[downeaster]

I will try to tread very lightly here as I do not want to offend anyone or start a flame war.
I notice some members include a their email address, street address, phone number and even their photo as avatar. I know this is a friendly forum, you could say we are like family. However, we are not the only ones reading these posts. There are robots out there constantly harvesting email address to be used by spammers.
Other personal information, home addresses, phone numbers, etc, should never be given in the open, either in forums, chat rooms, or elsewhere where people can see the details.
With user names that may be different, but personally I would not give my full name in the open.
If you wish to share personal info with fellow members simply use the "Personal Message" feature provided by the forum.
My apologies for preaching and lecturing but I felt a personal responsibility to my fellow members.

[clyd709]

I agree with you 100% Your post will be very helpfull to everyone.

[Yoda]

BE SMART.

Yoda

[JeanneBeannie]

You are absolutely right! Thank you, I will be much more careful in the future. I am usually very careful, but it is easy to let our guard down when chatting amongst such friendly, nice people. Great point!

[Russ_Boston]

Hear what you're saying but they can have my e-mail, my pic and my city of residence.

Just not that worried about it.

In fact there are many websites like http://www.linkedin.com/ where professionals connect. A certain amount of public info is the way of the world now.

[Campbell soup]

But I like my Avatar Pic....it looks so much like me!

I agree with Russ....

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Hear what you're saying but they can have my e-mail, my pic and my city of residence. Just not that worried about it.
In fact there are many websites like http://www.linkedin.com/ where professionals connect. A certain amount of public info is the way of the world now.

I think it is just a matter of personal preference. We are all individual and comfortable with different levels of disclosure. I love seeing people's pictures as their avatars.

[bestmickey]

Originally Posted by downeaster

I will try to tread very lightly here as I do not want to offend anyone or start a flame war.
I notice some members include a their email address, street address, phone number and even their photo as avatar. I know this is a friendly forum, you could say we are like family. However, we are not the only ones reading these posts. There are robots out there constantly harvesting email address to be used by spammers.
Other personal information, home addresses, phone numbers, etc, should never be given in the open, either in forums, chat rooms, or elsewhere where people can see the details.
With user names that may be different, but personally I would not give my full name in the open.
If you wish to share personal info with fellow members simply use the "Personal Message" feature provided by the forum.
My apologies for preaching and lecturing but I felt a personal responsibility to my fellow members.

I'm always cautious. I too would like to warn our fellow TOTV members. This really is a serious issue. I have a friend in The Villages who, just out of curiousity, has driven around trying to identify various members' homes just by using the info provided in their posts. He made a game of it. Well, he was able to identify a number of members' homes. These members also post when they are going out of town. Anyone looking to break into an empty home could locate these same residences. To each his/her own, but I'll err on the side of being cautious.

[MMC24]

I am a fan of obscurity, the less personal info the better.

[thegreenerside]

I use the name, address, and email of my obnoxious neighbor down the street. I would use a pic of his wife as well but the censors would probably not be happy.