No matter what you may say your policy is, it certainly becomes moot if the answer to your second question is that the gents don't believe you anyway.

I mean no disrespect by that Megan nor do I really mean it specific to you.  It just seems to me that guys will most likely fall into 2 categories here.  There will be those who are real concerned about privacy discretion and will seek out those ladies that have some sort of reliable reputation for being discrete (be it actually true or not).  Then there will be other guys who do not really focus on this all that much.  It is not that they do not care but they just chalk it up to a given risk and hope for the best.  

Now the best that any lady can do (including you) is to allow their reputations to grow over time so that they become the gems that the first category of guys seek. But no matter what there will always be cynical guys out there who absolutely believe that info is retained no matter what the lady says.  These guys will answer your second question, 'No I do not believe her'.  And they will likely answer that way about you too when they ask you about your policy and you tell them.  It will always come down to trust when all is said and done...





-- Modified on 4/4/2008 4:19:15 PM

I contact most of the ladies I see through Preferred 411. Consequently, I have written my "phone and text messaging" in my profile.

In my experience, there is no privacy- particularly if you post a lot on your local board and thus maintain a high visibility.

What I found that caused me to quit posting at all on my local board is that 90% of the providers I saw have loose tongues, and several indys keep info on their computers.

It seems to be human nature that they talk to their provider friends about us, associate our handles with our real names and talk about who we are, where we live, our jobs.  Then their friends they've talked to tell their friends.... and all the sudden we have no privacy.

How can you tell- check out what your providers tell you during bedroom talk!  Do you really think that if they are divulging names and info to you that they are not doing the same about you to others?

I found that almost everything I did within the hobby- who I saw, where I went, who I took with me was public knowledge in the local hobby community.

Pretty much caused me to do my hobbying out of town sad to say.

All I saw regularly had my name and phone number in their cell phone contact list.  One admitted she keeps a journal of everyone she sees in case anything ever happened to her.

I am convinced we are at the mercy of not offending anyone to stay safe, because as soon as we do......  hello information.

You'd think that we'd all have 'honor among thieves' given that we are all at risk- but no such luck.

Sorry for the pessimistic rant, but it needs to be said.

Policy, schmolocy; no matter what one says, if LE puts the screws to someone I won't be surprised if they spill whatever beans there are to spill; and as we all know, what goes on a computer stays in there somewhere no matter how often you hit the delete key.

It's just part of the risks.