On the website security issue, Bakes wrote: "I was about to do it just to support the tree community folks but stopped when the registration page was not a HTTPS page."

Our webmaster replied to this concern with the following email message to me: "They're right. We aren't using encrypted connection for any information passing back and forth from the user to the website. I really don't think we need to. The TCI website isn't collecting Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, date of birth, or any information that could be used for financial fraud or identity theft. I really don't think that the frequency of a person's treeclimbing would be of any monetary gain to any criminal element out there, so I don't recommend going to the expense and bother of implementing encryption."

On use of the Climber Finder: Every TCI member is listed in this feature by default. If you decide you don't want to be listed, you can disable your listing at any time in the "additional info" tab in your profile.

One of our primary concerns in setting up the Climber Finder was for security, which is why we did not/will not make this a feature available to the general public. If you're a member, the Climber Finder allows you to contact other members in a secure email which protects everyone's privacy. The search by city or zip code will give you results either in list format or map format.

As an important aside: TCI has members all over the world. And, as of this morning's stats (6 days into stats-collecting), people from 56 countries have visited our new website. Planning to travel? There's another good reason to join TCI and be part of the Climber Finder.

Hope this information is helpful.

Patty
TCI Administrator