Look, this is the last thing I'm going to say about this because it's getting the thread off track.
No, I didn't make a bad choice of words. If anything, I was too vague. Perhaps I should have been more explicit and less concerned with 'niceties' and being politically correct. Here, let me try again:
Please explain to me how someone could possibly be offended by that.*** To all females out there who are about to FReepmail this "newbie-we-don't-know-from-Adam" their phone number (especially you older women who are new to the web): Please show caution when giving out personal information on the I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T.***
Look, I understand the paranoia a fair bit better as a result of one of the last posts, but frankly, I think you're just a weeee bit overworked. Especially in light of the fact that to this point, I've specifically requested that people DON'T send any contact information to me.
You know, if I wanted phone numbers of females, there are about a thousand hell of a lot easier ways to acquire them. Like, um, opening the telephone book, for example. There are probably a few dozen phone numbers of single women on each and every page.
Those would also have the slight advantage of not being about 1500 miles away...
I have criticized people for years for their indiscriminate posting of information which might tend to identify them. I have been horrified by friends who have made the net a place to find a mate (one friend even left her family for a net buddy she hardly knew, although it is 4 yrs now and she is still with him!). I cringe when I see people post information which I liken to giving trade secrets to a rival or enemy! Sometimes we forget where we are and how many people have access to what we write. And you are right....it is pretty scary to become a victim to our own ignorance.
As a nation we have recently learned how willing some are of taking advantage of our every weakness. There is a very good reason why the post keeps reoccuring to remind us NOT TO PUBLISH MILITARY INFORMATION! And it is not a stretch, particularly now, to realize that the enemy lurks among us and is willing to violate any weakness in a heartbeat. But that is why I assumed that the phone chain would be made up of people who have some standing, and the release of names would be limited. I cringed again at one suggestion that the phone list might be posted because I too keep an unlisted private number.
I do understand your concerns, but we are America and we thrive on the new blood that comes to our country. We all have to be careful in what we share and right now we are feeling very vulnerable, especially me in my line of work knowing that some of the best databases ever made of American citizens were gathered and distributed by people in the Middle East. Scary stuff, but one reason why your number might be out there. Taking that all into account, I can see that there are ways to impliment an alert system that will address all of these concerns, protecting us and helping us all at the same time. Actually, thanks for bringing up the dangers because they are valid and should be addressed.