It's always bugged me
Why when we post pics of our cars do we disguise/erase the registration Every time you drive on the road or park up somewhere it can be viewed by thousands of people.
You use an alias here so there is no info given unless you volunteer it, so someone please explain

EYorkshire wrote:

It's always bugged me :?
Why when we post pics of our cars do we disguise/erase the registration :?: Every time you drive on the road or park up somewhere it can be viewed by thousands of people.
You use an alias here so there is no info given unless you volunteer it, so someone please explain :thumbsup:

Because some people would rather remain anonymous - rather obvious really .

By giving your real name on a forum you are easily trackable - anybody can find out where you live, and any personal information that is gleaned from your postings could be used in a way that is detrimental to your privacy. Secondly if somebody knows your registration number And where you live your vehicle is easier stolen. Like, see a nice car, fancy that, now I know where it can be picked up .

I can give you an example that I have tried out. A forum member with an alias has posted some photos of his FL2 here on the forum which displayed his registration number. It took me 5 mins to find out what his full name was and where he lived. So if I was a bad guy, that info could be used in some illegal way . 2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

NU59 BOF, I expect my full name and address in 5 minutes

AndyC wrote:

Because some people would rather remain anonymous - rather obvious really .

By giving your real name on a forum you are easily trackable - anybody can find out where you live, and any personal information that is gleaned from your postings could be used in a way that is detrimental to your privacy. Secondly if somebody knows your registration number And where you live your vehicle is easier stolen. Like, see a nice car, fancy that, now I know where it can be picked up .

I can give you an example that I have tried out. A forum member with an alias has posted some photos of his FL2 here on the forum which displayed his registration number. It took me 5 mins to find out what his full name was and where he lived. So if I was a bad guy, that info could be used in some illegal way .

That just seems a little random to me. So i log on to a forum, trace someones reg number and find he lives 500 miles from where I live .....

I could just as easy sit in a nice residential area and follow any upmarket car I want.

Its all as far as I am concerned. An FL2 is a nice enough car, but it ain't no Ferrari or other exotica!

I could sit in the cafe across from Harrods and have a field day with the exotica that drives by and parks there. Gotta be easier than trawling the car forums .... Chris

EYorkshire wrote:

NU59 BOF, I expect my full name and address in 5 minutes

You shouldn't be so disbelieving EY - I didn't say it was a UK number plate I found in 5 mins. and I don't intend to use my time to find out how, but it is dead easy if you want to find out Mr. E. Yorksire

For us that want to remain anonymous so we will and if you want to advertise youself your welcome to it  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

As for names - well thats pretty easy. If your name is John Smith, there are thousands of people called John Smith, so your name is unlikely to be unique when trying to register on a forum. A unique and memorable id just makes sense. Remembering different id's for different forums coz your real name is already used, is a nightmare.

Would you believe Chris Hughes is a very popular name?
A Chris Hughes once won Mastermind
A Chris Hughes is/was married to Amanda Holden ... hmmm ... now theres a thought .... Chris

Last edited by ttc546 on 23rd Dec 2010 3:51 pm. Edited 1 time in total

I could but I'm tight and so wont be reaching in my pocket to do the search with DVLA!

It's simples really! the more information that someone knows about you the more chance they have of doing something bad such as robbing your car or stealing your identity!

Its amazing how much information about a person can be found on-line without you knowing... For example your IP address can be found and this can lead to alsorts of info..

In short, keep as much info private and the safer you are, a bad guy only needs to get your no. plate, your IP address.. some personal info about you from posts you may have made plus a bit of investigative work and I dare say your identity could be easily stolen and they can be racking up £s and a new credit card you never new about! Freelander 2 TD4 Auto, SE, Narvik Black, Alpaca full leather, Rear Headrest Entertainment System, 6 CD, 18 HSE Wheels, Privicy tints

ttc546 wrote:

AndyC wrote:

Because some people would rather remain anonymous - rather obvious really .

By giving your real name on a forum you are easily trackable - anybody can find out where you live, and any personal information that is gleaned from your postings could be used in a way that is detrimental to your privacy. Secondly if somebody knows your registration number And where you live your vehicle is easier stolen. Like, see a nice car, fancy that, now I know where it can be picked up .

I can give you an example that I have tried out. A forum member with an alias has posted some photos of his FL2 here on the forum which displayed his registration number. It took me 5 mins to find out what his full name was and where he lived. So if I was a bad guy, that info could be used in some illegal way .

That just seems a little random to me. So i log on to a forum, trace someones reg number and find he lives 500 miles from where I live .....

I could just as easy sit in a nice residential area and follow any upmarket car I want.

Its all as far as I am concerned. An FL2 is a nice enough car, but it ain't no Ferrari or other exotica!

I could sit in the cafe across from Harrods and have a field day with the exotica that drives by and parks there. Gotta be easier than trawling the car forums ....

Maybe true but, I believe there has been one forum member who had his house broken into for the FL2 keys, and Freely was gone next day Bolox or not, but that could have been a theft to order
As I said, its up to those that want to advertise and others to be more sensible  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

AndyC wrote:

Maybe true but, I believe there has been one forum member who had his house broken into for the FL2 keys, and Freely was gone next day Bolox or not, but that could have been a theft to order
As I said, its up to those that want to advertise and others to be more sensible

Alias put your real name up like I do At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Personally I don't want my car cloned, they might be able to see it on the street, but why trawl the streets looking when they could have the details off the Internet,

Also at the end of the day my names not Mr Pinks, pinks is a play on a name which goes back to my school days, the n is due to my name nick, hense the npinks user name

I also wouldn't want to broadcast like I see some on here do that you have a remapped, 2T, powered car that's and this that and the other

As a previous forum member found out, either a disgruntled LR dealership that was slagged off or LR themselves read he had a remap and when he had a gearbox problem it was raised and I was asked to remove all references to it, but then if your out of warranty then who cares

All it takes is a note of said registration and the location of member to work it out

A they say big brothers watching Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

chicken george wrote:

Alias put your real name up like I do

Chicken George may refer to:

An ancestor of Alex Haley, popularized both in the book and TV miniseries Roots and played by Ben Vereen
Chicken George (politics), the name for a man costume who shadowed George H. W. Bush through a portion of the 1992 U.S. presidential election
"Chicken" George Boswell, a contestant in the 1st and 7th seasons of the U.S. version of the TV series Big Brother
Nickname of George Lawrence (footballer), who played for Southampton in the 1980s
Nickname of former Zimbabwe Test cricketer Eddo Brandes

So which one are you .. ?  Chris

ttc546 wrote:

chicken george wrote:

Alias put your real name up like I do

Chicken George may refer to:

An ancestor of Alex Haley, popularized both in the book and TV miniseries Roots and played by Ben Vereen
Chicken George (politics), the name for a man costume who shadowed George H. W. Bush through a portion of the 1992 U.S. presidential election
"Chicken" George Boswell, a contestant in the 1st and 7th seasons of the U.S. version of the TV series Big Brother
Nickname of George Lawrence (footballer), who played for Southampton in the 1980s
Nickname of former Zimbabwe Test cricketer Eddo Brandes

So which one are you .. ?

Its all been said before

 2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

I agree on the name being kept from forums, that in itself is a good starter for cross matching but I still don't believe that a registration plate, on a forum in this country can be used more easily than when it is plain to see on the roads.
I also agree that everyone should be careful in what info they give out, on it's own means nothing but get a few details and cross matching can be easy. Especially if you have access to the latest census details in the library, as my wife has.

We all know where CG lives, Google satellite maps and the lane he drives to the village pub photo, there, easily done or drive up the A1, open the window and listen.