Actually, I think it's a good question if we can keep it on topic.
Took me a while to compose this one. Sorry if some of it has already been covered in the meantime.
Too much chance for mistakes, but you know that "accident" you made was completely innocent with no mean or hurtful intent. Everyone does it ...
And you also know that was far from being anything like the thread that was posted lastnight . That was probably the worst case of "outing" and breach of privacy I've ever seen.
Interesting double standard. Could it be that you're simply more willing to forgive the mistake when it's made by someone that you like than when it's someone that you have issues with? I saw a bit of the drama from the thread being discussed. By the time I was reading it, the "offending post" had been deleted by the member that posted it, which demonstrates to me that even if she posted in the heat of the moment, she recognized the error and corrected it. The only reason I was even aware of what had been posted was because it was quoted by other members who apparently were so offended by it that they wanted to berate the member who posted it and in doing so were inadvertently perpetuating the lack of discretion they were so offended by. I should note that while athaire and I dislike each other greatly, I give him credit that he at least had the forethought to not quote the offending post and give that member the chance to rectify her mistake. Just need to make it painfully obvious that I'm not trying to take a shot at him here.
I also don't believe that it was anywhere near the "worst case of outing" ever to be seen on these forums. Nobody's real name or "private and personal" information was outed in that post. A reference to two ladies previous working names were mentioned. And while I understand why members were upset by this with regards to these two specific ladies, it's hardly the same as having the ladies real name posted, which I have seen happen to a number of other women.
Too much chance for mistakes, but you know that "accident" you made was completely innocent with no mean or hurtful intent. Everyone does it ...
I have never done it and I hope that I never do this even by accident. However, I've become all too aware that a larger number of people involved in this business aren't as discrete as we all hope. Some people simply have a different idea of what "discretion" should really entail. So, maybe I should give athaire some credit for starting this topic. (By the way, athaire, I'll go on record right now as saying that I don't think you started this topic to stir shit in this instance. I understand why you'd be sensitive to this topic these days. Unfortunately, your rep is now one that members will always wonder what your ulterior motives might be, so they will look for impropriety from you even when none is intended and sadly, even the appearance of impropriety can sometimes be as damning for a person as actual impropriety.)
Some examples from my perspective of varying degrees of indiscretion that I've personally witnessed:
I'm in session with a well reviewed, reputable SP who knows that I've also seen an SP that she is friends with. I don't know if she knows that this other SP and I are on fairly close terms or not. We were. But anyway, during the massage part of our session, she asks me, "Have you talked to (SP's real name) -- I mean (SP's working name) lately?"
I go to an SP's place for a session. Mention something to her in passing about the decor of her place. SP says, "Oh, you know, (Forum Member handle 1) said the same thing when he was here. And (Forum Member handle 2) said "whatever he said" when he was here." -- Maybe those forum members don't want certain other forum members knowing who they see. Maybe I prefer to keep who I see to myself and to a select few other members that I'm comfortable sharing that information with. Obviously, the only caveat to that is if I've posted rather publicly that I've seen her, in which case, obviously I don't mind. I hope that makes sense.
I call up a reputable, well reviewed SP that I've been interested in seeing for a while. I'm always nervous on the phone and starting to go through my issues with her that I do to ensure that she might be comfortable seeing me. I know that she's just trying to put me at ease when she suddenly says something like, "Don't worry. (SP that I've seen previously) told me that you saw her and gave you a very nice recommendation." I never asked for her to talk about me to this SP and certainly never asked her to be a reference, so I have no idea why she may have been talking about me to another SP.
Here's a doozy! There was an SP that I saw a few times and admittedly we got a little too comfortable around each other. One day, she checks the voice mail of her personal phone in front of me and somone has left a message for her using her real name. Plus, she keeps various diplomas she's earned hanging on the wall of her place, all with her real name on them. One day, she's telling me this travel story and she gets to a moment in the story and stops herself and says something like, "Oh, I almost mentioned my real name to you." Like she still wants to keep it a secret. Which is fine but I can't stop myself from cracking a smile, while wondering if she's being serious. And she asks, "What's so funny?" I always call her by her working name when we talk so maybe she really hasn't realised what she's done but I go ahead and tell her that I've known her real name for a while. She challenges me with a typical, "Oh yeah?! What is it?!" I tell her straight out and she gasps. And I have to remind her about the time she checked her personal phone messages right in front of me.
I got a PM the other day from a lady that I've seen before. She mentioned to me that she's now working somewhere new under a new alias and that I can come see her there if I want. But she also mentions that she wants it kept as discrete as possible and asks me to only share that information with others who I trust can be as discrete. And you know what? Quite frankly, because of that, I wouldn't tell ANYBODY else on any of the forums about it. I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before we see the first post on one of the forums saying I went to (name of location) and saw (her new working name) and it's (her old working name) rebranded and she's working there now. But they won't hear it from me.
Anyway, we discuss them on these forums. I now firmly believe that many of them discuss us with each other and we all know that many of them will talk about other SPs with us. Discretion is the number one rule but sadly, I think it gets broken far more often than we'd like to admit.