Who do YOU share your cruise plans with?

[COLLEYBERRY]

It seems any dabbling in cyber space can put us at risk...oh to various degrees certainly,,, ranging from hurt feelings here on CC to frightening stalker like behavior by internet abusers

I find myself more cautious than before..a need to know basis as to vacation plans and careful not to be too verbose on Facebook (which I find is a great way to keep in touch with extended family without having to entertain them for dinner,:D)

In a cyber world total privacy may be a luxury we strive for but in reality I fear the privacy ship sailed long ago.

Cell phones (instant photos and videos)GPS,imaging from space, security cameras....yep.. the ship has sailed.

Edited November 19, 2013 by COLLEYBERRY

[soldham]

Just back from a 21 day HAL cruise........we had a house sitter move in for the duration but had no expectation he would never leave the house. First time he went away for several hours someone threw a rock through one of the front door window panes and made off with our Apple Studio.

[LindaM]

I don't tell anyone of our vacation plans, unless asked. I tell a couple neighbors before we leave, so they can watch our house. One has a key. We are very fortunate to be able to travel and I enjoy discussing travel here. I don't want to be perceived as being a braggart in my "real" life.

 

I am totally freaked out about people being stalked here, where someone was able to contact them. This explains a lot..... someone I was communicating with just stopped, so I let it go!! I hope they don't think I'm the stalker!! Yup, I am totally freaked out now!!

[NMLady]

DH and I just had a big discussion about this. We are personally very respectful of other people’s private information – I won’t even give out someone’s phone number without their permission. Not everyone is that careful, though.

The discussion centred around whether or not to tell our renters when we go away. DH’s fear is that they will not be “quiet” about it, y’know? We tell a couple of neighbours, the pet sitter, and that's about it for real-life. I don't tell anyone online usually, except a couple of friends via email.

I keep a pretty low profile online, after seeing some really terrible stuff being done to people online (and having experienced a real-life stalker when I was younger). I seldom post on a roll call, though there have been exceptions. I use a disposable email for people I don’t know. My Facebook activity is pretty minimal.

Then there are others who don’t seem to think twice about sharing virtually everything with everyone online.

So, who do YOU tell when you are planning on being away? Are you more open now about things online, or are you more reserved than you have been in the past?

 

CC Roll call. Since no way to get our city or address I'm not concerned about posting our plans.

I do not have Facebook account so never post on roll calls there.

 

A few family members and a few friends.

 

The neighbor who picks up our mail for us and keeps an eye on our property.

 

Seems to me your renters need to know how to reach a manager while you're away in case of maintenance problems.

Edited November 19, 2013 by NMLady

[iancal]

We would never, ever mention or give details of any future absence on any social media site including CC.

 

DW is on facebook. She finds it astounding at how many people actually advertise their vacations away from home PRIOR to leaving or provide other personal information. It is a gold mine for those with less honourable intentions.

[igraf]

Only family, very close friends and a trusted neighbor. Absolutely never online. I tell others about the trip after we return. They don't need to know ahead of time.

 

Remember the news story about the cruise travel agent who would tip off house burglars?

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

...So, who do YOU tell when you are planning on being away? Are you more open now about things online, or are you more reserved than you have been in the past?

Edited November 19, 2013 by igraf

[CowPrincess]

We would never, ever mention or give details of any future absence on any social media site including CC.

 

DW is on facebook. She finds it astounding at how many people actually advertise their vacations away from home PRIOR to leaving or provide other personal information. It is a gold mine for those with less honourable intentions.

 

A friend of mine (who has about 500+ FB friends) just posted about the vacation they are currently enjoying. I know her settings are not locked down, so WAY more than those 500 "friends" could find out. She is fairly high-profile, well-known, so IMHO that was potentially a HUGE breach of personal security :(

 

The internet is not just nice people, thinking and planning nice things :eek:

 

More later from me, I have appointments to get to.

