The Disclose your Salary Thread

Plukky

Emp_Fab said:

Hang on a minute here....  Am I being stupid or is the identity theft argument a little hollow and disingenuous given that nobody here has ANY reference to their real names or any other private information that could link that little avatar and silly name over on the left there to a real person ?

Not stupid, but maybe a little naive. Consider what happened here 18 months ago when certain members took against another member and decided he needed to be taken down a peg.  Lots of potentially personal information came out very quickly.  And these were members of a guitar forum. let alone people who really want to get your info.

digitalscream

Plukky said:

Emp_Fab said:

Hang on a minute here....  Am I being stupid or is the identity theft argument a little hollow and disingenuous given that nobody here has ANY reference to their real names or any other private information that could link that little avatar and silly name over on the left there to a real person ?

Not stupid, but maybe a little naive. Consider what happened here 18 months ago when certain members took against another member and decided he needed to be taken down a peg.  Lots of potentially personal information came out very quickly.  And these were members of a guitar forum. let alone people who really want to get your info.

Consider the fact that people often reuse their avatars (or even use images they've posted previously on Facebook), and then think about how easy it is to use Google's Image Search to find every instance of that image, anywhere across the web (hint: it usually chucks up a Facebook profile where they've posted a non-cropped version of the image).

Iamnobody

I think the bottom line is it's not necessary to divulge this type of information. It doesn't contribute in any meaningful way to this place.

Some people choose to and others do not. Whatever the reason behind that choice is - it shouldn't be challenged by others and certainly does not need to be justified by the decision maker.

thomasross20

Aw thanks @DLM & @Emp_Fab. ;;
Yeah I defo wasn't privileged other than being able to stay at home ! 
Good post by @Cabicular.. ;;
Crikey maybe I should delete my posts in case I get my identity stolen!

I think it's also down to how effective a person you are - have the goal, work toward it, no faff. My recent goals have been band & album and those are going ok - I have (likely naive!!) hopes with the album - I'm loving it lol!!! APart from coming on here and going to cinema, I'm always *doing* something. No Corrie for me lol.

Sporky

DLM said:

Emp_Fab said:

 less 'lucky' than Tigger or have had a 'less-privileged upbringing'

As Mags has pointed out in the past, Tigger's background is so-not-privileged! 

I don't think Emp was actually making those claims about Mr Ross, I think he was just citing them as examples of excuses that some people make about others having achieved more.

mellowsun

Emp_Fab said:

Thankyou @CabbageCat, an answer to the psychology behind your choice.

Personally, I'm happy for Emp_Fab to disclose his salary, because nobody here knows who I really am

But the point is that it is relatively easy to find out, because you leave a digital trace that can be triangulated with other data.

I don't want to be a dick so I won't prove this to you (and tbh I'm not interested, but someone, for example, who wants to find relatively well off people to defraud, might be).

DLM

Sporky said:

I don't think Emp was actually making those claims about Mr Ross, I think he was just citing them as examples of excuses that some people make about others having achieved more.

No, that was quite clear to me. The collocation was just so absurd that I felt the need to point out how far from the truth such a thought would be.

Sporky

DLM said:

Sporky said:

I don't think Emp was actually making those claims about Mr Ross, I think he was just citing them as examples of excuses that some people make about others having achieved more.

No, that was quite clear to me. The collocation was just so absurd that I felt the need to point out how far from the truth such a thought would be.

Ah, gotcha.

PolarityMan

Emp_Fab said:

Hang on a minute here....  Am I being stupid or is the identity theft argument a little hollow and disingenuous given that nobody here has ANY reference to their real names or any other private information that could link that little avatar and silly name over on the left there to a real person ?

I have no problem declaring because "Emp_Fab" is not a real person.  It is a silly name I use on this forum alone.  The real me is very careful about what information I divulge.  Without my real name, or any means by which my real name could be discovered, "Emp_Fab" could declare anything without any concerns of identity theft, because "Emp_Fab" is not an identity !!

