Grow Your Own Magazine

I'm a recent newcomer to this forum. I don't want to upset or alienate anyone but I am surprised sometimes about the information that I gather about other grapes children from reading their posts ie names, ages, area where they live. I think that if I was unscrupulous and a predator I could easily trace some of them. I don't even have to be a member to read the information! i just have to access the site and trawl through them.
We all are disguising our identity through the names we use to display posts but can still if not careful give out other information that gives others clues as to where we live etc. I don't want to be a party pooper but please be careful about the information you give out....once it's in the public domain you no longer have control over it.
I'll now step back down off my soap box and get back to gardening!

Scary man/woman

Geo..

I hate to be a party pooper Fluersoftheforest, but i think people can trace children anywhere not just a forum!!! They could just stand outside a school or look on Facebook, My Space, etc etc, not just a gardening forum!

By they way Geo "Ditto" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Gardening - A labour of love that begins with daybreak and ends with backache!
http://clarkiesveggieblog.blogspot.com/

a very strange post , same as above a peedo will just take any kid any where dont think they will go to the hassle of going on here and then tracing one down

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http://newplot.blogspot.com/

rain rain go away

Hmmmm, I have and so do many use the seed swap.

Isn't that just a little more dangerous!

I won't stop now, as I doubt anyone else will!

Livin on the edge

Yep the worlds a scary place!the poor girl in London that got stabbed yesterday had the misfortune of meeting her attacker in church!short of only taking our children out with paper bags on their heads & refusing to talk to ANYONE unfortunately we\they may stumble upon "undesirables"anywhere.although i understand the internet can and does attract many weirdos I think the media have turned it into more of a scare story than need be almost to the point that the real threats are sometimes overlooked.when*^$£":@~was younger,we found out a convicted peado had been living opposite us for nearly a year,(became common knowledge once he'd gone & the threat removed!)other than our run down rented shack quite a well to do neighbourhood,!yep the worlds a scary place,but i dont see that letting slip my childrens names is any different to calling their names when theyve run a little further ahead than i'd like!

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

I think it's reasonable advice to be cautious about the personal info you give out online. Some people do hang about to find out as much information about people as they can, for a variety of reasons.

Can't really see grooming happening on this site though... unless it's advice re chickens.

it is a fact that more children are abused by someone that knows them, someone i know was abused by their neighbour for years, their parents didnt know and they used to leave the child in the care of the neighbour when they went shopping!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes it is in your backyard, not on a forum for growing your own, anyhow i may put a child's name on here and who is to say that it is actually their name, i may be using a fake name??

SS
(ps. this isnt even my real name!!!!) I am actually called Ermintrude!

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Gardening - A labour of love that begins with daybreak and ends with backache!
http://clarkiesveggieblog.blogspot.com/

Now we know we can find you on the magic roundabout!!

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

I know what you think you are saying, Fleursotheforrest BUT I don't think anybody on this forum is giving out information that will put their children in danger. There is more information about us in the telephone directory.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Time for bed said Zebedee!!!! Boing boing boing!!

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Gardening - A labour of love that begins with daybreak and ends with backache!
http://clarkiesveggieblog.blogspot.com/

Fleur, aren't you being just a little bit paranoid? This is a friendly forum, and I don't think anyone has ever given out their exact location, date of birth, number of children, etc. Predators will find victims without the help of a site like this. Prime culprits are the website kids use, like Bebo, Myspace, etc.

might be fun to give the kids code numbers


trying to remember who belongs with who might be a bit of a task though

Great idea,, can I be first to start it ?,, well chillimad6109 is number one son and chillimad6111 number 2 son,, secret password = cm=madman

I don't think your average paedophile will want the hassle of tracing kids via this forum. I know the names of just about every child (and dog, actually) on my street simply through hearing them called and would imagine that this is a far easier way for an unscrupulous person to gain information. Having said that, if someone has given details of their kids here then agrees to meet another member they should probably be a little cautious, a friend of mine ran into problems a few years ago in similar circumstances.

OOps, that knocks the joking out of this thread for me, maybee I/We were all wrong to mock fleursotheforest for his/her post, maybee they had a friend with a similar experience to you. I actually feel quite guilty about making a joking post now, as my 2 sons are the most precious things in my life

i'll only end up needing a list. my memory is shocking

Sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone. My friend was a member of a forum (not a gardening one) and it was very friendly and, as has happened here, people decided to meet. Unfortunately one particular person only turned up when the parents of boys aged around 12/13 were due to be there. This person, it turns out, was well known to the police who were tracking his internet use and the site was warned before any harm was done. But as my friend had a son of the 'right' age, and as she had been to one of these meets, and as she was a single parent and therefore probably more susceptible to this chap trying to intercept her life, things could have turned out badly (he was a bit of a charmer by all accounts, spent a lot of time chatting to her and asked to see her again away from the get together, but then these people are very good at what they do) I still don't think that generally chatting about our kids - in my case, Grandkids - though is any more dangerous than calling them in for tea.

I think its a case of being realistic and sensible, names are available on the street or on the school web site !!

As I am as yet sans offspring I can't yet comment on how I feel about my children, but I can speculate.

I appreciate the intention of fleurs post, but I for one do not believe cotton wool kids benefit anyone in the long term, and once again - this is no new phenomenon.

When I was younger I actually won a competition to design a poster that advocated the "say no to strangers" campaign (I won £4 savings - which I never touched, and have never seen since, I met the Mayor and had my photo taken for the local paper). A few years prior to that - when I was 7-8, my Mum had arranged for our new next door neighbours son and his friends to come and pick me up from school as she couldn't make it (I didn't know this at the time). I was not sure about him, so ran all the way home with him and his mates in hot pursuit. I crossed busy roads and ran through alleyways, not stopping until I got home.

Education goes a long way to making kids safe.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated - 25th August

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You cant wrap your kids in cotton wool they need to be street savy to stay safe and like others have said its not always strangers that they should be aware of.
I have always told my kids to tell me where, when and who with they know they are going to be grounded if they lie to me. At least most kids have mobile phones now so can call if worried, a luxury we didnt have, and we didnt have a land phone either.
I live acroos the road from a senior school and the kids hang around when they should be in school, I recently phoned the school to inform them that two girls and two boys were being rather noisy and using a lot of bad language, school sent two teachers to catch them and as the kids were walking back one of the girls was doing up the other ones bra. !!!
Yesterday I took my grandson to the park, where two boys and one girl were sitting on the swings the girl on one of the boys laps and I found it quite embarassing they looked about 11 years old.
We get messages sent to our phones and letters sent by post if the kids dont register if you havent bothered to let them know of any absents asking where they are/were.

Fleur, Dear god woman, Get a grip....
People like you, fussing over things that VERY rarely happen, are spoiling our childrens childhood.
Yes, something bad may happen - It doesn't mean that it will.
When I was a child we were taught about "stranger danger" and not to go with or accept sweets from strangers. Children nowadays are taught to shout paedophile at the drop of a hat. Children need to learn self reliance and they need freedom in order to do this. My children (3 of them aged between 6 and 9) walk 1 1/2 miles to the shop for bread etc and no I am not concerned that they will be "abused" or even abducted by aliens. And, yes they have had accidents, last year no.2 son fell off his bike and spent 3 days in hospital and has a magnificent scar to show for it, this has not stopped him from going out - and nor will it.
Those of us trying to bring up children have a hard enough time of it these days without having panic inducing scaremongers like you to contend with.

Rant over.
Tx