Forum Security awareness

[breausaw]

For security reasons be careful of the information you post. I see member’s posts indicating they will be somewhere for the weekend on a certain date, or leaving the house at a particular time, or some other comment of a personal nature that could open the door to criminal opportunity.

The only reason I say this is there are individual out there who surf online forums and social networking sits looking for opportunity, especially this time of year when packages are delivered daily and Christmas trees are surrounded by $$$$$ of dollars in gifts.

Any individual can access the C-brats without being a member and access tons of personal information, please be careful and have a wonderful holiday season.

[Adeline]

Good advice

It's real easy to let your guard down among friends.

Sadly, there may be a wolf in the flock.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I don't know how often this happens, but even once would be one time too many.

I wonder if we should consider having Bill or Mike create a secured sign-up sheet for the CBGTs????

[hardee]

There are some forums that are only open to registered C-Brats, and some that are open to anyone. I think that is a good system, in that some folks just won't register to a sight just to peruse, however, it is a good idea to be careful what, (phone numbers, pre-travel info etc) goes on here and when it does. We do tend to get comfortable with our family here and the reminder is well warranted.

I do think that there should be fairly tight requirements to placing "For Sale" items on the site. I also think that Mike and Bill do a tremendous job here and they deserve our support.

Thanks Jay.

Harvey
SleepyC

[Pat Anderson]

Well, we are fairly free announcing that we are going to Powell or Andrews Bay or whatever. Where we live, even people who know our address usually get lost and I have to go down and bring them up. I tell people to turn left at "Dead end," then left again at "No outlet" and finally left again at "End maintained county road" (these are the actual signs at each turn). We are pretty far out and it is pretty sparsely populated here and we don't have a whole lot in the house to steal anyway except a few 5+ year old computers and 20+ year old TVs. It would cost more in gas to get here from Seattle than our house would yield! We also have a fairly tight neighborhood group that watches out for each other.

So, yes, I guess theoretically somebody could surf this BBS (thousands and thousand of messages across dozens of forums) and find out that we will be gone, look up our street address and drive out here, but we have a degree of inconvenience that should protect us just a bit...there is considerably more low hanging fruit than us.

Note to burglars - don't bother coming this weekend, we have cancelled our weekender at Andrews Bay, 30 mph wind gusts, and snowflakes are falling, so we decided to stay home.

But I'm sure this is not bad advice overall...

[DaveS]

Good Advice. Although, in Tom's (Starcraftom) case, if he wants to know where the scumbag crooks are all he has to do is look inside his C-Dory as they tend to hide out in there.

(I'm remembering and referring to his posting of the video he recorded of the local police taking a low life out of his C-Dory (that was parked in front of his house) at gun point along with the assistance of a K-9).

[Ramon Sr]

I think where we may be most vulnerable would be on the Event Signups. Perhaps those could be left open only to registered members.

[JamesTXSD]

[thataway]

I have had some concerns about the "announcement" of being gone. But the lists would be a bit of a stretch. I generally don't publicize our summer trips etc. The person with ill intent would have to find our address, be sure that someone was not "baby sitting" the house--which often happens. Get past ADT, and other other security systems. I agree that it is rather unlikely--since we also live in a neighborhood with a "no outlet" isolated street. We have a semi active neighborhood watch, and most of the neighbors are well armed, and would love to catch someone breaking into homes. (We have experience in that--and a couple of discharges of shotguns after Hurricane Ivan).

[Jack in Alaska]

Jay,

Good advice on security in view of the poor economy (no jobs) going on in our country today. People get desperate in times like these.

Merry Christmas to you and your other J's as well as all of the C-Brats.

Jack

[hardee]

On a side note, my neighbors, Mr Smith, and Mr Wesson both are good at keeping and eye out. It's a friendly community and friends know friends.

Harvey
SleepyC

[DaveS]

Attempting to "burglar" a rural residence can indeed be hazardous to one's health. A year ago November, a local rural Arlington resident came home to find a man running from his house. Three hours later he spotted the suspect in a pasture nearby and fired "three warning shots" at him. The suspect continued to run into the woods. Two days later the suspects body was discovered in a creek bed with jewelry in his pocket that matched the description of the jewelry taken from the man's home. Yesterday the resident "was acquitted of intentionally killing a burglary suspect and the judge declared a mistrial on a second murder charge that was brought against him under a seperate theory".
I remember reading last year that the suspect had a prior criminal history.......duh.....surprise, surprise....

Certainly around rural Arlington, the chances of finding the homeowner to be a weapons owner as well is extremely likely. Living off of a dead end road, with only one method of egress (other than on foot), makes escape a bit tenuous, should the homeowner come home. A close friend of mine came home several years ago to find a couple of guys in his house and he blocked their car with his truck, held one of them at gun point (the other escaped on foot), and notified 911 dispatch on his fire department radio.
Naturally, the captured suspect snitched on his buddy and they both got locked up.

As I agreed earlier, however....it is best to not advertise that you are going to be gone on a cruise. Obviously having a great neighborhood watch system is a real plus.

[thataway]

Shooting at someone can also be hazarderous to ones health (and I have a legal concealed carry permit in 38 states). One of my friends shot out the tires of a burgler's car who had taken a gas can--a bit of distance from his house--as the perp was fleeing. The Deputy gave my friend a lecture about only shooting if his life was in danger (Florida is rather liberal that way) and took his gun.
My friend could have been charged with several misdomeanors. However, about 2 hours later, the deputy showed up at his house and gave my friend back his gun. The deputy wanted my friend to varify what he had written in his report--that he was in fear of being run down by the perp. The perp is still in jail, almost a month later.

[Tug]

Well in Canada we are required to register our long guns and have a licence for the possession and aquistion of both ammunition and firearms.The firearms are to be by law fully secured with a chain or lock and the ammunition is to be locked and secured in a separate place from the firearm. If my home was invaded and my life was in danger, by the time i found all the keys to the locks for my gun and ammumition i would be dead ten x over.ha!ha! If i were lucky enough to be able to defend myself and my home with my gun i would be charged with murder or manslaughter. Crazy laws. Tug

[Adeline]