Edited November 19, 2013 by CowPrincess

[kazu]

What a great thread Cow Princess - and a great reminder to us all that care needs to be taken anywhere on the internet :)

[startwin]

What a great thread Cow Princess - and a great reminder to us all that care needs to be taken anywhere on the internet :)

 

It's a sad commentary on our times, I guess, but we do need to practice caution on the 'net.

 

It's interesting though how many still have neighbours we can rely on. At least some things haven't changed.:)

[CowPrincess]

I agree, I think it is wonderful that most of us have neighbours we trust :)

 

Something I've noticed (not just on this board, many boards) is that sometimes familiarity breeds comfort. I see people addressing each other by first name, asking after the kids by name, etc. Makes me cringe, y'know?

 

I belong to a private special-interest board, and one of the rules there is no one is permitted to use another person's real name (or spouse's name, or child's name). If a poster is being addressed in a post, the poster's screen name MUST be used. Failure to comply causes (a) a warning, then (b) a bit of a time-out and after a number of violations, a long suspension.

 

On that board, we all "know" each other to one degree or another, and there's probably fewer than 100 people belong to the board.

 

That rule was implemented after someone started getting creepy comments on FB about their kids.

 

igraf, I remember reading that story, too.

 

colleyberry, the "complete privacy" ship has sailed, but I think it is important that we all excercise the caution that we can, y'know?

[cruz chic]

I agree, I think it is wonderful that most of us have neighbours we trust :)

 

Something I've noticed (not just on this board, many boards) is that sometimes familiarity breeds comfort. I see people addressing each other by first name, asking after the kids by name, etc. Makes me cringe, y'know?

 

I belong to a private special-interest board, and one of the rules there is no one is permitted to use another person's real name (or spouse's name, or child's name). If a poster is being addressed in a post, the poster's screen name MUST be used. Failure to comply causes (a) a warning, then (b) a bit of a time-out and after a number of violations, a long suspension.

 

On that board, we all "know" each other to one degree or another, and there's probably fewer than 100 people belong to the board.

 

That rule was implemented after someone started getting creepy comments on FB about their kids.

 

igraf, I remember reading that story, too.

 

colleyberry, the "complete privacy" ship has sailed, but I think it is important that we all excercise the caution that we can, y'know?

I know a lot of people address me by name. I don't know how that started but I'm not super concerned about it but maybe I should be. I'm very careful not to call people by their first name and I don't think I ever have.

[mamaofami]

After reading this thread and thinking about it, I will probably do things a bit differently from now on.

 

I do post on role calls because I enjoy meeting people and seeing them around the ship and I will continue to do that.

 

I will not ever mention my plans on Facebook, not even to a private group I belong to because I don't think anything on Facebook is private.

 

I do have to stop my mail, so that is a given, Mail boxes here work with a key. I suppose I could ask a neighbor to take in the mail for me.

 

Now that I live in a gated community, have an alarm system, I'm not as worried as I used to be.

 

Yes, there are stalkers out there and who knows even if the people posting on a role call are really cruising with you or trying to find out when you'll be away?

Edited November 20, 2013 by mamaofami

[CowPrincess]

mamaofami, thank you for posting that you will have decided that some changes are in order. Knowing that one person may be a bit safer makes starting this thread worthwhile, IMHO.

 

lorekauf, I've noticed that you get called by name on occasion, but I have never seen you call anyone by anything but their screen name.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I only tell my next door neighbors, the post office, the newspaper, credit cards the local police and my kids

Edited November 20, 2013 by we're sailing away....

[innlady1]

I share pretty freely about our cruises. But I also mention with each sharing about our house sitter who will be taking care of things.

 

I do post on the CC roll call as I usually set up the meet and greets. I understand others wanting their privacy and I know my DH would prefer I keep it to a minimum. I can't help it, I'm a bit of a blabbermouth. :o

 

Ditto here, Trisha! With all you've said.

We have a dog sitter who moves in to take care of the two dogs...she gathers our mail and leaves it in a laundry basket in our kitchen...and shovels the snow if we have a storm, too! Oh....and takes great care of our two terriers!

