# If Someone Admits to a Crime on the SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 25, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655 "2005-01-25T22:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/1 "2005-01-25T22:53:41Z")
Lots of times, posters will admit to minor crimes in a thread. > [@DoperA](#): > > The other night I was smoking some pot… or… > [@DoperB](#): > > I smoke pot pretty regularly, and… or… > [@UnderageDoper](#): > > So my friends and I raided Dad’s liqour cabinet last week… …the list goes on. Obviously, the SDMB administrators are justifiably concerned about threads where people discuss _how to_ break the law, but not concerned so much when someone admits that they’ve done it, or do it. IOW, if **UnderageDoper** says “I took a couple of swigs from the bottle of Old Buzzard Breath my dad keeps in his liquor cabinet,” it’s no big deal. But if **UnderageDoper** says “Does anyone know of a liqour store in the Chicago metro area that doesn’t card? I need to score some Old Buzzard Breath,” it’s lockdown. This doesn’t bother me at all, as the SDMB administrators are about protecting the Chicago Reader from lawsuits and not concerned with policing misdemeanors. HOWEVER… In a recent thread a poster made a statement that makes it look like he/she routinely commits a pretty serious felony. I’m being oblique because it’s not clear whether or not they were kidding. But assuming they weren’t, does the SDMB management have any sort of obligation to report it? I mean, they know each poster’s home address (or at least the bill on their credit card statements). If someone were to say “I robbed Joe’s Liquors the other night and got away with it,” would there be a call to that poster’s community’s law enforcement? Is there a policy on this? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/2 "2005-01-25T23:21:50Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I mean, they know each poster’s home address (or at least the bill on their credit card statements). I don’t think this is true. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/3 "2005-01-25T23:48:42Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I don’t think this is true. They sure as hell know _mine_. I paid for my membership with a credit card, billed to my home address. Is it not fair to assume that most members did likewise? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/4 "2005-01-26T00:07:24Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > They sure as hell know _mine_. I paid for my membership with a credit card, billed to my home address. Is it not fair to assume that most members did likewise? I’m saying that I don’t think the SDMB staff has access to that information. (When someone sends you a payment via PayPal, is this information abolut them revealed to you? I honestly don’t know this, as I’ve only ever made PayPal payments, not received them.) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/5 "2005-01-26T01:18:07Z")
> [@](#): > > If someone were to say “I robbed Joe’s Liquors the other night and got away with it,” would there be a call to that poster’s community’s law enforcement? A statement on a Message Board is not a statement under oath, and is not (necessarily) evidence of anything. People lie, people make up fictions, people tell wild humorous tales. If Staff were convinced that there was a serious crime that had been committed, and that there was reasonable indication that someone on our Boards had committed it, we would fully co-operate with the authorities. That doesn’t mean that Staff would be the ones to turn them in, although we might. But there are lots of Board members who might undertake it on their own to notify authorities. In short, the answer is: it depends. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/6 "2005-01-26T02:38:31Z")
> [@me](#): > > I’m saying that I don’t think the SDMB staff has access to [credit card billing/address] information. So do ya? ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/7 "2005-01-26T04:11:24Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > So do ya? I’d check the TOS. IIRC, I believe that the information is kept by the Reader (who we purchased the membership subscriptions from) - speficially the Accounting Department who holds the information in as much confidence as one would expect from an Accounting Department. That information is not accessible to the board admins, etc. There was no small amount of concern about this when the boards went pay. I would run a search and check the specifics, but I believe what I posted was correct. As for the board staff checking into those records, I think it was done only once and because there was concern that a poster was in life-threatening danger. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/8 "2005-01-26T04:32:09Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > They sure as hell know _mine_. I paid for my membership with a credit card, billed to my home address. Is it not fair to assume that most members did likewise? I believe quite a few posters have had their subscriptions donated. In these cases, I don’t think the Reader would have access to that information. They do, however have IP addresses. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/9 "2005-01-26T04:40:40Z")
AFAIK, if you paid via PayPal, neither your credit card info nor address is transmitted with your order. That’s not part of the info required on the order form. Not sure what happens if you pay via credit card directly. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/10 "2005-01-27T09:13:16Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I’m saying that I don’t think the SDMB staff has access to that information. (When someone sends you a payment via PayPal, is this information abolut them revealed to you? I honestly don’t know this, as I’ve only ever made PayPal payments, not received them.) The SDMB staff doesn’t have anything to do with the financial end of things, as far as I know. I believe it’s all handled at the Reader’s offices. I had quite a few people email me with problems when we went to a subscription basis, and all I could do is forward everything to Ed, who presumably either took care of things himself or forwarded the forwards. I can run an IP check on people, but this isn’t something that I do for fun. I only do it when I suspect trolling or sockdom. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/11 "2005-01-27T09:46:07Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > A statement on a Message Board is not a statement under oath, and is not (necessarily) evidence of anything. People lie, people make up fictions, people tell wild humorous tales. > > If Staff were convinced that there was a serious crime that had been committed, and that there was reasonable indication that someone on our Boards had committed it, we would fully co-operate with the authorities. > > That doesn’t mean that Staff would be the ones to turn them in, although we might. But there are lots of Board members who might undertake it on their own to notify authorities. > > In short, the answer is: it depends. So does that mean that if you had two statements that seemed credible and were both criminal, you’d be more likely to check out the more serious one? For example, you might be more likely to look into “I killed someone last week” as opposed to “I smoked a joint last week”? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/12 "2005-01-27T11:48:57Z")
> [@](#): > > For example, you might be more likely to look into “I killed someone last week” as opposed to “I smoked a joint last week”? Yep. However, I don’t know how much “looking into” we would do. We’re not the Cecil Adams Detective Agency, after all. I think that, if suspicions were aroused, we’d turn it over to the police and let them take it from there. And, just to clarify the credit card thing, while the Moderators don’t have access to that information, the READER does. And the READER would certainly comply with any request from authorities to provide such information. The bottom line on this kind of thing has always been: Don’t post anything on the Message Boards that you wouldn’t want to see on a billboard outside your home. ---
**Author:** ![deena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@deena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deena)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/13 "2005-01-27T12:53:42Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > The ctrl-v threads (where your post consists of the contents of your clipboard, revealed using key combination ‘ctrl’ and ‘v’) were a lot of fun in my opinion because of the sheer randomness of what was in people’s clipboards. It also gave an insight into their what they were involved in before posting to the thread. > What with the current sdmb climate of game or post-count threads being off-limits. Do the ctrl-v threads fall under that category? If the answer is yes I won’t argue. I understand the logic behind banning certain things and respect it. > > I’m not asking so that I can post one. I have no intention of doing so. I am just curious. I can’t agree more. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/14 "2005-01-27T16:31:57Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > I can run an IP check on people, but this isn’t something that I do for fun. I only do it when I suspect trolling or sockdom. So how does that work if mrAru or my roomie wants to be a paid member? Do we all have the same IP address? [we have cable modem and it all runs through a single computer out to the rest of the computers in the house=)] hey, so what I know about some aspects of computing can be written in greasepencil on a fingernail…I can still install a motherboard - viva los \ ---
**Author:** ![Iceland\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Iceland\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iceland_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/15 "2005-01-27T16:49:51Z")
So then, about this drunken rampage and mass murder I got myself involved with last week…oh…er…oops 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/16 "2005-01-27T19:08:25Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > So how does that work if mrAru or my roomie wants to be a paid member? Do we all have the same IP address? [we have cable modem and it all runs through a single computer out to the rest of the computers in the house=)] That question has been addressed before. Lots of folks who co-habitate and both use the Boards have the same IP, that isn’t the problem. When it comes to suspected socks – based on behaviour, posting style, and general asshattery – IP is taken into account _in addition to_ other evidence to back up suspicions. So fathers/sons, spouses, roomies etc., who use the same internet connection or computer aren’t doing anything wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/17 "2005-01-27T19:41:34Z")
> [@deena](#): > > I can’t agree more. What’s that now? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/18 "2005-01-27T20:52:57Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > And, just to clarify the credit card thing, while the Moderators don’t have access to that information, the READER does. And the READER would certainly comply with any request from authorities to provide such information. One would hope they’d at least require a subpeona before handing over the memberships’ information… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/19 "2005-01-27T21:08:03Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > So how does that work if mrAru or my roomie wants to be a paid member? Do we all have the same IP address? [we have cable modem and it all runs through a single computer out to the rest of the computers in the house=)] > > hey, so what I know about some aspects of computing can be written in greasepencil on a fingernail…I can still install a motherboard - viva los \ You probably all have the same IP address. However, unless one or more of you is causing trouble, I’m not even going to be checking the IP addresses. It’s boring and I only do it when I suspect trolling or sock puppetry or other mischief. It would be nice, however, if you dropped a note to one of the moderating staff here, saying that you share a computer with other people. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655/20 "2005-01-28T05:26:28Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > One would hope they’d at least require a subpeona before handing over the memberships’ information… True. Members’ credit card information entrusted to the Chicago _Reader_should only be disclosed to people who know how to fill out Illinois subpoena forms. [Flounder]This is great![/Flounder] Who wants to pay for my next vacation? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-admits-to-a-crime-on-the-sdmb/286655.md?page=2)