Why don't/didn't you add a biography to your profile? When I see someone post to thread and they have given an interesting; or contentious, post, I would like to read more about that person. So, I click on their name and 90% of the time, the poster has added no further information!
I wonder why we're so secretive about who we are and what we've done?
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Probably because it's never a good idea to post too much personal information on the internet, especially in a more or less open forum type site, like this one.
Carl
"I could never belong to any club that would have me as a member."
witness protection program.
charlie
I did and while it's information about me it's nothing that isn't already available to the public.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
regardless of moniker, real name, RR name, or whatever used, or biography posted/not posted....does it really matter if the content, as you say, is what is important?
It stems from the old idea that one should not post too much about oneself online, and an era when one chose a moniker instead of real name to do so. That one's online persona should be kept private, ANd for good reason.
Nowadays, with sites like Facebook or Living Social, people are REGRETTING what is/has been/ will be posted about them there or on any other social media!
Also, even without publicizing my personal info, and even with NOT being on facebook. I have had my : screen name, aol account, Credit Card, checking acccount, internet account, and all COMPROMISED. !!! {MORE THAN ONCE too!} So, I don't need to have a 50 page Biography out there as well to add to the personal information GLEANED from me used to steal my IDENTITY and MONEY!!!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
You really really really really would not want to know....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
I have also seen people post things that expressed strong opinions in "biographies" that were not helpful because they tended to polarize people.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I just updated mine. I'm older, and the parakeet died.
Maybe that's why people don't bother with biographies much.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I'm just lazy. Or it was a low priority. And I hate writing bios. When I'm interviewed they have to drag a bio out of me. I have needed to update my bio on my biz page for years.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Come on! If your that paranoid about Identity Theft, why even participate here on these forums? I'm not saying you need to tell your life story and I'd also strongly suggest you leave your specific location off your profile page and not make statements like: "Yep, I've spent $119,522.00 dollars on my collection of rare and expensive brass locomotive and rolling stock". However, general information about your interests in the hobby, what your up to and how long you've been doing it, is pretty general information that doesn't make you any more delectable a target for a thief than the rest of the folks posting here. It is certainly your right to keep information off the internet if you choose and I can respect your right to do so. But, I would wonder why some feel it is safe to put general information in a profile here and others feel this is so unsafe?
LION posted (brief) Bio.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Purely and simply, I have participated in other forums, including the Atlas Forum, where I was actually posting very honest information, some of which came in part from my friends at an actual train manufacturer--yet some of the individuals on the forum, who do not know as much as they think they do, accused me of all kinds of things like being a manufacturer's "paid shill", of misrepresenting facts...and other things that were a. not very nice and b. completely inaccurate/untrue.
Now, we all have our opinions, and writing on internet forums does not always convey the tone in which the post was authored. That means sometimes people get rather heated, when no malice was intended by the author of a post, and sometimes people might think the author is more emotional about a given issue than is actually true.
I am the kind of person, who when someone asks a question, will attempt to be helpful.
However, my opinions are just my opinions, and are not necessarily worth much more than that.
For all of the above reasons I will never, never provide personal information about myself online again. The less people know the better off we all are. Some of the people who read my posts obviously know who I am or was on other forums, and that's fine--but I don't care to share that information in the future.
Some model train forums like the both Atlas Forum and the Atlas Rescue forum do contain some useful information, but there is also a lot of inaccurate, worthless garbage on there too. Some of the high posting individuals do not even have an operating layout upon which to actually run anything, so their opinions about what performs well or does not are of questionnable value--and the manufacturers know that now, know who those individuals are, and ignore them.
A few of the high posting people in online forums are self-deluded into thinking they speak for the majority of model railroaders when that is far from the case.
To support that opinion just expressed, I respecfully offer the following: Online surveys showed that many people wanted a particular diesel to be produced in HO scale. A manufacturer is indeed bringing that engine to market (on the street later this year)--but the actual sales (pre-orders) were underwelming. It is now very clear, despite plenty of commercial advertising, the general buying public did not share the views of the few (in this case actually including myself) who lobbied so vociferously online and via telephone and snail mail over many years for that engine to be produced. In the end, the manufacturer will only make a very small profit on the engine, perhaps not enough that it will ever be rerun, and will be significantly more cautious about the future projects they select.
Actual recent sales have proven that Canadian diesels will sell well enough to be economically worthwhile.
I went back and forth for years on the privacy vs "hello world" approach to my bio here. Finally served up one that focuses on my model railroad "self" while including just enough to understand who I am and where I might be coming from, leaving out the sort of info that could be used illicitly by unsavory elements.
Certainly, I don't see how the reasons one is a model rail, the prototype you choose, or other non-opportunistic info that hints at your interests is gonna help someone do you wrong. Now, if you put up something like, "My brass collection comes to 250+ pieces, all stored in a display case in the living room and I leave my doors unlocked when I go on vacation..." that might not be a good idea.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
NP2626If your that paranoid about Identity Theft, why even participate here on these forums?
I'm not certain how there would be any correlation between participating in this forum and being concerned with identity theft. I personally don't post any biographical information because I try to keep a low personal profile and that information is no one's business but my own.
maxman NP2626If your that paranoid about Identity Theft, why even participate here on these forums? I'm not certain how there would be any correlation between participating in this forum and being concerned with identity theft. I personally don't post any biographical information because I try to keep a low personal profile and that information is no one's business but my own.
I second, third and fourth that motion...
Let me turn it back around. Why don't people use their real names at the bottom of their posts? While I have a profile name like everyone else, I sign my name at the bottom and prefer to address others by their names, when possible. Some folks have been on here for years and I only know them by their profile name.