So the house is never unattended and I don't have to worry that I'm a blabbermouth on CC! ;)

[1of4]

This is all very interesting, and unfortunately, confirmed my inner feelings. I struggle between being rude and answering questions. I very specifically don't say more than I am in Ontario but I have people ask me where in Ontario. I am uncomfortable with this...not because I don't want to tell THEM...but I don't want it sitting for anyone to read forever more. There have been a few incidents mentioned by other posters that really scare me.

 

I was badly hurt (emotionally) by a few people I befriended years ago on a internet board. We all had one thing in common. But one among us was not honourable and when she didn't get what she wanted she was nasty. Now it didn't go further than (my) hurt feelings so I count my blessings on that one. But I am more cautious now.

 

We no longer get home delivery of the newspaper. We have a neighbour that can't be counted on to monitor our house so we are thinking of asking another. We are lucky in one sense that when we are away there is snow around so it leaves evidence of someone being where they shouldn't be....but on the other hand....it is also easier to tell when we are not home. When my mother died last December we left home FAST and weren't back for 5 days. Our neighbours all knew where we were (emailed from hospital) but not one shovelled our driveway or walkway. I was crushed. I learned that we can't rely on them. So not sure what we will do this time.

 

Live and learn I guess. We use light timers all year around so nothing changes in that regard.

[mamaofami]

This thread made me remember a stalker we had on one of the CC threads I was posting to. One person was quite ill, and in the hospital. Somehow the stalker found out her name and posted that she was going to visit her in the hospital. She knew which hospital and the person's husbands name as well. Someone else on the thread did some reserarch and came up with the stalker's ID and reported it to CC. The stalker was removed from the boards.

 

Incredible story, really.

[lindaler]

I get excited about the trip and if I didn't have CC to share that excitement with I would pop. I post on the forums and roll calls here but not on facebook roll calls. We live in a gated park and so many here know when we are out of the park and check on our home but since we have in park mail sorting, they just hold it for us until we are back. We always had a pet sitter before, who came in twice a day to visit our cat but since he has passed from old age, we will just give a key to one of our close neighbors.

 

Last time we went, we arranged for a friend to pick up the paper but after the second day it was gone the whole time we were gone. We found out another neighbor knew we were gone so took the paper and put it safely away until our return. I guess that was a case of too many taking care of our place while we were gone.

 

I really like sharing on CC because we are all traveling and it doesn't seem like bragging when we talk about our travels but in our park it would seem that way so I just keep it here. Of course family will be told so they don't worry if they can't reach us.

[startwin]

This thread made me remember a stalker we had on one of the CC threads I was posting to. One person was quite ill, and in the hospital. Somehow the stalker found out her name and posted that she was going to visit her in the hospital. She knew which hospital and the person's husbands name as well. Someone else on the thread did some reserarch and came up with the stalker's ID and reported it to CC. The stalker was removed from the boards.

 

Incredible story, really.

 

It happens, unfortunately.

[Fouremco]

This thread made me remember a stalker we had on one of the CC threads I was posting to. One person was quite ill, and in the hospital. Somehow the stalker found out her name and posted that she was going to visit her in the hospital. She knew which hospital and the person's husbands name as well. Someone else on the thread did some reserarch and came up with the stalker's ID and reported it to CC. The stalker was removed from the boards.

 

Incredible story, really.

First, thanks to CowPrincess for starting this thread. Many lessons and reminders on the need for and means to improve our Internet security. It's clear that contributors have a different level of comfort on some points, such as the sharing of their names, but it's important that we achieve that level with a clear understanding of the potential consequences.

 

Mamaofami, an excellent example of how information can be culled from the board. But I'm a bit puzzled, and maybe I've missed something, but someone who wants to visit another member who is in hospital doesn't fit my perception of a stalker. I view stalking as paying obsessive attention to another person, with an element of harassment or intimidation, and I'm not sure that I see these elements here.

