Why not have a profile?

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

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

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

I have been following this thread with interest. Initially, I did use a pseudonym, but the quickly changed to my full name.

Ok, there is a lot of information in my profile about me and my life history, but, as far as I can see there is nothing there that will allow the more degenerate of our world to perform some sort of fraud on me. I have also published my county, and my country - information which is readily available to anyone who wishes to do a search. And yes, my profile does indeed come up as the first item under Google. But so what? There is nothing there that I am ashamed of - other than being described as a Model Engineer and hence being classed in the same world as, eg Tubal Cain.

One interesting point is that I have been approached by a number of people, both through this forum and another forum, wishing to discuss our lathes, and to a lesser extent, our milling machines. I cannot see anything wrong with that.

I do get quite a lot of attempts by various people attempting to gain access to my computer both electronically via the internet and via the telephone, and hence access my personal data, but so far they have failed. I have survived one (known) computer virus attack when two of my friends did indeed succomb to the same virus which does suggest that all in all I am reasonably safe. In fact, the only known attempt on my financial account was a general attack on a large number of accounts and was done, we think, by a brute force attack via VISA DEBIT account numbers. This, we think, originated from America and the stolen money was ultimately replaced. But, and this is the important point, it was nothing to do with my usage of the internet.

Comments have been made about rudeness. I may have been one of these people complained about in that I have pointed out quite strongly on occasion that I don't like, or disagree with, the writer's method of writing or view. Again, I see nothing wrong with this - disagreement is nothing new and happens all the time. In fact, I do strongly believe that there are people around who, to be blunt, need to grow up and accept that they will be criticised. There is too much of this appeasement going on in our society today.

Now I know that last paragraph will not go down well with some people. Tough - you take me as I am.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

ps. Well, not really, it's just to add a bit more separately. In general, I have found this forum extremely friendly and helpful to me, and I have, insofar as I am able to, have always tried to respond in return.

NJH

Re. your PS

Interesting that you checked my profile but failed to note my complimentary close!!

To make it simple -

RGDS
BILL, NORFOLK , ENGLAND

PS - just been to check my profile details and, as I assumed, the boxes for County and Country REMAIN ticked as they have been for some year or more. I have no idea why this info doesn't appear but, strange as it may seem, I don't check my profile details very often 'cos i know who I am and where I am ... most of the time!

Edited By Cornish Jack on 10/04/2012 13:42:58

Sorry Bill

I was getting orders from the management saying I had been on the computer too long and it was now their go. Unwise to ignore requests from the management so I'm afraid I didn't get as far as that bit in your letter.

You have got me confused now though - I did once know a Bob Norfolk -- but I don't think he was from Cornwall.......

I'm pleased that you remember where and who you are - someone told me that I used to know as well but I don't remember who that was.

Cheers

Norman