What was directly across the road from the school you went to?

Gwyllt

For those who have queried all these threads.

Is it possible that that profiles could be built up on people who answer regularly

I might be barking up the wrong tree BUT who knows

Any thoughts ?

Yes, I thought similarly. But I also don't want to waste time barking up the wrong tree, however if you provide sufficient information on your home environment + some other seemingly random details and that account was hacked, it might be possible to locate them.

... or, it could simply be some data-gathering information for AI purposes.

As you say - who knows?

I do sometimes lack imagination and at other times over-think, but I cannot imagine anything less interesting than being informed of what people can view from a school they once attended.

But, in the spirit of the original question, I can't even remember what was across the road from my school...

I have come to the conclusion that these threads are more like games than discussions and am approaching them as such. Am not sure anyone would want to go to the trouble of finding out info on somebody on this site, collating so many details, some of which might not be completely true, it just sounds a bit incredible. Possible. But incredible.

Across from my primary school was a piece of disused land called ‘the’rec’ which I was forbidden to play on, so of course I did.
Across from my grammar school were terraced rows of houses.

Across the road from the school I went to? It depends which school. Shops. Houses. Fields. Woods. A bus stop. A car park.

I am selective in what facts I post about myself. Some of it is true and some is altered to be a kind of parallel to the truth. Some is opinion.

As the internet has become more and more a battleground between various extreme views, some of them held by members of cults with decidedly elastic moral, logical and legal attitudes to other people's views and rights, we all need to ask ourselves what we want to have known about our identities, locations and family vulnerabilities.

25Avalon

The long disused and overgrown chalk pit. We always wanted to go in but weren’t allowed until we sneaked in during school holidays.

If you can identify me from that good luck. Also sometimes like lots of other posters I suspect I don’t tell the full truth.

The long disused and overgrown chalk pit. We always wanted to go in but weren’t allowed until we sneaked in during school holidays.

Elegran. A very timely reminder. Sad but very true.

Slums.

Elegran I agree. We need to be careful what we post and cautious of some of the questions being asked.

Retread

ixion

How big a picture is the OP building of us in various forms?
And why?🤔

Not building up a picture of "us all", because everyone on here is just a faceless, anonymous poster.

We are only anonymous until we give enough details to identify ourselves.

Have you ever asked a question to the Google AI chatbot? You get a detailed answer in a few seconds, and suggestions of other aspects of the subject which the bot could answer if you want. That is possible because there are datacentres stuffed with masses of facts about everything whatsoever aboiut everything and everybody whatsoever that have ever been put onto the internet, and quotes from what anyone has ever said or written online. The bots are more highly powered than the old search engines, and programmed to find and link up snippets at speed to make a coherent collection of info on what it is asked.

It has always been possible to search the net for info. Put your own username and the word "Gransnet" into a searchbox and see what comes up. It is just that the whole thing has been speeded up and sophisticated.

Even before the net got so sophisticated, there were people taking advantage of the archives. Some years ago, a (former) Gransnet member shared her experiences over several months of fruitless jobsearching. They included some descriptions of locations, businesses, jobs, and potential employers and interview experiences. She succeeded at her final interview in being offered her dream job, and we all cheered with her. Except apparently one person. When she appeared on the first morning at her new job, the boss told her he had received an anonymous message telling him that she had said something a bit disparaging. He had deleted the message and ignored it, so no harm was done, but it could have cost her the position.

The anonymous sender had found all that she had posted about her experiences, added together all the clues and discovered who she was and where she lived, the business where the new job was, what the job description was, and the name of the boss, and used these facts to try to make trouble. Luckily they didn't succeed, because the boss wasn't impressed by the tactic, and the appointment was very successful for all concerned.

Imagine how much trauma could be caused by someone repeating that exercise today. Innocent-sounding questions may not be as innocent as you think. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is a warning not to be gullible.

Would you put a notice on your front door to say that you live in X town, your house is handily opposite Asda, your bedroom curtains are Disney prints, you have a monkey puzzle tree in the middle of your front lawn, are going out for the day on Monday, the kitchen window doesn't lock very well, and you always hide your jewellery and credit cards in the tea-caddy? No? So why post all those facts separately under your username.

ginny

Bit hot for a coat MawsRosie!

Not where I am

Not being nasty at all. I doubt most people wouldn’t miss my posts. Yes, we are all entitled to our own opinion.

ginny

ViceVersa

Here we go again...

As I have said before if you don’t like these threads , just ignore them I doubt your contribution will be missed.

No need to be nasty. ViceVersa is entitled to post her opinion.

For those who have queried all these threads.

Is it possible that that profiles could be built up on people who answer regularly

I might be barking up the wrong tree BUT who knows

Any thoughts ?

My primary school was opposite a row of quite nice terraced houses and my secondary school was opposite a nice detached house where 2 of the pupils same age as me lived.

Bit hot for a coat MawsRosie!

Dickens I guess it's worth wondering.
I saw a video claiming that the captcha verification pictures were designed originally to find out things about human perception more than verification.
People are training AI to respond like humans so who knows, maybe our answers could be used for that.

I was regarding these question threads as similar to many of the game threads which are pointless too but maybe there's more to it.

Maybe some AI will give itself away because it thinks 'Here we go again' is a suitable answer to a question.

Primary schools
1. Fields
2. Wide street then houses
3. My parents' grocer shop
Secondary schools
1. Field
2. Part of new town recently built & now lived in

ginny

ViceVersa

Here we go again...

As I have said before if you don’t like these threads , just ignore them I doubt your contribution will be missed.

Curiosity compels me to ponder if there's a point to these seemingly random questions.

It might seems a bit rude to say "here we go again", so I didn't.

However, we are here again with another rather mundane question the replies to which, after the first half dozen, become equally mundane, so I think it's quite natural to ask what the OP 'gets' out of the answers.

It's not really about not liking these threads, rather simply wondering why so many questions are being asked.

Which one? I went to nine! What was across the road from any, all lost in the mists of time anyway.

Doodledog

Sydney Opera House, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically...

Oh sorry - that was the view from my bedroom

That’s an idea.
Instead of just scrolling by we could see who can come up with the most ridiculous/unlikely response.

MawsRosie
Elrel
University of Birmingham

Were you at K.E.S. then ?

Yes and now you are asking the questions.

Trying to turn an interrogation into a conversation with a connection/common ground (sigh)
Seems you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
I’ll get me coat. {I know my place)

Doodledog

Sydney Opera House, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically...

Oh sorry - that was the view from my bedroom wink

😂😂😂

😂

"the Hanging Gardens of Babylon"

How old are you? 😂