Heads Up People, Especially Jewelers!!

I don't want to sound overly frantic or obsessed with security with this post, but our recent thread on AFI about security issues has my antenna up! I responded today to a posting under the blog post about Lubbock and the person asked what the host hotel was for this show. First of all, anyone accepted into that show likely recieved the same e mail as I did that detailed the hotel and the special rate and everything else we need to know about doing Lubbock. The e mail was friendly and very informative. This person may be totally innocent in asking this or they may be casing the artists in this show. Please do not post this kind of information on line where everyone can see it. If someone has a legitimate question like this, they can e mail the show. Please be mindful of posts like this that are looking for information that an accepted artist should already have. It is no one's business or concern where we stay, eat, shop or do anything else when we are at a show. If we want to tell people what we are up to, we can certainly do this without sharing potentially sensitive information with criminals or stalkers or artist "groupies." Sorry, didn't know any other term there. Please, please just be mindful and pay attention, my knee jerk reaction was to say the blah blah blah hotel is hosting us this year and thankfully, I caught myself before I could have put a lot of people in jeopardy. Again, the particular post I am talking about may have been totally innocent, but I would rather err on the side of caution than be sorry later. Elle

Replies

Elle Heiligenstein February 22, 2013 at 11:16pm

Hi Jackie. I completely agree with that. When I am on Twitter or some other site like that I always keep things like where I am very vague. People don't realize that there are those that will watch you on line and wait for a vulnerable situation. You can't be too careful.
Jacki Bilsborrow February 22, 2013 at 11:13pm

Hey Elle, my son has said that people should not post things on Facebook such as "Susie and I are at the Seattle Cheesecake Factory right now." He says that is just like saying "hey burglers, come rob me right now cuz I am gone." Lots of people do that and they really are advertising that no one is home at the moment. It is a good idea to be cautious about this kind of thing.
Elle Heiligenstein February 22, 2013 at 7:47pm

Connie: may I suggest a podcast topic for the future on Safety and Security. I know firsthand how complacency can bite you in the a** if you let it. I love your podcasts and something like this could be very beneficial. (If its already been done, could you post a link to it, please?). Thanks!!
Elle Heiligenstein February 22, 2013 at 7:37pm

Update: as it turns out, the poster I was referring to is in fact a legitimate person who was really invited to the art fair. The poster is new and did not realize the implications of asking that question on a public forum. I am glad this happened though, because it is good to be reminded that we are on a public forum and we don't want to cause security issues for ourselves when we are on the road.

This reply was deleted.