Be careful what you put in threads!

The green star just means an unread by you post. The asterisk * is what you look for. I will reiterate tho, that anything posted on the web can be read by anyone with the skill and will to do so. Not even the pentagon has a safe site.

Farmerdill,

Your post impressed me and raised a question. Could you log out of DG and still hack your way into a non public DG forum?

Or were you just referring to the so-called pro hackers?

There are still kids, who can hack most any site. There are also pros, who will do it for profit. Since there are now penalties when caught, the numbers have dwindled because it is very time consuming as well as dangerous. Some people like to live on the edge. I could not do it today, because I have not played with codes since the heyday of the Atari . Identity theff is still a problem on the web and that seems to be the primary goal of present day.

Well said.

DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;)

Since I tend not to be too paranoid and since nobody would want to steal my identity...I think its pretty safe here in Dave's little corner of the world.
;) Debbie

Sidney.... LOL

With my lack of finances and abundance of kids, I don't think anyone is stupid enought to WANT to be me. I just lucked into it. LOL

You do know that it really doesn't matter if you haven't much money? Generally, they are just increasing your debt and ruining your credit rating.
I assume you're joking.

I still think any identity thief with a lick of sense could find a much more fruitful target than me.

dmj, I reread my post and realize that it could sound like I was being sarcastic. I wasn't.

LOL I was just being a smarty pants. :)

Dave--
I didn't take it the wrong way--takes a lot to rattle me.

But I am serious when I say I know they won't be stealing my identity.
Debbie

I am not comfortable posting in the public forums so I took the 4 I was using off my favorites list. This way I have to go to GardenTalk to access them, so I always know which I'm willing to post on. I do request the Northeast Regional and the Invasives forum be changed to not public if possible. Until then I will watch but not post .

I am just wondering why I pay $15 per year to read things that other people can read for free. I don't mine paying it but I think it should give me the right to read things that other people can't. That is just my opinion.

Jesse

Here's why I pay $15 a year.

Over half of the forums here are subscriber only so members do not have the ability to read everything nor have access to the benefits enjoyed by myself over the past several years. The benefits for me have been numerous:

No advertising

Unlimited use of searching in PlantFiles

Participation in co-ops

Participation in Chat room

For instance, in Vegetable Gardening, I've learned how to do straw bale gardening this year. I've probably learned more about growing vegetables from Farmerdill and Horseshoe than any other place I can imagine - real life done it themselves daily advice.

In Parking Lot, I've met people from all over the world that members would not have access to. They've shared their lives and their plants and their families with me :)

In Recipes, wow, how many great cooks there are on that forum; all eager to share advice and cooking experiences.

In this Forum we're on now; I've learned from dave how the site gets managed and when new technology is put into place - you're really a part of things! You get a chance to participate in the Banners - yippeee I had one for Spring :)

I am careful about where I post and what I post, but that's something we have to be mindful of everywhere.

I'm not financially stretched at the moment, but sure have been at times in our life. But seriously, if I were stretched right now, I'd still keep a little jar on my kitchen counter and every day, I'd throw one nickel into it. At the end of every year I'd have enough to buy another years subscription and a couple bucks left over for postage :)

Best value in cyberspace - less than a nickel a day !

Anyway, those are some reasons I pay the subscription fee happily :)

Dea

Jesse, subscribing does give you the right to read things that others can't--there are a couple forums that are totally closed to non-subscribers, and many more where all a non-subscriber can do is read the first post of a thread but not any of the responses. I think there are enough forums like that to make it worth the money, not to mention the unlimited access to Plant Files, etc. I guess if the only forums you have an interest in are the ones that are public then maybe it is a waste of money, but there are enough subscriber forums out there that I think most people here would feel they get their money's worth.

Subscribers also have the option of turning off all ads; non-subscribers don't. So even those who participate in the free forums may find a nickle a day is worth it for the other benefits mentioned above, as well as the ability to enjoy their free forums ad-free as well.

I'm a new subscriber and wonder now why I didn't join sooner! In a short time, I feel I've already gotten my money's worth...for many of the reasons Dea stated. As a novice gardener, I have already learned a lot from DG members; and it's more fun than using a textbook. I've also discovered a couple of people whose writing I enjoy (one has a blog), and that's been an unexpected and pleasant bonus. I've been so enthusiastic about DG that one of my non-gardening friends is probably going to join just so she can take advantage of the varied forums. By the way, as a newbie, I don't know what the Banners are, so if Dea or someone could please explain....Thanks!

bivbiv, DG'er Paulwhwest has managed some contests for the photo banners that you see up top - usually in the Photo Forum; here's the one about the Spring Bannner http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/571302/

DG'er GardenGuyKin won both the Gardening and Home Banners for this summer that we're all enjoying now - great photos both !!

