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"I shouldn't talk about this on an open forum"

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Guest:
Who takes that seriously? I'd like to take a look at the last two "don't wanna post this on the internet openly" things I remember:

#1: The concept of using the "Machine Gun" in .50 BMG as a way to ban the round.

#2: The idea that burglars actually use metal detectors.

I'm sure you people can name a bunch more. One of them I remember from Warriortalk was a technique of using a flashlight to disorient people, which the poster insisted should only be taught to certified LEOs.

I can understand #1 as a "I don't want to post this openly (because people will laugh at me)", but #2?! Not all criminals are plumb stupid, much as most of the membership would like to believe.

If I were going to do some burglary, a metal detector to run along walls and floors would be high on the list- one of the really neat little ones from Edmund Scientific. Looks like a tiny radio. So would be inexpensive NVGs with an infra illuminator flashlight, a compact infrared remote thermometer, pair of in-the-ear hearing enhancers, OC spray or stungun for unexpected dogs, etc. Not to mention a cordless drill, glasscutter, and whatnot. OH NOES, I just may have given a potential burglar a list of useful tools! I better edit it out and say how I "shouldn't talk about that sort of thing openly".

Point being, if someone is on the internet to the point of browsing a forum you use, and interested in doing something wrong, they've probably thought up, researched, and decided apon the tactic or item that you think is some kind of big secret. Geez.

So why do people do it? To impress people? To feel superior? To deprive decent people of knowledge that might be useful, on the tiny chance that someone is going to use that information for malicious purposes, but would not have known about it otherwise?

Guest:
It makes them feel as if their words and knowledge have the weight to change the world. Subconsciously they know that not a word they say actually matters, but by saying such things they think it prevents others from realizing this.

Additionally, some people use it as a means of pretending to know something that they really dont. For example there is always the guy who knows some kind of "secret" technique for disarming an attacker. While he can tell you that he knows this, and that anyone who attacks him is in deep doo-doo, he cannot reveal the details of the technique lest the criminal element use it to run amok killing cops. This is the same guy that "used to be in the special forces" and did all these secret missions that he will tell you all about, but he cannot actually tell you what his MOS was because *that* is actually a "secret".

Art Eatman:
#2?  Burglars using metal detectors?  The last thing a burglar has available is time.  That is, he's gotta go in, find whatever's easy, and get out.  ASAP.

Think about MO:  A pro will open a chest of drawers bottom drawer first.  He saves the bit of time needed to close drawers.  Amateurs work from the top down, dumping stuff on the floor and waste time looking through the debris.

Sure, if a burglar knows of a hidden safe, and knows the occupants will be gone for a lengthy period, he might use a metal detector.  But, as implied above, some burglars are not only pros but are highly competent at their work...

Art

Art Eatman:
I've no way of knowing, but the second group is probably an extremely small percentage of the total...

Art

Justin:
I probably shouldn't be talking about this, but I'm fairly certain I'm being surveilled by ex-specops operators who defected from SEELE TEAM 7.53.

They're out to get my hand-painted AD&D figures, and will stop at nothing until they have them in their gore-tex clad hands of evil.

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