Have you ever thought of this?

Have you ever thought of this....
Is it really safe to post you home address and home phone number(not cell phone) on your website? Imagine I have an illegal job say breaking into homes etc and thought mmm I want more stuff or top quality stuff, I'm going web surfing. He comes across John Smith, who is a photographer and notices he lives in the same city area. He lists all the nice equipment he uses, doesn't that just sound like come get me and take my stuff. I mean this must happen all the time not just with photograhers right. People can still get in contact with you through your email and cell phone. I am just throwing this out there for something for you to ponder. What do you think? Safe or not safe.

As far as I know most gear thefts are crimes of opportunity rather than carefully planned break-ins.

Guy

Excellent points Jody. Now you have me thinking. The fact is if you use your home address when you register your domain name anyone can find your address simply by doing a WHOIS search.

I don't see any reason TO indicate your address on your website except to invite junk mail. Anyone who has a legitimate need to send you something by post can simply ask for your address. I don't list a landline number because I haven't had one for more than two years. It's been an effective means of boycotting yet another corporation that I despise: Verizon.

By the same token, it's not a great idea to have a vanity license plate or any decals on your car that would indicate the vehicle belongs to a photographer.

One disadvantage with having a fairly rare last name like mine is that I am really easy to find. As far as I know, there are exactly two photographing Borzynski's in the world, which makes it hard to hide. Adding "Columbus, Ohio" has brought me a few web inquiries since I am nearby. Beyond that, if anyone else needs more personal information, they can just ask.

I don't see any reason to list street address or equipment.

Crime, or rather the perception of crime and safety, fascinates me. How many people realize that violent crime, in the U.S., is about half of what it was in the 70's and 80's? "Things just aren't like they were when I was growing up" yeah, it's much safer.

I do list my phone number on my 'Contact' page on my site. I have found it best to have a post office box. That way, I can heave the junk mail, and my actual residence address is reasonably anonymous. Still, I am sure that someone could find my residence by doing a careful search. Honestly, I don't worry about it.

-PB

You know, home is such a dangerous place that I'm thinking of moving.

I don't worry about it at all. In fact, I just looked up your address and phone # in under 30 seconds. If someone wants to find you, they will. I sleep well at night knowing we have the "make my day" law here in Colorado.

I am not saying your information isn't out there but why make it easily ready available?

"You know, home is such a dangerous place that I'm thinking of moving." LOL. that is the funniest thing I've heard all day.

you know, I looked up at whois the other day and realized it had contact info on there too. I didn't like it. we should team up to sue that website for invasion of privacy. I could use the money.

"Crime, or rather the perception of crime and safety, fascinates me. How many people realize that violent crime, in the U.S., is about half of what it was in the 70's and 80's?" I do'nt know where you live, but in California things seem to always get worse than before. I won't make any politically incorrect statements on here as for why I think that is.

One can get a private listing so that sensitive information does not appear in a WHOIS search. One will also have to pay extra for it

It is so easy to look virtually anyone up, ... where they live, ... etc.

Here's a thought for you.

How many of you talk about the equipment you have to shoot with, the expensive computer equipment you have, (enough to fly the space shuttle), talk about the wide screen tv you got for Christmas, and so on, ... then you mention right here on a public forum that you and your better half are leaving to go to (example) Africa for 3 weeks, ... leaving your house totally empty?

I wish that I could remember where I read it, but it was with some type of crime prevention organization.
They stated that mentioning you were leaving town for any period of time on a public forum was a "huge mistake".
Makes sense to me!

Consider what happened to me about 7+ years ago. In the early days of AOL, I was active on an internet photo forum. I met all kinds of people and thought that was great! ALL kinds of people, it turns out. One was a woman who lived in Californy. I gave her some advice on how to find animals to photo (look for tracks in mud, look for their food) and how to get closer to them. We exchanged a few emails. She told me a few of her personal problems and me, just being a helpful Midwestern guy, offered her some suggestions. She sent some more emails in which she became increasingly aggressive and off the wall. I told her to not email me any more because I didn't think it was appropriate. She sent one more email saying she was madly in love with me and was driving from Californy to my house in South Dakota and would be there in two days. I thought of sending her a recent photo of me, hoping that would discourage her. I then thought of sending her a photo of my hunting buddy, Roger, with his big beer belly, thinking that would discourage her even more! I then decided that even that might encourage her, so I ignored her totally. I felt some comfort in knowing it was a very long haul from southern Californy to eastern South Dakota, especially for someone who I suspected was flamming insane. The same day I had that thought I received another email from her saying she was on her way and was coming to 4205 My Street. Oh s-------!!!! That night at about 11:30 PM (which is 9:30 PM Californy time) the phone rang. The phone is on my wife's side of the bed. All I heard was my wife saying, "Yes, he's my husband. Who are you?....What are you talking about?.....Are you some kind of nut?......If you DO show up, I will shoot you with a big shotgun!" I just lay in bed thinking, "Not good, not good, not good......." My wife slammed the phone down and said ,"OK buster, start explaining!" She said the woman told her she was in love with me and was coming to run away with me, and that she (wife) had had her turn and now it was her turn. I told my wife she was a nut that had been bugging me on the internet and I had told her several times to get lost. I told her I had simply been nice to her a couple of times and she went off the deep end. So anyway, I very rarely put my last name on the internet if I can help it. I see it shows up here, but that was a mistake. So far no crazy NPN people have called or showed up, even though there are plenty of them here.



Kent in SD

Kent, that's a great story.
I hope your wife, now, thinks it's funny.

PS, I've fallen madly in love with you and will be driving to SD. See you soon. Hope you like beards.

"I do'nt know where you live, but in California things seem to always get worse than before. I won't make any politically incorrect statements on here as for why I think that is."

Crime could be getting worse, or you could be getting older. I sure it's one of the two :)

Kent, that is freaking insane dude! How do you always get such interesting and dramatic encounters? Between this and the M16 wielding train shooting adventure you've lived enough life for several lives already. Don't worry, I definetely won't be falling in love with you ever.

"Crime could be getting worse, or you could be getting older. I sure it's one of the two :) " Older yes, old not yet.