I’m sure there would have been a mass uprising if there had been any issues with CC security here. I’ve had my credit cards re-issued twice due to CC security issues, both due to brick-and-mortar retail establishment security issues (last one was TJMaxx); I routinely pay for on-line stuff with established retailers and have never had an issue.
Maybe someone with more industry knowledge can stop by and weigh in on this topic. (I’m paging gotpasswords over in the MMP.)
GT
I’ve been a paying member here for a while, and I’ve never had any trouble with the security of my accounts or any indication that my finances were at risk.
On the other hand, ever since I joined, an unmarked blue van will regularly appear next to me, its side door rolls open, and an octopus-headed creature leans out, drags me inside, and violates me anally. It’s probably a coincidence.
No coincidence, it is just another perk of paid membership!
I’ve tried to complain, but they keep editing my pretty bunnies and spacious green fields with daisies and dandelions, a calm breeze, and beautiful people playing barefoot as docile creatures graze quietly.
There was a Dilbert cartoon a few years back where Dilbert is explaining to his date how he never uses CC online because of security concerns. The strip starts with him handing his card to the waitress who returns in the last pane wearing a brand new fur coat and handing his card back 
Well you will keep walking up that street.
You ever hear that bear joke that ends “You don’t come here for the hunting, do you?”
Hmmm, I’m getting more and more scared of this place. Is there still time to back out?
Just kidding!
What? They didn’t tell you that Hotel California is our theme song? I’m sure it was in the membership agreement somewhere.
Welcome!
GT
Better than that: the secure payment site (https://securesite.chireader.com) uses 128-bit encryption.
You can tell that a site’s secure by looking for an icon in the browser’s bottom status bar (usually a key or a padlock, depending on your browser). Double-clicking on that icon will bring up information about who you are paying and who issued the certificate. If you trust the certificate issuer, you can rest assured that the information will be encrypted AND that it will be sent to the actual Chicago Reader, rather than someone pretending to be them. The Reader uses VeriSign as the certificate issuer, who are generally considered to be very trustworthy.
Before sending credit card info over the net, you should always make sure that icon shows up. Unfortunately, many people (including myself) consistently forget to do so.
You forgot to mention the complimentary Straight Dope coffee mug !!!
Nah, the cephalopod works for the love of the job.
I haven’t been able to get it out of my butt.
Try a ladle.
I did. The coffee spilled.
Whoops. Oh god. Wait… hold on. Wait.
Sorry. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
Don’t worry, your personal information is perfectly safe here-unless you are or have been a child molester, then all bets are off.
Considering that brouhaha had absolutely nothing to do with credit card information (information that the moderating staff has never had access to, then or now), your introduction of it in this thread is little more than shit-stirring. If, by golly, you just have to beat your chest and sound off about it, keep it in the Pit where it belongs.
Gee Skip, I’m sorry, I certainly wasn’t trying to stir any shit. The thread is about the security of our personal information, and I felt it germane to mention the one time when that type of information as most certainly NOT kept secure by the administration of this board, in fact it was paraded right out to the 'net at large. Now, if you’re telling us that CC info is kept separately and is not available to the mods (how about the administrators? It was an administrator who broke the trust last time) then fine, but you have no call to chastise me for pointing out your (the administration’s) past misdeeds in a thread that’s all about board security.
Of course, Dave, it’s a shame I missed out on those concerns so subtly expressed in that first post of yours.
Please. Your warning stands.
For everyone else: it has been pointed out throughout the years that the moderating staff (which includes admins) has no access to either the credit card or PayPal information. It was also pointed out by Lynn Bodoni in post #8 of this thread.
At this point, the question in the OP has been answered, so I’m closing the thread.