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[Rose]

Truean says a lot of stuff on here that, if it were ever be connected to her in real life, could be devastating to her career and general well-being. Also, she's a lawyer, which means she knows how damaging this kind of stuff can be.

As long as nobody quotes her, she can, if need be, remove any evidence of what she said here.

[Shadowlord]

If someone finds it and confronts her with it, they'll very likely have already saved it or printed it out, so it might be a bit late at that point to try to delete it all.

[IcyTea31]

Plus, Bay12forum's robots.txt keeps it from being auto-archived by the Wayback Machine and similar.

Sadly, it doesn't work against more malicious spiders. Robots.txt is the equivalent of a polite note taped to an unlocked door; it only stops those who obey it. One still shouldn't quote people who specifically ask for it, though, if only for the sake of politeness and making it slightly harder to get exploitable information on the person.

[ChairmanPoo]

If someone finds it and confronts her with it, they'll very likely have already saved it or printed it out, so it might be a bit late at that point to try to delete it all.

This is the main reason why I find the 'do not quote' rule pointless. I do respect this demand (mainly by not engaging into long discussions with said people in the first place, as these are very hard to manage without quotes),  but I fail to see the point. I mean, if you are really worried about a trace from this forum, the best way to go about that is to avoid disclosing sensitive info in the first place.  Same applies to social media; you shouldnt post anything you ddont want to get confronted with. 

[Shadowlord]

Yeah, I pretty much agree with you on that, ChairmanPoo.

Back on the subject of technology and whether it has made modern politics worse, let's do a quick comparison of the Watergate break-in to the 2016 hacks of the DNC and Podesta's email:

Watergate, where the Committee to Re-elect the President broke into the DNC twice, and was caught the second time, leading eventually to the fall of Nixon and a bunch of people close to him:

Two phones inside the offices of the DNC headquarters were said to have been wiretapped.[19] One was the phone of Robert Spencer Oliver, who at the time was working as the executive director of the Association of State Democratic Chairmen, and the other was the phone of DNC secretary Larry O'Brien.[20] The FBI found no evidence that O'Brien's phone was bugged.[21] However, it was determined that an effective listening device had been installed in Oliver's phone.[22]
Despite the success in installing the listening devices, the Committee agents soon determined that they needed to be repaired.[22] They planned a second "burglary" in order to take care of this.[22]
Shortly after midnight on June 17, 1972, Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate Complex, noticed tape covering the latches on some of the doors in the complex leading from the underground parking garage to several offices (allowing the doors to close but remain unlocked). He removed the tape, and thought nothing of it. He returned an hour later and, having discovered that someone had retaped the locks, Wills called the police. Five men were discovered inside the DNC office and arrested.[17] They were Virgilio González, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis, who were charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. On September 15, a grand jury indicted them, as well as Hunt and Liddy,[23] for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The five burglars who broke into the office were tried by a jury, Judge John Sirica officiating, and were convicted on January 30, 1973.[24]

Had they been successful, they would have recorded future conversations on the tapped phones. When breaking in, they could also have photographed documents. They were, of course, caught because they were physically present.

Compare that to the hacking of the DNC and John Podesta's email in the 2016 election:

On December 9, 2016, the CIA told U.S. legislators the U.S. Intelligence Community concluded Russia conducted the cyberattacks and other operations during the 2016 U.S. election to assist Donald Trump in winning the presidency.[6] Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that specific individuals tied to the Russian government provided WikiLeaks with the stolen emails from the DNC, as well as stolen emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, who was also the target of a cyberattack.[6] These intelligence organizations additionally concluded Russia hacked the Republican National Committee (R.N.C.) as well as the D.N.C. — and chose not to leak information obtained from the R.N.C.[7]

Another nation-state, on the other side of the world, breaks in electronically, to steal past communications, and catch future ones as well, in order to leak them to damage one party's chances in the election, to elect a candidate preferred by that nation-state. There is no chance of their operatives being captured, arrested, or sent to prison because they likely never even had to leave Russia.

