# Thoughts about public awareness of preps...



## homeschoolmomma (Jul 12, 2012)

So, I'm still pretty new here. I've been prepping for about a year and only recently has my husband joined in since seeing how much our country is falling apart...he's a bit slow. But whole heartily on board. 

We share our political beliefs with friends and family, hoping to win some over and open their eyes. And it's worked more than not. Yay!!! 

But, here's our situation....we are wanting to move out of our town and build a small home on a 40 acre ranch and become self sufficient. We want to share our experiences and bloopers (Im sure) with others thru a blog and YouTube channel. We don't have much experience (at all) and want to show others that if we can do it so can they, plus it's a great learning experience for all of us, including our children.

I feel a tug in my stomach tho. 
...I keep all knowledge of my preps to a minimum and even being on this board is out of my comfort zone. On one hand - No body needs to know squat about our household, on the other - I wish I had someone I could look up to and learn from in this area.

What's your opinion? Would you advertise it if it could help even just one family? Or would you keep your mouth shut because privacy stands above all?

I'm not sure if I feel this way because it's wrong or because my 'comfort zone' is just so damn comfortable


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## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

The idea is a cool one. If you were to have a blog I am certain I would check it out and if it were good I would be tuning in each day/week to find out what happened.

On the other hand if secrecy is essential then you may not want to. There are lots of things you could do to hide your location and identity but every little bit you put out there builds up to create a "profile" of sorts. 

For fun I have researched folks that I knew little about. Maybe I knew a screen name and an interest and a general geographical location and if there is enough posted on the net I could get actual names, locations, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Just be careful about the info you put out there because it can be tied together by fairly unsophisticated means.


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## homeschoolmomma (Jul 12, 2012)

Ok Ant, you have made this turtle head pop into its shell again with your story about finding people...

I think I already know what my answer is but it would be such an amazing adventure! Ugggh 

So, the question is would YOU do it? Knowing everything thats on the line, in addition to feeling the need to help and teach, both outsiders and precious children at home..Where would you stand?


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## SierraM37 (Nov 2, 2008)

Just to reinforce Ant's comments about what they find out and track about you, this article will reinforce your turtle syndrome.

http://rt.com/usa/news/nsa-whistleblower-binney-drake-978/


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## CapnJack (Jul 20, 2012)

I wouldn't. I try to keep what I post on the net limited. I'll tell you what state I'm in, but that's it. I'll tell you my name, but it will be a false one. I will post pics of my provisions, but not where they are located. I don't see much of an issue with sharing bits and pieces with like-minded individuals, but I will never disclose my full plans, or where I live. It's not that I don't trust the people *here*, I just don't trust _the people._


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

I would say that if you have already found yourself here, its probably a little late to worry about your privacy. 'They' already know about you. I would also add that its probably more important to worry about 'the people' if it comes to SHTF, because if the man wants to come for you theres not gonna be much you can do about it.

And Ant, stop stalking me.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

homeschoolmomma said:


> So, I'm still pretty new here. I've been prepping for about a year and only recently has my husband joined in since seeing how much our country is falling apart...he's a bit slow. But whole heartily on board.
> 
> We share our political beliefs with friends and family, hoping to win some over and open their eyes. And it's worked more than not. Yay!!!
> 
> ...


I'd have a blog but I would do as much as possible to remain anonymous. It's safer that way.


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## homeschoolmomma (Jul 12, 2012)

Although it sounds like a fun adventure I think I'll remain in hiding. Maybe a new handle for me will be 'theturtle'.

It seems like there's a fine line between living and preparing. Ive always been an open book but with age I'm learning to keep my mouth shut. Gut instincts are there for a reason - right? I'm just naturally drawn to teach I guess....hence my current name in this board. 

Oh and CapnJack ... I'll assume Jack isn't your real name. Hahaha


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## CapnJack (Jul 20, 2012)

homeschoolmomma said:


> Oh and CapnJack ... I'll assume Jack isn't your real name. Hahaha


No comment


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

Remember OPSEC. When the hungry masses and roving bandits start spreading out, they will look for your place if they knew you had provisions.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

TheAnt said:


> The idea is a cool one. If you were to have a blog I am certain I would check it out and if it were good I would be tuning in each day/week to find out what happened.
> 
> On the other hand if secrecy is essential then you may not want to. There are lots of things you could do to hide your location and identity but every little bit you put out there builds up to create a "profile" of sorts.
> 
> *For fun I have researched folks that I knew little about. Maybe I knew a screen name and an interest and a general geographical location and if there is enough posted on the net I could get actual names, locations, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Just be careful about the info you put out there because it can be tied together by fairly unsophisticated means.*




Ditto;

My wife's hobby is researching people and she doesn't need much info to get started. Within an hour she can find out almost everything about someone. If my wife can do this, think about what a professional can do. I'm very confidant that multiple people out there know every ones real name on this forum, where they live, what they drive, etc.

