31 ms·

Why do people have a publicly listed personal phone number though?

Drdrdrq 10y ago
Because they want to help their users as much as possible? </speculation>
TallGuyShort 10y ago
I've gotten texts and calls in the middle of the night from people wanting help on open source stuff I've worked on, and I have no publicly listed personal phone number. No idea how they all get it, although one told me that he got my business card at a conference. I imagine that's happened once or twice and it's been passed around. I do of course respond by saying it's inappropriate to call me directly in the middle of the night, and they should contact my employer for support or email the appropriate public mailing list and I'd be happy to respond there. Still happens a few times a year, though. Not surprised SQLite folks get overwhelmed, even if they didn't go out of there way to offer. I've worked on lesser-known projects and have never even been the key developer.
- x0x0 10y ago
  I've gotten a couple calls from people that linked my email in a git log to my domain name which lists my cell phone. I was not polite. Figuring out how to type "git clone" does not entitle you to bother me.
ghaff 10y ago
When I was writing some shareware and other PC software, there were basically two ways to reach me: write me a snail mail letter or call me. So it was pretty normal to publish your personal phone number (and address). I wouldn't do it today, but those were pretty much the only ways to contact people.
- problems 10y ago
  Even if you want to publish a phone number, you can get a voip number for under $1/mo from many providers these days and redirect it as needed, block numbers, send to voicemail, etc. Complete control over it and complete separation. It may have made sense at one point but today it seems crazy.
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    How'd that work over a 32k modem?
    - eric_the_read 10y ago
      32k? Loooxury! We had to bang magnetic rocks together fast enough in order to induce a current on the phone line and we only got 1200 baud and WE LIKED IT. Seriously, 32k in the days of shareware? I think the fastest modem I ever saw (in that era, anyway) was 19.2k, and almost nobody had those. Pretty sure I went from 19.2 straight to ADSL.
      - cmdrfred 10y ago
        My mistake 32k was the first I'd used and I downloaded a great deal of shareware at that time. I didn't realise it was dead by then.
        mst 10y ago
        I started off with a 36k and then a 56k modem and remember shareware being significantly involved in my early uses of it (also napster). I think the problem is that, for us, we arrived in the age of shareware via said modems so that was normal to us ... and then those on here older than us started enough earlier that our entire experience was the tail end of theirs when it already "wasn't like it used to be" for them. (I'm 33, maybe that fact will shed some light)
        ghaff 10y ago
        Shareware was originally very much part of BBS culture (or at least hobbyist PC culture) and was largely set against expensive retail box software that mostly let you, at best, try out limited demo versions. As the Internet/Web and open source merged into the PC world from the Unix world--and it became easier to legitimately trial retail software--shareware largely morphed into just another category of retail software that was sold online.
- Sami_Lehtinen 10y ago
  Been there done that. It was that horrible Windows'95 boot to clean DOS mode, which sometimes got messed up while renaming files and stuck in boot loop. Luckily I knew how to fix it. But it was getting really tiring after helping a few totally n00bs with that issue. The Windows problem wasn't connected to my application in anyway. But Windows recommended using clean DOS for the application, and that's why people often got into that MS trap.
rmc 10y ago
It might not be "publically listed". You'd be suprised at the lengths people will go. To them, it's one weird trick to get past the call centre
mfukar 10y ago
Legislative requirements, in most places. In Greece my phone number was unlisted. In Germany, my carrier notified me it was automatically placed on the <whatever-service-they-use>.
- dom0 10y ago
  You totally can have unlisted phone numbers in Germany.
  - mfukar 10y ago
    Yes, legislation in most places specifies your number to be listed, unless you ask it to be removed. Germany was probably a bad example.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
If you google my (unique) name my phone number comes up on various sites like whitepages.com and the like. I don't know how it got "out," perhaps it landed on some public record somewhere that's been scraped and then the scrappers are scraped and it ends up all over.

Because they want to help their users as much as possible? </speculation>

I've gotten texts and calls in the middle of the night from people wanting help on open source stuff I've worked on, and I have no publicly listed personal phone number. No idea how they all get it, although one told me that he got my business card at a conference. I imagine that's happened once or twice and it's been passed around. I do of course respond by saying it's inappropriate to call me directly in the middle of the night, and they should contact my employer for support or email the appropriate public mailing list and I'd be happy to respond there. Still happens a few times a year, though. Not surprised SQLite folks get overwhelmed, even if they didn't go out of there way to offer. I've worked on lesser-known projects and have never even been the key developer.

x0x0 10y ago
I've gotten a couple calls from people that linked my email in a git log to my domain name which lists my cell phone. I was not polite. Figuring out how to type "git clone" does not entitle you to bother me.

ghaff 10y ago

When I was writing some shareware and other PC software, there were basically two ways to reach me: write me a snail mail letter or call me. So it was pretty normal to publish your personal phone number (and address). I wouldn't do it today, but those were pretty much the only ways to contact people.

problems 10y ago
Even if you want to publish a phone number, you can get a voip number for under $1/mo from many providers these days and redirect it as needed, block numbers, send to voicemail, etc. Complete control over it and complete separation. It may have made sense at one point but today it seems crazy.
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  How'd that work over a 32k modem?
  - eric_the_read 10y ago
    32k? Loooxury! We had to bang magnetic rocks together fast enough in order to induce a current on the phone line and we only got 1200 baud and WE LIKED IT. Seriously, 32k in the days of shareware? I think the fastest modem I ever saw (in that era, anyway) was 19.2k, and almost nobody had those. Pretty sure I went from 19.2 straight to ADSL.
    - cmdrfred 10y ago
      My mistake 32k was the first I'd used and I downloaded a great deal of shareware at that time. I didn't realise it was dead by then.
      - mst 10y ago
        I started off with a 36k and then a 56k modem and remember shareware being significantly involved in my early uses of it (also napster). I think the problem is that, for us, we arrived in the age of shareware via said modems so that was normal to us ... and then those on here older than us started enough earlier that our entire experience was the tail end of theirs when it already "wasn't like it used to be" for them. (I'm 33, maybe that fact will shed some light)
        ghaff 10y ago
        Shareware was originally very much part of BBS culture (or at least hobbyist PC culture) and was largely set against expensive retail box software that mostly let you, at best, try out limited demo versions. As the Internet/Web and open source merged into the PC world from the Unix world--and it became easier to legitimately trial retail software--shareware largely morphed into just another category of retail software that was sold online.
Sami_Lehtinen 10y ago
Been there done that. It was that horrible Windows'95 boot to clean DOS mode, which sometimes got messed up while renaming files and stuck in boot loop. Luckily I knew how to fix it. But it was getting really tiring after helping a few totally n00bs with that issue. The Windows problem wasn't connected to my application in anyway. But Windows recommended using clean DOS for the application, and that's why people often got into that MS trap.

rmc 10y ago

It might not be "publically listed". You'd be suprised at the lengths people will go. To them, it's one weird trick to get past the call centre

mfukar 10y ago

Legislative requirements, in most places. In Greece my phone number was unlisted. In Germany, my carrier notified me it was automatically placed on the <whatever-service-they-use>.

dom0 10y ago
You totally can have unlisted phone numbers in Germany.
- mfukar 10y ago
  Yes, legislation in most places specifies your number to be listed, unless you ask it to be removed. Germany was probably a bad example.

nommm-nommm 10y ago

If you google my (unique) name my phone number comes up on various sites like whitepages.com and the like. I don't know how it got "out," perhaps it landed on some public record somewhere that's been scraped and then the scrappers are scraped and it ends up all over.