Links to Tent Space Threads, Campsite List, and WARNING ABOUT POSTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

Tent Space Map Thread Find inmate hosted camping opportunities on a map.

Tent Space Sign-Up Thread Offer inmate hosted camping opportunities.

The Campsite List Good campsites people have enjoyed.

Posting Personal Information in the Tent Space Thread:

Since 2006 we’ve encouraged people that wish to offer tent space in the Trip Planning sub-forum not to reveal personal information in their tent space offers.

“To offer a Tent Space, simply add a reply to this thread. You should include such things as your location, what kind of digs you can offer, can you help fix a bike or change a tire? Your approximate location will be added to the Tent Space map. Please DO NOT include any personally-identifying information (like street address, phone, or e-mail). City names and postal codes are fine.”

The idea behind this was to help to protect some people that did not recognize the risks of posting personal information on the site. Sometimes people had tunnel vision when they shared information thinking it would only be visible to fellow ADV riders that share their values. They may not clearly understand that this portion of the forum can be viewed by anyone from around the globe even if they are not registered inmates on the site.

We sometimes get reports to let us know that an inmate revealed personal information that might put them at risk. The reports ask us to take down the information and inform the inmate of the risk. We have done that in the past and often received grateful replies from the inmates involved acknowledging that they didn’t recognize the risk when they posted.

The reality is that anyone can harvest personal information that inmates post and use it for their own sometimes nefarious purposes. This could be as simple as adding your e-mail or phone number to various marketing lists or even using your address to target you or your property for a crime. Even one piece of personal information can lead to a search that reveals much more than what you chose to post publicly here.

The practice of asking people to communicate via conversation messages through the site at least offered some information about the person making contact. They usually had some post history on the site that could reveal more about them. A communication that by-passes the site eliminates some of the benefits of dealing with a registered inmate with a presence on the site. Note that many people that use the flea market choose to examine an inmate’s history on the site when deciding whether or not to enter into a transaction with that person.

What probably isn’t visible to many inmates is that the site is in a constant battle to protect people from scammers from around the world that try to score on this site. This is one of the reasons the staff is so aware of the importance of inmates protecting themselves online.

One issue that was raised is that some inmates don’t regularly check in on the site to see if they have incoming conversation messages that might be a tent space inquiry. Inmates can go to “Contact Details” in their profile and under “Messaging Preferences” choose to be notified by e-mail whenever they receive a new conversation message which would eliminate that potential delay.

That said, we do not have a site rule that prohibits someone from posting personal information about themselves – only about posting personal information about others without their consent. If someone chooses to disregard common best practices to protect themselves we probably aren’t going to stop them unless it puts someone else or the site at risk.

There is plenty of qualified advice around about best practices to protect oneself with regard to posting personal information online.

A sample advisory site: Protecting Yourself While Using The Internet (justice.gov)