Pull up every post that some one has made on this forum, read through them and pick out anything that identifies them and piece it all together. Just from this info you will know allot, and this is before you start researching on the internet.

I'm not paranoid, well maybe!?


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Tweto said:


> Pull up every post that some one has made on this forum, read through them and pick out anything that identifies them and piece it all together.


 Just don't start with mine! It would take a while! 

A goal to 'teach' is a noble one but it does expose a lot about the teacher in a case like this. My husband and I each kept a blog about our life here at our off-grid homestead, mostly for family and friends scattered around the country. I didn't realize random strangers were reading it until some of them started contacting me. I'm not dumb, I knew they _could_ find it and read it, but I didn't have any tags or search words and figured it would be pretty much invisible. Hah!


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## Bobbb (Jan 7, 2012)

ContinualHarvest said:


> Remember OPSEC. When the hungry masses and roving bandits start spreading out, they will look for your place if they knew you had provisions.


I think that the issue posed by the OP should be analyzed in a sequential manner.

What you presented here was a cause and effect that are very closely linked in terms of time, by which I mean it reads like this - I'm hungry and roving so I better sit down at a computer, fire up google and youtube and search out some preppers and then track them down. This hungry and roving person is not going to sit down and play detective when they're on the move and looking for food.

The point here is that one has to worry about these "detectives" if they start trying to discover your particulars while society is still functioning normally. For this type of individual a question arises - if they are seeing the writing on the wall in terms of coming collapse and are willing to invest the time to uncloak anonymous people on the internet from all over the world who are preppers, then WHY WOULD THEY BE DOING THIS INSTEAD OF STOCKPILING FOR THEMSELVES?

From where I'm sitting if I have 50 spare hours of time, would I rather go to the grocery store and buy more food or go to the gunshop and buy a firearm or would I randomly try to uncloak preppers who may be near and who may be far - what good does it do me to find a prepper in Newfoundland if I'm living in San Diego? Now onto the next anonymous prepper I find and after all the work I discover that he lives in Michigan. And so on.

The only people that the OP has to worry about are a very, very small set of irrational decision makers who, seeing the coming collapse, choose to play internet detective as a survival strategy instead of taking direct action to prepare.

I wouldn't worry about those folks, AT ALL. I'd encourage the sharing of information so long as identifying info is not made public.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Bobbb said:


> The point here is that one has to worry about these "detectives" if they start trying to discover your particulars while society is still functioning normally. For this type of individual a question arises - if they are seeing the writing on the wall in terms of coming collapse and are willing to invest the time to uncloak anonymous people on the internet from all over the world who are preppers, then WHY WOULD THEY BE DOING THIS INSTEAD OF STOCKPILING FOR THEMSELVES?


There could be several answers to that question:

They have no money to buy extras.

They live on a computer in mom and dads basement with lots of time at their disposal.

They consider themselves Rambo.

They have the mentality of most teens and 20 something's and feel they are invincible.

The list could go on but hopefully you get the point.


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## Bobbb (Jan 7, 2012)

UncleJoe said:


> There could be several answers to that question:
> 
> They have no money to buy extras.
> 
> ...


The central point remains though - when someone is hungry and scrounging around for food and water, it's extremely unlikely that they're going to stop that searching in order to fire up google.

Secondly, even if they are so inclined, with society on it's knees, Google and Youtube are not natural wonders like the Rocky Mountains, they're services provided by people, same as Internet Service Providers which provide the means to access Google. If society is splintering, how likely is it that everyone in society is still going to go to their job every morning, including ISP, Google and Youtube employees?

So to the degree that there are these amateur internet detectives out there, and from within that group, to the degree that some of these are going to use the information they uncover to hunt you down, we're still left with the time lag - the hunting kind of interent sleuth has to uncover your information long before society is in its death throes - he has to have the insight to find you, and all of us, before society as a whole has an inkling that the whole foundations of society are about to crumble. I just see that as a far-fetched chain of events.


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## Tank_Girl (Dec 26, 2011)

I think when the SHTF those sorts people will join the mobs of looters that invariably rise up during civil unrest and they will hit the grocery stores...the Wal-marts, mom & pop corner stores etc. as the logical place to get food.
People in a panic will go for the easiest most obvious targets first.