They are similar, in ways, but they are also different. In both cases someone is trying to acquire intelligence on an "enemy," in order to use it against them in some way. But it's far easier to do now, far harder to detect and defend against, doesn't require the attacker to actually be where they're attacking, and they can likely grab a whole lot more information, a whole lot more easily. They can also more easily access all past communications as well, whereas that was impossible with wiretapping - digital communications like email and text messages have a tendency to be recorded and stick around in case you want to refresh your memory. Phone conversations and in-person conversations aren't like that. Of course you can use software that Mission Impossibles your messages, like snapchat (I have not used snapchat personally), if you trust that it's actually deleted on the servers.

Certainly Watergate proves that this sort of thing happened before, but you can also see how advancing technology has resulted in a quantum leap in the effectiveness of attackers who want to steal information from other organizations. Technology has made this problem worse.

[CABL]

It seems that this universe hates my eyes. There's no day in my life where I don't get dust or eyebrow in my eye(s), it's like a running gag.

[Loud Whispers]

It seems that this universe hates my eyes. There's no day in my life where I don't get dust or eyebrow in my eye(s), it's like a running gag.

There was a phase in my life where that could be accurate to me, now not so much. Before however I was plagued with many bizarre occurrences that all ended with the injury of my eye, ranging from people accidentally striking it, opening doors into it, flying missiles and one particularly ridiculous case where someone let go of a rope and it swung across a room and into my eye

[Transcendant]

My parents are upset because my siblings are jerks. Of course I am the one who gets yelled at.

Also, Truean may be gone and used to help me out with games and stuff. Shit. Hopefully she'll respond to a PM.

[SalmonGod]

So I had an interesting night out Uber'ing.  Posting in the sad thread, because I'm not sure where it really fits.  Probably more WTF material, really...

Spoiler: The story... in as much detail as I can put together from memory (click to show/hide)

I stop in front of the Hyatt in Indianapolis to pick up a Greg.  I turn my flashers on and wait... send a couple texts letting them know where I'm waiting, and asking if I should pull around to a different exit.  I wait... for at least 10 minutes... and then the guy finally comes and tells me he'll be right back.  He just needs to run back in and get his girlfriend, who is currently coming down the elevator.  I wait about another 15 minutes before they both show up and get in. 

The girl seems super paranoid about me.  Makes a big deal about comparing me to my profile picture.  Ok... so she's not comfortable with Uber.  Probably heard some bad stories or something, and she seems like a tense sort of person to begin with.  No big deal.

Their destination is a good 35 min away, easy route, and taking me to a good area.  They're already talking about tips.  So totally worth the wait and the weirdness.  This is easily a $20-$30 trip for an hour's time, which is very good.

We're driving, and the girl asks me a couple times to go back to the hotel.  Says she's scared.  Tells her boyfriend she's scared and doesn't want to go.  Guy insists that they're going to stick with 'the plan', he's there, and everything is going to be fine.  I'm a bit nervous about this, but I have plenty of time to listen to their conversation and get a better idea of what's going on.  No reason to abandon yet.  When she calls a friend and begs them to stay on the phone with her while she's there so that they'll know if something happens to her, I'm a bit more concerned.  But it's not too long before I'm pretty sure that her boyfriend is just taking her to meet someone she doesn't know, and she directly explains at one point that she has really bad anxiety issues and doesn't trust people.  She even asks me if I have any anxiety medication, because she really needs it.  She also asks vague questions at a couple points, probing for any kind of conspiratorial kind of set-up between me and Greg.  So it makes sense that she just has major paranoia and anxiety issues, and I'm kinda concerned but not like in an 'omg what am I getting into' sorta way.  More like paying close attention and building concern for this girl.

I have a big bag of root beer flavored hard candies I got as a white elephant gift, and ask her if that would help her out at all.  That seems to go a long way.  She calms down and I get a bit more trusting and appreciative vibe from her.  We get some casual conversation in, and they're nice people.  We wrestle with trying to get her phone connected to my car's bluetooth, because she wants to play some of her music.  We can't get it to work.

And then we get there.  They ask if I'll stick around.  They say they'll be inside for 10-15 minutes, and then want to be taken back to their hotel.  I tell them it's no problem, I'll just leave the trip running.  They promise a big tip.  I'm very optimistic.  I've had passengers do stuff like this before, and it typically works out really well.

