Next message: Alan Friend: "Re: [world-cruising] Re:What are the best methods for communicating with Family and Friends"
In the past I too used all the various web tools available to stay in
touch. I kept my own blog pages, posted my position reports with QTH
and had them display with Yotreps or Shiptrak because I wanted family
and friends to stay in touch and follow my journies. But the
internet today is not the friendly place it once was and these are
all public venues where anyone can see your personal information.
Unwanted comments, spam, and even inappropriate content can be posted
or linked onto any blog pages and then when "grandma" goes to view my
pages she get to read the crap that other people posted or she
wonders when did my grandson go from "cruising in Mexico"
to "cruising the sex trade" because of the links someone added to my
pages. And you can't do much about it either. There are other horror
stories too. Why in the world would you want the whole world aka the
world wide web to think well, here is another rich yachtie off
enjoying the good life and KNOW that you are 3000 miles from home and
they can trak you on the map day by day. There are stories of
cruiser's return to the states to find houses robbed, cars stolen,
and identities plucked. It's ugly.
We all want to stay in touch but using a private secure network is
the only way to communicate with those YOU want to share information
with and Sailtrac was designed with this in mind. It is a new venue
designed to fill a niche and keep you, your information, and your
privacy safe and secure - all for free. It provides all those various
tools - mapping, journal, video, photos, and position reporting (and
remote updating!) all consolidated into one secure package. No spam,
no unwanted comments, and no public intrusion. If you are blogging
in this group then you have probably participated in other "crusing"
groups and know that some have degenerated into other types
of "cruising" topics. Don't make your friends and family view
inappropriate junk when checking in on your progress. When you
communicate with friends and family do it from a safe environment.
