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  • How much info is too much?

    I understand that you're not supposed to post where you work, in case your employer reads the thread. On the other hand, if it's a "sightings" type thread, saying "I saw this while shopping at WalMart" is mostly harmless. How much detail in a "sightings" type thread is too much from an "outing" viewpoint?

    I'd imagine that saying "A driver for Prime did $stupid_thing at the TA" (Prime is a large trucking company, TA is one of the 3 biggest truck stop chains in the U.S.) is vague enough that even if their employer were reading the thread they wouldn't be able to identify the driver (on any given day, dozens of their trucks would have been at a TA somewhere).

    Saying "The driver of Challenger Motor Freight tractor 3985 (Note: CMF uses 5-digit unit numbers for their tractors - cookies for where I got this specific unit number) did $stupid_thing at the 49er truck stop in Sacramento", even without the unit number, would almost certainly be "outing" the driver (to the best of my knowledge, it is VERY rare for a CMF truck to be in California).

    Is there a defined point for how much information would be considered "outing" someone in a "sightings" type situation, or is it strictly a judgement call?
    Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

  • #2
    Quoth wolfie View Post
    Saying "The driver of Challenger Motor Freight tractor 3985 (Note: CMF uses 5-digit unit numbers for their tractors - cookies for where I got this specific unit number) did $stupid_thing at the 49er truck stop in Sacramento", even without the unit number, would almost certainly be "outing" the driver (to the best of my knowledge, it is VERY rare for a CMF truck to be in California).
    Your question has been passed around to the other mods.

    I know that number. It's on a certain 4-6-6-4 steam engine owned by Union Pacific...a "Challenger."
    Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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    • #3
      We talked it over, and the TL;DR consensus is "Use your own judgment." We certainly will, if you catch my drift. As always, if you're ever unsure, PM us and ask. Nobody's going to get into trouble for requesting a 'yea' or 'nay' on something potentially problematic.

      More detail: what we would prefer is something like this: Do not use anybody's actual name nor truck # (please obfuscate it as you did in your example, as usual); names of companies are fine; whether to ID a specific truck stop/other store location (as opposed to the name of the chain, general area such as '___ County') is up to you, but it's better to obfuscate this unless you feel it's really relevant to the story in question.
      Last edited by EricKei; 10-24-2014, 05:43 PM.
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
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      • #4
        Relevant meaning something like, "Ex president Bush ran over a goat today with his car"?

        Ie someone everyone will hear about anyway.
        My Guide to Oblivion

        "I resent the implication that I've gone mad, Sprocket."

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        • #5
          Probably more like this (actual situation - the truck in question was a regular visitor at a shipper that provided a lot of loads for my previous carrier, so I was there fairly often):

          Saw the following when I was picking up a load: a W900 (for non-truckers, that's a Kenworth long-nose conventional tractor) with the unit number 379. Don't know why the trucking company didn't buy a Peterbilt (for non-truckers, the 379 was the Peterbilt "twin" to the W900 - replaced by the 389 when a new generation of emissions equipment was brought in).

          Note the lack of identifying information beyond the truck's model and unit number (no location, no trucking company's name, nothing that the driver did), and the relevance of the unit number is that it was on the wrong brand of tractor.
          Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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          • #6
            Sure. Both of those are fine Consider this an addendum.

            In Tama's example, it's something that is public knowledge/soon-to-be public knowledge of someone who is a public figure (just as long as the OP and any replies keep any actual politics out of it); it's not gonna do any further harm. If it were some random civilian trucker, we'd prefer that the name be disguised or replaced.

            In other words, you can't really "out" someone whose spent much of their life in the public eye. If it's regarding some important personal secret of a public person -- well, many of those types of things belong on Fratching anyway, so that's a moot point.
            Last edited by EricKei; 10-30-2014, 02:49 AM.
            "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
            "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
            "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
            "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
            "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
            "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
            Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
            "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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            • #7
              And if I discover Obama really is King of the Lizard People,sent to enslave us all,I think Fratching won't be my first stop,it'll be a nice live press conference :P
              The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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