 

As a cautionary note, I do hope that there was no belief at that time that the problem had been solved by having her Cruise Critic membership revoked. She would still have enjoyed access to the same information on the board, with the exception of rolls calls, or she could have simply have created a new membership under a false name and continued unabated.

 

Again, thanks to CowPrincess and to all of the contributors to this excellent thread.

[kazu]

First, thanks to CowPrincess for starting this thread. Many lessons and reminders on the need for and means to improve our Internet security. It's clear that contributors have a different level of comfort on some points, such as the sharing of their names, but it's important that we achieve that level with a clear understanding of the potential consequences.

 

Mamaofami, an excellent example of how information can be culled from the board. But I'm a bit puzzled, and maybe I've missed something, but someone who wants to visit another member who is in hospital doesn't fit my perception of a stalker. I view stalking as paying obsessive attention to another person, with an element of harassment or intimidation, and I'm not sure that I see these elements here.

As a cautionary note, I do hope that there was no belief at that time that the problem had been solved by having her Cruise Critic membership revoked. She would still have enjoyed access to the same information on the board, with the exception of rolls calls, or she could have simply have created a new membership under a false name and continued unabated.

 

Again, thanks to CowPrincess and to all of the contributors to this excellent thread.

 

The bolding is mine - a visit to a hospital by a friend is always welcome. A visit by an unknown person is not usually nor is it by a stalker. I don't remember the story on this one - but... for what little my 2 cents is worth (the penny is gone in Canada) anyone who would go to this trouble to get the info and share it is most likely, indeed a stalker. There are different types - and obsession is one sign. But no matter what type the stalker is, it is not desired :rolleyes:

[mamaofami]

The woman was a stalker. The other person, the one in the hospital,had stage 4 cancer. The stalker wrote all sorts of mean messages on the thread and we tried to ignore her. She hasn't reappeared in any way in the past 3 years so we think she's gone. But just as she was able to find information on the hospital patient, someone else went over all her posts and found out who she was.

[Fouremco]

The bolding is mine - a visit to a hospital by a friend is always welcome. A visit by an unknown person is not usually nor is it by a stalker. I don't remember the story on this one - but... for what little my 2 cents is worth (the penny is gone in Canada) anyone who would go to this trouble to get the info and share it is most likely, indeed a stalker. There are different types - and obsession is one sign. But no matter what type the stalker is, it is not desired :rolleyes:

I was thinking back to a time when my mother was hospitalized and one day was visited by a well meaning woman from her church with whom she had on just a couple of occasions exchanged a few words but was hardly an acquaintance, let alone a friend. We still don't know how she got the necessary information or why she took it upon herself to visit unannounced. She was an unexpected and unwanted visitor, but not someone whom I would consider a stalker.

[kazu]

I was thinking back to a time when my mother was hospitalized and one day was visited by a well meaning woman from her church with whom she had on just a couple of occasions exchanged a few words but was hardly an acquaintance, let alone a friend. We still don't know how she got the necessary information or why she took it upon herself to visit unannounced. She was an unexpected and unwanted visitor, but not someone whom I would consider a stalker.

 

I totally understand what you are saying, but I would assume that your mother's hospitalization was mentioned in the church along with good wishes for her recovery, so it would have been a known fact (assuming that is the case - as it often is in our church).

 

That's a whole different picture than someone who seeks someone out on an anonymous internet board and as we can see from Carol's post above, the intentions were NOT good.

[Fouremco]

The woman was a stalker. The other person, the one in the hospital,had stage 4 cancer. The stalker wrote all sorts of mean messages on the thread and we tried to ignore her. She hasn't reappeared in any way in the past 3 years so we think she's gone. But just as she was able to find information on the hospital patient, someone else went over all her posts and found out who she was.

Thank you for sharing the additional, very disturbing information. That puts a totally different perspective on it and I now understand and fully agree with her being considered a stalker. A sad reminder of how there are some truly sick people out there against whom we must guard ourselves against.