So, NP, you shared with us your personal bio in your profile and your strong opinion that anyone who doesn't share that in theirs is "paranoid", how about including your name in your bio. Seems easier to be harsh on people when one remains anonymous; an observation I've noted in my stint here as a member and as a mod.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage Let me turn it back around. Why don't people use their real names at the bottom of their posts? While I have a profile name like everyone else, I sign my name at the bottom and prefer to address others by their names, when possible. Some folks have been on here for years and I only know them by their profile name. Tom
Could the same question have been asked why Samuel Clemens called himself Mark Twain? For me, I think it's fun to use an alias tied to my hobby.
tstageLet me turn it back around. Why don't people use their real names at the bottom of their posts? While I have a profile name like everyone else, I sign my name at the bottom and prefer to address others by their names, when possible. Some folks have been on here for years and I only know them by their profile name.
Whale... I always sign my real name to PMs. My real name is found on my web site, which is listed, so nobody should have any realy problem trying to find out who the LION is.
You have know people for years, but you have not PM'd them? OK.
Besides, the LION is not good with names. I recognize an avatar before a name, real or ahem imagined. Imagine that.
You write to LION, LION will write to you back.
NP,
Or, as I noted in my response above, is it easier to say things publicly on a forum (that you might not necessarily say in person to someone) when you remain anonymous? At least Samuel Clemens went by an alias by which you could call him Mark.
You aren't paranoid, are you, Sam?
I treat "biographys" like I do Facebook, which I have no interest in participating in.
I assume everyone has the same opinion I do about them, in most cases I have no interest in your biography, nor you mine, what you had for breakfast, pics of your house, car, your dog doesn't really intrigue me at all.
In PM's where I have established friendships with fellow forum members I will always sign my name, and if the need exists (meet up for a train show) I will exchange information. I met up recently with a member from another forum to go to train meet. These folks are typically someone that shares the same interests, era, and modeling scheme ( logging, mining, geared steam engines, etc)
Being wise doesn't make you paranoid, and I never type anything that I wouldn't say face to face. It's a good rule that works for me, and I won't hesitate to tell someone, as we said in the military, "it's a need to know basis, and you don't need to know"
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
We have such a thing as a pm/conversation function. If people really want to learn how insecure, boring, old, opinionated, unidimensional, and uneducated I am, they can pm me and ask. Otherwise, I won't place it up on a billboard for all to read.
Oh, and call me 'Crandell'.
What I really miss about the new web site format. Is not being able to see the location, or number of posts, and join date from each poster. It was really nice to see where people are from, if they've been here for years and years, or if they are new.
It really helps when your answering their questions.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
when reading someone's post or response, wouldn't knowing that persons age, experience in modeling, perhaps the size and completeness of their model railroad, other interests and/or occupation be helpful in judging that opinion or posting a response?
Aren't all these things people could post in their biography without much risk?
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
My bio says: Born, currently living. Pretty much sums it up, if theres any change in that, I'll update it
Have fun with your trains
Need I share more? nahhh. I kept mine pretty simple, might have to change it though because I model the SP&S.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
Guess I am just to lazy to fill that in. It is also just the usual stuff - born, went to school, graduated from high school, made it through college and university, got a job, found a girl, married her, became a father, build a house, moved a couple of times, built new houses, lost my job, lost my house - nothing really thrilling.
OK, I live on the other side of the Big Pond, so most of my traveling was done in Europe, aside from a few trips to the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, South Africa, India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore - mostly on business, which really doesn´t count.
Why would anybody be interested in this bio?
A true storey.
On this forum, a few years ago. a guy posted a pic of his latest brass Loco and we all admired the new addition to all his other brass loco's. Another member jokingly ask where he lived and the response was " you won't find my house in a million years, I never give out private information" ( I considered this a challenge)
He then went on to say he was going to Mexico for two weeks with the family. Then the thread then turned into one much like this one, about privacy issue's.
In about fifteen minutes I had sent him a Google image of his house and his name, occupation and the makes of his two cars.
How did I do it????
I had remembered he had posted pic's of his layout on the forum. Out the window of the train room was a school across the street with the name of the school clearly visible.
I Googled the name of the school. There were several with the same name in the U.S. I new what State he lived in and by process of elimination I got a Google street view of his house.
His address was clearly visible and I Googled that. I found a real estate add from when the house was on the market. The add had the owners name on it. ( our Brass owner ) The house hadn't sold and he still lived there.
I PMd him what I had found in a matter of minutes on the internet. His reply was "Thanks Brent, I guess I shouldn't have been such a Smart _$$
If you take one member scroll through all his post and pull every snippet of personal info, you will have quite a profile on him.
Food for thought.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Like a lot of hobbies, an individual's Model Railroading accomplishments have nothing to do with his or her beauty, bank account, residence, job, religion, race, or any other distinction in our social / economic structure.
Yet too many of us would make judgements based upon that information. What counts (to me anyway) is one's behaviour on this forum, the questions they ask, the help they provide others, and of course their MR related accomplishments.
As I write this, I realize I'm not certain if I posted a "biography" or not.......... I'll check that!
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
tstageWhy don't people use their real names at the bottom of their posts?
My friends and family and the guys at hockey all call me "Beasley." It's not my real name, but rather one given to me when I was a teenager by a friend that I did trains with. It just stuck with me. I have many real-world friends that don't know my real name, either.
NP2626 I wonder why we're so secretive about who we are and what we've done?
Counter response why be so nosey? It's not important to me to bother with adding it.
A bigger question I have for Lion, is what engine is he referring to that some manufacturer is producing? I don't know which it is, but I can also say for me that having been burned a couple of times by the current manufacturers "pre order" mania, I don't preorder anything. If they want to sell to me, it better be on the market to buy, not a pipe dream they might produce someday.