The guy goes inside and the girl stays in the car.  She gets out a notebook and starts looking for a pen.  I don't have one to offer her.  After a couple minutes, Greg comes back out with this extremely grumpy looking old man.  Old man opens the door and grimaces at her very aggressively -- "Don't you think it would be polite to come inside!!".  She explains she was going to write him a lovely note instead.  Greg implores her to come inside.  She finally gathers up the courage to go inside.

So... this is where things get really weird.  At this point, I'm waiting for about two hours.  And the situation these people are in seems to heavily devolve.  Each comes back out to the car alone a couple times, progressively more upset. 

Greg is obviously frustrated, but he's also a very calm and collected sort of guy.  He's just apologetic, promises a big tip, says his girlfriend will come back out soon and we'll go.  He makes some casual conversation, and we listen to a bit of music at one point.

The grumpy old man comes out at one point and asks me about payment for my wait time and the trip back.  Says he doesn't understand this Uber thing.  He's flashing cash at me.  I tell him it's no big deal.  If he wants to just pay me in cash, I'll stop the trip running and we can do things that way.  He's satisfied with this and goes back inside.

When the girl comes back out to the car, she is an absolute mess.  This old man apparently owes them money for something, and he's not paying.  They're living out of a hotel right now and have nothing if this guy doesn't pay them.  She's speaks vaguely about Greg betraying her.  At one point she asks me aggressively "Did you know about this?!?!"  Repeats the question a few times.  I insist that I don't know anything about what's going on.  But I can tell that they need someone patient and understanding to be there for them right now, so I'm waiting.  She responds gratefully to this.

The guy seems like he's confident and can take care of himself.  But this girl is in a panic, and I'm worried.  More and more just trying to think of ways to help than worrying about getting paid.

After about two hours, all three come outside.  The grumpy old man asks me what I want for my wait.  I'm like "Well, I'm not sure... umm.."  He hands me a bill and says, "Here I think this is a $20".  It's actually a $10.  He totally ignores me, already walking away when I say so.  I'm not going to fight about it.  I'm not too worried about the money at this point, and I have no idea what kind of shady situation I'm tangentially involved in right now.  Greg starts arguing with the guy, and all I can hear is the grumpy old man say "No I'm not paying him any more!!"

So Greg and his girlfriend both get in the car.  There's a lot of things said and it's all very vague.  Girl accuses Greg repeatedly of betraying her.  Apparently Greg was paid part of what he was promised, while the girl wasn't paid any of her share.  She forces him to go argue with the old man some more, and he reluctantly goes and takes another shot at it.  She says something about maybe being dropped off at a separate location and parting ways with Greg.  Shortly after, she goes back in, too.  More waiting.

After a while, they both come back out.  Greg hands me a $100 bill.  The girl freaks out, asking how he can do that and whether this is him "buying her out"  (I assume this means securing my favor in whatever disagreements they have about what they want me to do from here)  I tell him I don't want to take this unless he's sure he can afford it.  It seems like they're in some serious trouble and I'm worried about them.  As we're talking, the girl continually interjects, asking me to "Please just drive."  So I start driving, and agree to stop at a gas station, where he can make change.  We stop somewhere, and he gives me $40.  I tell him that's perfect.  We start heading back towards downtown Indianapolis, where their hotel is.

As we're going, the girl calls the Grumpy Old Man several times, begging for the money she was promised, talking about how screwed she is, and how he can do this to her.  She sounds like she's in tears, but not openly sobbing.  When she finally gives up, she starts telling me about how she wants to be let off somewhere.  It's well below freezing outside.  She has nothing and nowhere to go.  And we're driving through really sketchy areas after 1 am.  So I stall on this as much as I can.  Try to buy time for her to think about what she wants to do, before she forces me to allow her to do something reckless.  I make offers to do various things like dropping Greg off at the hotel and then taking her somewhere else or even just talking to try and figure something out together. 