@Myranda is right.  Employers have drilled it into staff that salary disclosure is a bad thing, though they never explain why.  It's bad only for the employer!  It's empowering for the employee.  I would like to steer this thread away from actual disclosures to the real reasons folk feel uncomfortable with disclosing, which I think is a far more interesting subject than just a list of numbers.

Why - specifically do you feel uncomfortable about disclosing ?  You must have a reason.  Saying "it's nobody's business" isn't an actual reason btw.  Bear in mind that we are all just avatars here, it carries as much meaning as Rupert the Bear declaring he's on the sex-offender's register, so why all the antipathy ?

It would be trivial for someone here to find out my real name on account of the references to my band.

thomasross20

Oh I agree, I know Emp was saying !

There are some major 6 figure salaries on here, I'm certain!!

Emp_Fab

OK, so everyone is now claiming they don't feel comfortable disclosing because of the identity theft argument ?

....that was only brought up by mellowsun I believe, halfway through the thread.  Hmmmm.

What would realistically be the potential risks to someone knowing your real name and your real salary ?  What use could that be to anyone ? (the emphasis here is on realistically, I'm not talking about some tortuous combination of bizarre events and circumstances that can be knitted together into a one-in-a-billion likelihood).

octatonic

Emp_Fab said:

OK, so everyone is now claiming they don't feel comfortable disclosing because of the identity theft argument ?

....that was only brought up by mellowsun I believe, halfway through the thread.  Hmmmm.

What would realistically be the potential risks to someone knowing your real name and your real salary ?  What use could that be to anyone ? (the emphasis here is on realistically, I'm not talking about some tortuous combination of bizarre events and circumstances that can be knitted together into a one-in-a-billion likelihood).

You've set up a bit of a strawman here but I'll play.
If I was a thief I'd be more likely to target someone who had a lot of money, rather than someone who had not very much.

Really though it isn't specifically about identity theft, at least not for me.
I don't even tell my mum how much I earn, why would I share it with people I kinda know on the internet but most of them I have never met.
It seems bizarre to do this.

mellowsun

Emp_Fab said:

What would realistically be the potential risks to someone knowing your real name and your real salary ? 

As I've said a number of times on this thread, on their own, they are not that useful. But, triangulated with other data easily available, if someone decides to target someone based on knowing that a person earns a big salary and has posted photos of their big house, this information can be very useful.


This thread could be a classic phishing thread.
People who are happy to disclose salary because some random person says 'Hey, let's have a salary thread', may also be willing to be tricked into disclosing other information.

Maybe they have in other threads. We have a search facility on this forum. People tend to use the same usernames elsewhere, e.g. on SoundCloud or SoundClick.

We all do it. But we should be careful.
It's not just individuals though. It's easy to get people in organizations to disclose confidential information.

Cabicular

Do you mind me asking how old you are Emp?

mellowsun

deleted

thumpingrug

Emp_Fab said:

OK, so everyone is now claiming they don't feel comfortable disclosing because of the identity theft argument ?

....that was only brought up by mellowsun I believe, halfway through the thread.  Hmmmm.

What would realistically be the potential risks to someone knowing your real name and your real salary ?  What use could that be to anyone ? (the emphasis here is on realistically, I'm not talking about some tortuous combination of bizarre events and circumstances that can be knitted together into a one-in-a-billion likelihood).

I disclosed way back on page 2 of this thread.  couldn't give a toss who knows what i earn, its in the public domaine for anyone who wants to dig around the charity commission website for long enough so i have no hang ups on it.  The prime ministers salary is pretty well knows and there name and address but I can't see them being a victim of identity theft so that argument is bollox.  

richardhomer

mellowsun said:

deleted

Did you reveal yours - then change your mind?

LastMantra

I make about 600 a month including top ups. 

Handsome_Chris

At least the good thing is on here that if you you're selling to someone who's revealed their salary/wage, you'll know how much to screw 'em for on a sale.

thomasross20

Main reason for me (and I never gave an actual number) is if anybody in my office found out and it leaked - that happened before to somebody years ago (not via social media and I want there at the time) and it really kicked up a fuss.