When I started this thread it's title was just "be careful". I still intend to participate in the PNW forum and other public forums, but if I want to share something personal or that could identify me to the public I'll use Dmail. Common sense and caution should suffice to keep personal information as private as anyone can in the WWW.

Thanks for the explanation, Dea. Banner contests...just one more fun thing on DG.

Dea did a wonderul job of describing the benefits of membership in Daves Garden. So much so that I almost feel like sending in another $15!

But here's a suggestion. Now that you have already had a taste of the Garden, log out and see what you can and cannot do as a non-member. Maybe it would be just as informative for some folks, who would then know if they should re-up when their time is due. Maybe you wouldn't really miss the closed forums, etc. Might be a good idea.

Dave's Garden has 234,202 members as of last check. To think that every one of us is a lovely person is very naive.

That said, i think there are easier ways to target a person for what ever nefarious purpose one might have. I have posted somewhat "personal" information and feel fine with it.

Melissa

I joined because I wanted to be able to see more than the first posting in a thread, and I wanted to see full-size photos. I have a friend (not a subscriber) who saw a question about tomatoes and, knowing I'm a subscriber, emailed me...asking what the answer was. It would be easier for her if she joined, doncha think? And I'm sure her tomatoes would appreciate it! :)

Way to go bivbiv !

Its only $15. Its a great deal. I assume,not only from DG but other sites, that it makes good sense to let nonsubscribers see some stuff to entice them to be members. I assume that's why Dave does it. Personally, I would be glad to pay the $15 just to support DG even if non-subscribers could see what I can. But they can't, so I don't think it is a financial issue.

As a security issue, you should be equally concerned about the 234,000 members as the non-members. Its the internet and its public. Be careful (or not) but membership won't protect you.
Dave

I think that when I became a subscribor non-subscribors could not read past the firsts posts. So when I found out that they could read some of them I over reacted. Maybe I just don't go to the ones that non-subscribors go to so that is what sort of "shocked" me. One of the main reasons that I joined was so that I could see the full size photos. That has been very helpful for me. I also wanted to read past the first entry. And I guess a great bonus is no ads. So with all of that said, I will always be a subscribor. As somone else mentioned, this is much better than any text book that we could read.

Jesse

I just love being a member here and YES it is better then any textbook and if we were all part of a text book, can you just imagine how BIG this text book would be....LOL

When i renewed my membership this past year i did it for 3 yrs...so i have lots and lots of stuff still to learn


Char

I'm a new member. I took the $5 membership just to see if I liked it first. I love it and will purchase a new membership. For me personally, there was just way too much that I was excluded from on the free membership. There are alot of forums that are closed to non members.

audrey,

Welcome to Daves, I to just loved it and could not live without Daves for one day...This is the 1st thing i do in the morning, then i get my diet dr pepper....this past year when my membership was up i went ahead and renewed it for 3 yrs, just so it is not interrupted..hehehe

Anyways, you will find a wealth of knowlegable people here ( some of us don't know how to spell, though ;), but know alot about plants, etc...)


Char

TMI, LOL!!

It's good to know Princess has her priorities in the right order! LOL w/u

I just logged out to see if it would work. It did. Then I thought...oops, what is my password here. Luckily I remembered after all these years of being logged in automatically. It helps to use passwords that are somehow related to the site in your own personal way. LOL
I wonder how many passwords a mind is capable of remembering. I have so many places and so many numbers in my head that it is probably the reason there is no more room up there to remember why I walked into another room of the house to do something. lol
Maybe their should be a new syndrome called Internet Password brain overload short term memory loss.

Yeah i know my priorities when it comes to gardening ....lol


char

Yes I agree. I had to create a new account with Park's today because I could not remember my password. So.... I'm going to make up one and change them all if possible. I can never remember most of them.

Jesse

I have a little black book with all my usernames and passwords written in it. It's all too much for my brain to handle! LOL

I've heard it's not good to have the same password for everything. Guru Dave would know if that's true. It seems to me that it would be wise to have different ones.

Well my DH says the same thing but he remembers all of his. But he says if you want to have the same one for everything, make sure you use some caps, some lower case, a couple of numbers and a symbol.

Jesse

I thought most things were no longer case sensitive.