind of like anonymousity -- like a cross between anonymous and animosity. You can dislike someone without giving away your identity...

 

EUREKA! That may be the single best word for describing some of the forum interactions ever seen!

 

:grin:

I was drawn more to the 'mouse' aspect of that word. What we have here is what I call a Freudian typo. Many times these typos say more than the post itself. :mad:

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I use the same name in caching as I use in my day-to-day business. Google "Torry Stiles" and you'll get some of my work and (eventually) pages of Julia Stiles, Ryan Stiles and couple of football players.

 

I have rotten credit so I doubt if anyone will try hard to use me as a fake ID plus I have no qualms about others finding me here .

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Briansnat has 505 Google hits on web searches. All are me. If you search Google groups there are an additional 2,130 hits for briansnat. And if you search on my real name, there are 310 web hits and 1,720 groups hits. Since, to my knowledge, I'm the only Brian Sniatkowski in the USA (and probably the world), they are all me.

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Google my real name and I get a ton of hits. Just because some best selling author chooses to use my REAL name as his pen name. Pretty sure I'm due a few royalty checks.

 

Google my cache name and I get 333. Johnnie Stalkers poops up in a few interesting places. :huh:

 

Google my drag queen name and....well, that is going to be a secret. :D

 

PS - I'll be autographing my book outside the Barnes and Noble on 5th and Vine from 12 to 2 today. $20 a pop, no book required.

Edited by Johnnie Stalkers
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I think most of the anonymousity (word?) is probably due to people not wanting you to know who they are.

 

I think the word you are looking for is "anonymity." I kind of like anonymousity -- like a cross between anonymous and animosity. You can dislike someone without giving away your identity...

 

EUREKA! That may be the single best word for describing some of the forum interactions ever seen!

 

:huh:

I was drawn more to the 'mouse' aspect of that word. What we have here is what I call a Freudian typo. Many times these typos say more than the post itself. :D

Nope. No typo here. I exercised my poetic liscense and created "anonymousity" just for that post. I was thinking in terms of an anonymous mouse. But the animosity aspect works too. :DB)

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I've not tried to hide my identity (That's my name over there on the left side. . ) but I am more careful about how I put information out there. I have a web page

 

Sock Monkeys @ Home on the Range

 

that's been up for 7 years now. I keep an email link at the bottom of the home page but hide the email address behind my name. I found that I was getting killed by SPAM until I made that change. It only took a few weeks for the volume to drop way off after I stopped showing my email address out on the web.

 

I enjoy the email I get from strangers, most of whom are delightful people sharing their memories of childhood. (Sock Monkeys bring out the child in all of us.) And now that the spam problem has been solved I have no worries.

 

I will admit that this site is the only one where you will find a photograph of me (in my profile). I try keep a sharp division between the web and my family because they are private people who shouldn't have my hobbies negatively impacting their lives.

 

For those who care, I've been married for 28 years and have two daughters, ages 25 and 19. The eldest is married and has a son (that's his photo over there on the left) He's my first grandchild, born November 7, 2003 in Texas where my son-in-law is attending medical school. My baby girl (age 19) is just completing her junior year at UC Davis. Great kids, but they get their own privacy. You'll notice that they don't have names. . .

 

I don't think of the web as a dangerous place, but then I've learned to respect the power of information.

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What difference does it make? My real name MIGHT be ERIK THE FISH. Does anyone feel better for knowing that?

 

But possibly it isn't, does it change anything?

 

Besides, it's none of yer dang business..... Oh, that was said already, well, I agree!

Funny, my name is Eric the Half a Bee!

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All my life I've fantasized about being an Indian and living back in the days of the Wild West. In this forum I get to live out my fantasy. Meet 'clearpath' ... Plains Indian. In real life I'm an average Joe with a wife, family and a mortgage. In the Groundspeak forum I'm an Indian Warrior, Woo Hoo. What a great escape from reality. :huh:

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Sock Monkeys bring out the child in all of us.)....

I have a mini-sock monkey that's waiting to become a travel bug!

 

I googled my name, and, PHEW! I've kept my identity a secret! :D

 

I looked up SLCDave, and I rwas reminded that, on a whim, I placed one of my caches on TheSiteThatShallNotBeNamed to see if it got any action over there. Nope!

 

[i also googled the name Google, and got 49,700,000 results. :huh: ]

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I don't mind. If some sicko decides to hunt me down for whatever reason, I'll handle it to the best of my ability. The fact that you are on the internet is enough for the devious to find you, might as well enjoy the company while you're here :huh:

I honestly don't know what my profile states, the navigation of the profile/signature, etc on this board is screwy, I try to not change it much.

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