The risk of advertising approximate locations...

Why even do that? Some have advertised street intersections and approximate directions... others have advertised specific buildings and ranges from said buildings... in what we in the military would call a "polar coordinate" orientation for call for fire? Even just naming street intersections clues in the wrong audience.

In the days of Google maps, "X meters from building Y" puts potential residential areas into focus. If there are two residential areas, and one of them is an upper middle class residence while another looks like average apartment complexes, you're really narrowing the focus.

That's a good way to get unwanted attention to your location, putting both providers and hobbyists at risk.

If this were a military operation downrange, and we had intell that our high value targets were "X meters from building Y," our drones would be scanning areas from the air for unusual/non-normal activity... then zero in for more details via scout units.

If the example I'm talking about above, with Google maps, were similar to the example downrange, with the layout that I'm thinking about right now, I know exactly where we'd be doing a ground assault, door to door, room to room operation.

This concept is similar back home, except with different players. If you don't think that you're putting yourself at risk by either advertising your close approximate in-call location, or an approximate or complementary location info in a review (Hobbyist action), you're setting yourself up for a nasty surprise... and a potential "Alerts" forum post as the one that got bad luck.

If I could locate approximate provider living areas without even getting detailed information from them, based on their advertisements, then the wrong audience could also do the same... with the assistance of more fancy equipment than a laptop and a phone.

Also, for the providers, failing to ask for provider references, then interviewing them, puts you at more risk... and... by extension... you put your clients at risk.

I'm going to be generating a more detailed post involving this and other hobby related topics, then posting it in the appropriate ECCIE national forums. Stay tuned.

Yeaaahhh I put at the closest a mall or metro station or general neighborhood/town i'm in (which depends on where I am ... big city vs little town). And that imo is PLENTY until i've screened anyone who personally contacts me.
For ex. McLean VA for Tysons Corner area, Fair Oaks Mall for Fairfax VA, Greenbiar Mall for Chesapeake, Charlottesville North for Charlottesville VA, West End for Richmond VA etc is plenty.

Last decade, that's how most of the providers advertised, giving a general area... which widens the area that someone else would have to zero in on. Once verification happens, which includes interviews with previous providers or contact with employment, the providers sent someone to a "call me" area.

I've seen some advertisements where someone says, "Just ___ from [recognizable] structure/landmark/corner," or something to that effect. Even if they say, "On Avenue A, two streets over from the Drunken Clam," those other streets that cross Avenue A would also pick up interest.

If the incall is actually on that street, then the provider invites unwanted attention and eavesdropping. The federal government isn't the only one that could "air mine" to gather information to zero in on a "target" or "high value target."

Sorta depends but good point. For example in Crystal City which is a neighborhood of Arlington VA there are a buttload of hotels along 'Jefferson Davis Highway' that stretches from about 13th to 28th. Saying 'walking distance from Crystal City metro station' or 'along Jefferson Davis Highway' isn't too much imo but like 20th+Jefferson Davis Hwy is lol definitely tmi (seeing as though only 2 hotels are in that particular portion/cross streets).

The concepts behind my previous replies are based on concepts we've used in Iraq to zero in and locate high value targets. The concepts are very similar to how providers could be zeroed in on... many times with long term observations of "out of the ordinary," or "above static" events.

When a provider lists her incall as not too far from an intersection, or within a distance of a building, structure, feature, etc., she's giving too much information.

Even if her incall is displaced further down, the search area will have an excellent chance of including the area her incall is in. You'd be surprised at how wide a net the searchers will cast... add to that the ability of people to monitor cell phone calls... the federal government isn't the only one that's capable of doing that. This goes back to looking at "out of the ordinary" or "above static" events.

I wouldn't even recommend saying, "within walking distance" of something that someone could orient on to begin their search.

Human nature doesn't change from an infantry operation in the ME to someone, or a group of someones, using our basic hunting trait instincts to look for "prey."

Your "20th and Jefferson Davis Highway" example is much closer to what I was addressing in the original post.

Good topic - I don't really see why a provider needs to give an ad description that narrows it down more than a few miles really. If I find an ad that interests me and the initial contact is favorable, then I'm willing to drive 10 miles or more and I don't need a better idea of the incall area until an appointment is set. The same goes for reviewers getting too specific about the address. Individual streets are best avoided unless it's 10 miles long and has a dozen hotels and the hotel name should never be used.