Bunker down, stay low and don't draw any undue attention to yourself and if needs be ensure that you are able to remove any blog or youtube clip at a click of a mouse if that helps maintain your comfort levels.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Bobbb said:


> the hunting kind of interent sleuth *has to uncover your information long before society is in its death throes* - he has to have the insight to find you, and all of us


Such as a time like...right now, which is exactly my point.

Take someone with a swelled head, lots of time and a computer and they'll find plenty of sources for supplies for future gathering.


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## Bobbb (Jan 7, 2012)

UncleJoe said:


> Such as a time like...right now, which is exactly my point.
> 
> Take someone with a swelled head, lots of time and a computer and they'll find plenty of sources for supplies for future gathering.


I'm not disagreeing with you that this COULD happen. I'm disagreeing that this WOULD happen.

For someone out there to be currently doing a whole bunch of sleuthing, putting together a file on every prepper he uncovers and then building a map to BOLs that he's discovered and all the while completely ignoring making any preparations on his own for his own survival simply doesn't ring true to me.

My view of human nature leads to me to the position that someone who has enough moxy to plan for future disaster is going to take more concrete steps to secure his own survival, steps exactly like we here are taking and won't be putting his chips on the plan of building a prepper map which can guide his future looting and assault plans.

The people who plan on looting and assaulting are the people who don't invest in future planning - they just have a rough idea that they'll steal what they need when the time comes. That being the case, their lack of interest in planning for the future likely means that they're not investing time now in building a prepper map of targets that they plan to loot at some future undetermined time.

Lot's of things in the Universe CAN happen, but most of them DON'T happen.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

You smoke a lot of pot before you post don't you?

Stop it.it messes up your judgement.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Bobbb said:


> Lot's of things in the Universe CAN happen, but most of them DON'T happen.


Over 460,000,000 people in the US, Canada and Mexico. If just 2% read preparedness/survivalist forums and blogs, that's still 9,200,000 people. If you feel that there aren't at least tens of thousands out there with their own best interests in mind; who would take the time to dig into possible future resources before the balloon goes up, then I'll leave you to your naivete and agree to disagree.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

I'm with Joe (and almost everybody else) on this one. I see it as completely feasable that somebody out there is stockpiling lists of locations and names of people who might have provisions on hand post-SHTF. These people might envision themselves as some kind of ToeCutter type leader and his maps might just lead him to enough supplies that he could become a leader of starving masses of very dangerous people.

I do use some social media, as do others on this forum, but I limit it. I'm not one to say "Hey we just bought a new TV and a shotgun, too bad we can't use them because we'll be out of town for two weeks." I write about how nice the trip was once we're back home.

I don't trust humanity as a whole. There are millions of good people out there, but an hour in a WalMart or a mall tells me there is also much to fear if something bad happens.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Want an example?? In the hallway of the VAMC was a man waiting for his prescription just like me and dh; they wouldn't let me make the pickup, because I had dh's license, not mine, and wasn't going to walk again to the parking lot to get mine cause they needed MY license for the pickup if it was my signature.
Dh secured the drugs, and the man walked up to us and asked us what part of Ky we are from???
Say what?? He had read it on dh's license!!!! Yes, he did.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*The last eight years*



Tweto said:


> [/B]
> 
> Ditto;
> 
> ...


The last eight years before I retired, I ran a PI company that specialized in repossession of assets. I made a living finding people who did not want to be located and taking their vehicles when they did not want to give them up.

You cannot hide from a proffesional in the USA. There is just too much info out there and too many people who don't mind telling where you are and what you are doing. The best sorce was an ex-wife. Even though she hated her ex's guts and never wanted to see him again, she always knew where he was and who he was with. But, don't panic . Most of the people you would have to worry about are not able to find out who you are or where you are and people like me are not going to look for you. Just worry about the relitives and aquaintances you have told too much to. you will have to worry about them.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Watch out*



JayJay said:


> Want an example?? In the hallway of the VAMC was a man waiting for his prescription just like me and dh; they wouldn't let me make the pickup, because I had dh's license, not mine, and wasn't going to walk again to the parking lot to get mine cause they needed MY license for the pickup if it was my signature.
> Dh secured the drugs, and the man walked up to us and asked us what part of Ky we are from???
> Say what?? He had read it on dh's license!!!! Yes, he did.


Jay Jay, I know your DH is recouping from surgery.

There are addicts that hang out in pharmacys and watch to see what pain meds people get. Then they will try to follow them home or obtain their address to come later and rob you or burglarize you for the medications.

You need to be very carful who is standing behind you when you fill your RX.

That is why the "Wait here line is roped off at Walmart.


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