Excellent point. I agree that it's not inappropriate to be visible as a woman, but it's about privacy and safety. I know men who as a rule don't put out personal information on the internet for similar reasons. Maybe I've gone to the other extreme by removing my infoboxes from my userpage, and I may put some of them back.
BTW, my church didn't confirm my number as I originally thought. When I spoke to the secretary yesterday (you all know she holds the most power in any church, right?), she reminded me that since I'm on a committee, my phone number has been published along with other members of the committee. It's definately something that needs to be addressed at our next meeting. Churches tend to be a little behind in knowing how to provide information and safety, so we need to learn. I'm willing to be the test case, at least in this situation which isn't all that serious. Christine On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 7:28 AM, Helga Hansen <he...@maedchenmannschaft.net>wrote: > Wow, did everybody here just blame the victim? “If you had done x this > wouldn't have happened.” No. This is exactly the point that keeps women > from participating in everything, incluiding being visible in Wikipedia and > talking openly about their interests! > > It was inappropriate of the guy to stalk you and inappropriate of the > church to confirm your number without your consent. It's not inappropriate > to be visible as a woman! > > Helga > > On 14.11.2011, at 18:22, Christine Meyer wrote: > > Thanks to everyone who responded to my post. This really is a great list > and I appreciate your support. > I'm fairly confident that this isn't going to be as serious as the > horrible experiences others have had with WP stalking. I suspect that all > it is is some clueless guy with very little social skills who honestly > didn't know that he was behaving inappropriately until I told him so. (Oh, > wait--doesn't that describe most of WP?) <g> Hopefully, the one phone call > will be all that will come of this. If it doesn't, I'll contact the WMF if > further actions need to be taken. > That being said, I've removed some of my identifying information on my > userpage. I still think it's important to self-identify as a female, so I > didn't remove that. My husband has been informed of what's happened. (He > appreciated it, but had very little sympathy: "That's why I never put any > of that information on the internet.") I intend on calling my church this > morning. > Again, thanks for the support and great advice. If the situation > escalates, I'll keep you informed. > Christine > User:Figureskatingfan > > > On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 4:45 PM, Nina Wikipedia > <nina.wikipe...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> I have got some calls about Wikipedia. I was in the board in Wikimedia >> Norway some years and president 1 year and got calls for journalists and >> other people those years. The last call I got about 1 week ago was from a >> woman who wanted to use one of my pictures in a book and ask me if it is >> ok. >> In Norway you only need to have a persons name to get the number : >> http://www.gulesider.no/person/resultat/nina+Aldin+Thune I have never >> told much about my family in the userpages. >> http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruker:Nina , >> https://plus.google.com/109860657201319190669/about only that I >> am housewife, and mother . >> >> Those calls have never been a problem, but I can understand that it could >> be, so as Risker/Anne says «reconsider how much personal information you >> want to share about yourself online» and ask someone get stuff taken down. >> >> >> Nina >> nina.wikipe...@gmail.com >> >> >> >> >> Den 14. nov. 2011 kl. 00:58 skrev Risker: >> >> Likewise, Christine, I stand ready to assist you. I'd suggest that yes, >> you reconsider how much personal information you want to share about >> yourself online; remember, Wikipedia userpages aren't just on Wikipedia, >> they're spidered all over the web. Once the information is out there, it's >> difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak. >> >> Nonetheless, if you'd like help trying to get stuff taken down, let me >> know. >> >> Risker/Anne >> >> >> On 13 November 2011 18:47, Lika Tika <likatikalikat...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi Christine, >>> >>> I'm so sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately, something similar >>> happened to me not long ago (although not related to Wikimedia). If you >>> need any help taking your personal information offline, please let me know, >>> I'm more than happy to help. >>> >>> Have you let the wiki admins know, it might be a good idea. >>> >>> All the best to you. >>> >>> On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 3:41 PM, Christine Meyer < >>> christinewme...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> I've heard about this kind of thing happening to other women in >>>> Wikipedia, but this is the first time this has ever happened to me >>>> personally. A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from a guy who said he >>>> wanted to talk to me about what it was like being the parent of children >>>> with special needs. He also said that he got my number from my church, so >>>> I told him that I was busy at the moment (which I was) and that he could >>>> call me back later. >>>> >>>> Yesterday afternoon, he called me back. I asked him where he got my >>>> number and how he found out about my parenting status. He said that he >>>> read what I had written on Wikipedia about my children, and that he wanted >>>> to talk to me about it because he was also developmentally disabled and had >>>> some "syndrome" that I didn't recognize. (It wasn't Asberger's, I don't >>>> think.) He also said that he had gotten my number from "some church >>>> thing," and that they had confirmed my phone number. >>>> >>>> I told him that it was very inappropriate for him to call me, and he >>>> said, "Well, you said I could call you back!" I answered that I was in the >>>> middle of something the first time he called me, repeated how inappropriate >>>> he was being, and that I wasn't willing to speak with him over the phone. >>>> He said, "You said all that on Wikipedia," and I said that I didn't have my >>>> phone number there, to which he responded, "But your email address is >>>> there," and I said he could email me but calling me was again, >>>> inappropriate, and we hung up. >>>> >>>> Like I said, it was the first time something like this has happened, >>>> even after more than four years of active participation in WP. It's >>>> somewhat disconcerting to me. When I think about it, this guy had to >>>> actively hunt down my phone number. He looked at my userpage, which has >>>> infoboxes stating that I'm a parent of two children with developmental >>>> disabilities, that I live in a small town in Idaho, and that I'm Catholic. >>>> (This makes me want to remove those infoboxes.) He actually went to the >>>> trouble of calling one of the the two Catholic churches in my town and >>>> confirm my number with them, which they did quite honestly because I'm on a >>>> church committee and active in the community. Freaky, huh? >>>> >>>> I know that you need to tell people when something like this happens, >>>> especially people in your life. (I haven't been able to tell my husband >>>> about it yet; he's been working all weekend and we're coming off of a >>>> particularly stressful family situation.) So that's what I'm doing now. I >>>> can totally see why so many women don't identify their gender on WP now. >>>> I'd also like to get some advice from the members of this list, and to see >>>> if anyone else has had a similar experience and what they did about it. >>>> >>>> Thanks, >>>> Christine >>>> -- >>>> Christine W. Meyer >>>> User: Figureskatingfan >>>> christinewme...@gmail.com >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Gendergap mailing list >>>> Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org >>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap >>>> >>>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Gendergap mailing list >>> Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Gendergap mailing list >> Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Gendergap mailing list >> Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap >> >> > > > -- > Christine > -- > Christine W. Meyer > christinewme...@gmail.com > 208/310-1549 > > _______________________________________________ > Gendergap mailing list > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > > > _______________________________________________ > Gendergap mailing list > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > -- Christine -- Christine W. Meyer christinewme...@gmail.com 208/310-1549
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