Every time, she refuses, and then goes back to arguing with Greg.  She's convinced that Greg has betrayed her.  Keeps bringing up details about things he's done that make her suspicious.  Doesn't understand why he got paid and she didn't.  Says if it's not about the money, then he should give her the $450 he has now to prove it.  He says he won't unless she agrees to come back to the hotel with him.  And if she doesn't, then he's done with her and leaving for good.  He brings up all the recent times that she's hit him, and got him into trouble by not communicating.  How she's the one who brought him into this situation.  Apparently she was the one who knew this old man, and Greg was operating blind through this whole thing.  They were supposed to bring a few different items, and she can't get her story straight on exactly what he was supposed to bring.  She pressures him repeatedly on why he didn't force the old man to pay up or didn't stick up for her, and at one point he includes a "I'm not trying to get myself killed" in his response.  It sounds like they're engaged (many references to her ring), and flew in 2 days ago from out of state.  They mention the airport several times.  I offer to drop the girl off at or anywhere near the airport, because I live right next to it.  She refuses.

So I don't know what to believe.  The girl seems to have major instability issues.  The guy sounds like he genuinely wants to stay with her.  He's doing his best to be the calm and collected anchor in their relationship, but is at his wit's end.  On the other hand, there's a lot of indicators that he's not being completely honest with her about this situation, either.  And they're clearly involved in some shady shit.

And I'm listening to this for a good 30 minutes, digesting the choice between dropping her back off at the hotel with this guy against her wishes, when she's making it abundantly clear that she doesn't feel safe with him.  Or dropping her off at some random location to face high likelihood of hypothermia and/or mugging.

In the end, I stall on the subject long enough to drop her off at a gas station that's an acceptable walking distance from downtown and their hotel, and should be relatively safe.  The guy jumps out, too, and the girl doesn't protest this.  So it seems to me there's nothing more I can do.  They both express extreme gratitude for how caring I've been throughout the night.  The guy asks if the money was fair, and I assure him that it was.  In truth, I probably made a bit more than I would have normally  ($94 in 5 hours).  They check quickly that they didn't leave anything, and head inside the gas station.

And I spend the rest of the night going over this whole situation repeatedly in my head, wondering if there's anything I should have done differently, keeping my extreme distrust of police in mind (especially as concerns potential presence of drugs or domestic disagreements with an unstable person -- worst possible situations for police to be involved in).  I also take a quick look in the back seat and find a ziploc bag.  Empty, but I throw it out the window as I'm driving home anyway.  Because fuck that don't want it anywhere near me.

wtf was this night

I should probably look up women's shelters in the area.

[DF_Silvestre]

There should be a separate thread for that stuff. It's actually pretty weird/wtf-y. Assuming that actually happened to you.

[Dozebôm Lolumzalěs]

There should be a separate thread for that stuff. It's actually pretty weird/wtf-y. Assuming that actually happened to you.

It's called the WTF thread.

[Tiruin]

Also, Truean may be gone and used to help me out with games and stuff. Shit. Hopefully she'll respond to a PM.

She's still there (she sent a nice PM to me, I'm sending a PM back)
Stuff can appear tense though :O It'll be nice if folks didn't nitpick her statements at times. (regardless of her tone, send a polite response instead) Even if it's political in tone or impression, the theme is listening and mutual speaking; her goal (moreso towards discussion rather than declamation or anything otherwise) Most times, it's best to respond in a way you'd like to be responded to too. What I could get is that if there was anything anyone has curious about her--make it personal than making it public.

Like talking/asking about why not to be quoted rather than dissecting it. o_O (Yep, it was done, but still It may broach context unspoken unless better asked first)
...What's "a" Greg? Isn't that a proper noun/name? ._. I think I'm missing slang. (Online searching doesn't help much...but I think it's a localized term since I heard something like that before)

[Dozebôm Lolumzalěs]

"I encountered a Mister Johnson." is equivalent to "I encountered a person by the name of Mister Johnson."

[SalmonGod]

The guy's name was Greg.  The girl's name was Ashley.  The grumpy old man's name was Mickey.  No slang.  I didn't use the other two's names throughout the story, because I didn't learn them until near the end of the whole ordeal.  They were just a girl and a grumpy old man to me through most of the night.  Keeping that aspect of the story helped emphasize how barely involved and clueless I was about the whole situation, yet having to make a decisions about what I was going to do with these two.

And yeah, it really happened.  Wrote up the story as soon as I got home, before I could forget it all.  I chose the sad thread, because of the sense of uncertainty it left me with about how I'd handled the whole thing.

[Rolan7]

I really want to stop being compulsively late to things.  Maybe if I go to more things more often, I'll figure out how to break the habit.