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How anonymous am I on Flyertalk?

Old Jan 23, 2015, 9:41 am
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How anonymous am I on Flyertalk?

Old Jan 24, 2015, 6:59 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by HMPS
I thought Coupon Connection was CLOSED quite some time ago ?



Hence the warning : " Son, never write down anything you don' want the world to know about.!"
CC was closed for a while, IIRC for about a month in late spring to early summer of 2014, but it's been back for quite some time, although trading of AA items is now forbidden.
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Old Jan 24, 2015, 7:18 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by danville 1K
In the course of "exchanging" items its quite likely you'd be emailing concerning the trade. If your "exchangor" was working for the airline all they had to do was compare your email address to the email address on file for your account and bingo, they know who you are. In the event of a non-sanctioned trade (swapping miles for upgrades, selling upgrades, etc.) they'd audit and shut down your account (not necessarily in that order).
Ahh, that makes sense. Undercover moles!!!
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Old Jan 24, 2015, 7:24 pm
  #18  
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Google "HIDDY Flyertalk"

You'll discover you are quite famous.
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Old Jan 24, 2015, 8:22 pm
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
CC was closed for a while, IIRC for about a month in late spring to early summer of 2014, but it's been back for quite some time, although trading of AA items is now forbidden.
Thanks.

Originally Posted by StartinSanDiego
Ahh, that makes sense. Undercover moles!!!
Thayer are all over !

Originally Posted by Doc Savage
Google "HIDDY Flyertalk"

You'll discover you are quite famous.
Yep, an " icon" on BAEC forum !
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Old Jan 25, 2015, 8:32 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by Doc Savage
Google "HIDDY Flyertalk"

You'll discover you are quite famous.
More infamous than famous.

Thank goodness I'm not like that in real life.
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Old Jan 25, 2015, 9:16 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by danville 1K
In the course of "exchanging" items its quite likely you'd be emailing concerning the trade. If your "exchangor" was working for the airline all they had to do was compare your email address to the email address on file for your account and bingo, they know who you are. In the event of a non-sanctioned trade (swapping miles for upgrades, selling upgrades, etc.) they'd audit and shut down your account (not necessarily in that order).
Originally Posted by StartinSanDiego
Ahh, that makes sense. Undercover moles!!!
Here's a quote from a thread on the AA forum. You can find it HERE. The thread has been going since 2007 and is 135 pages long. Chock full of how AA finds you and the punishment they inflict upon offenders.

Originally Posted by JonNYC
BTW, if you're ever tempted to respond to an ad (Craigs list especially comes to mind)-- keep in mind you may be replying directly to AA-- who puts out false buy offers to find out who is selling.
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Old Jan 25, 2015, 11:49 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by danville 1K
In the course of "exchanging" items its quite likely you'd be emailing concerning the trade. If your "exchangor" was working for the airline all they had to do was compare your email address to the email address on file for your account and bingo, they know who you are. In the event of a non-sanctioned trade (swapping miles for upgrades, selling upgrades, etc.) they'd audit and shut down your account (not necessarily in that order).
Though they (AA Corporate Security) are pretty sophisticated (running auto scripts and filters, monitoring places like Craig's List, eBay etc.) it doesn't have to be so - a longtime member or two here who is "sheep dipped" (their AA connection not revealed, participating in discussions as any member) could garner a lot of information to feed into the wheels and gears. Particularly if they had Coupon Connection access from their longevity and posting numbers.

And anonymity ain't all it's hyped - post here, soon that post will be archived by the Internet and you can find yourself via Google caches, the Wayback Machine, etc.

Originally Posted by IBobi
A good rule of thumb is, don't say something online that you would not want attributed to yourself offline. The vast majority of FlyerTalkers abide by this, in my experience.

That said, we have only the information that you give us. And publicly, you control what's visible.

Paul
We've had members who have posted extensively on lifestyle issues such as drinking or relationships ask for hundreds of posts to be deleted because they'd turned another chapter in their life book and didn't want a significant other, etc. to read posts about their previous life. FlyerTalk generally won't do that - it would require extensive censorship, deleting post quotations, etc. and the material would likely still be available elsewhere.

(On the other hand, FlyerTalk will help as much as possible if there were a hypothetical case of member harassment, stalking, etc.)

There's an entire thread on The Coupon Connection closure.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/techn...ed-issues.html

Read only archive: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/techn...pr-2014-a.html
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Old Jan 25, 2015, 9:23 pm
  #23  
 
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Those people in the flying industry doesn't even know flyer talk exist
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Old Jan 27, 2015, 9:54 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by satman40
Those people in the flying industry doesn't even know flyer talk exist
That is not correct.

The AA identification and discipline of FlyerTalk members who violated AAdvantage terms and conditions is well documented.

The BAEC forum, Air Canada, perhaps others, have an official representative, identified by their green username.

Several airline fora have participating employees, in some cases offering to answer questions, etc.

Last edited by JDiver; Jan 27, 2015 at 6:06 pm
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Old Jan 27, 2015, 1:45 pm
  #25  
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