Should the phone ring and the caller I.D. Is not recognized, let it go to voice mail. Check it out later and delete it at your leisure or return the call if so desired.
Should the I.D. Show "RESTRICTED or BLOCKED or UNKOWN" I personally don't answer it. No way, shape, form or manner. And I make no bones about advising those I give my number to of that policy. It's up to them then to leave a message or unblock their number.

I rarely give it out to anybody, ever. I don't really operate within a normal "professional capacity" milieu, so that never comes up.

If I’m at home, my phone detaches itself from my clasp and returns to being just another piece of equipment and frequently doesn't get answered unless I recognise the number.

I have a separate number for affiliations, network contacts, etc.

It ain't easy gettin' my personal digits.

Ok..that shuts me up

I used to have a separate work mobile until I lost it/was stolen - I didn't realise that you had to report the theft within a specified number of hours and therefore had to pay for it. I refused because it wasn't someone I asked for, it came with the job but my employer deducted the cost from my salary!

It's not a cell phone.
It's a land line.
Ringers off always, voice mail's on mute.
I check it when I feel like it. :D

Well, it's the writing thing. I don't go to a job where I'm sitting around with a bunch of other writers in a factory someplace or anything. There are a few people who have my number for professional reasons, but I've known them for a long time, and I'm not in an area where I would expect to come into much contact with any other writers. I do hear from a lot of writers/aspiring writers on line, but rarely if ever in real life.

To an absolute stranger...no way. I've done it twice on Mingle. Once after daily e-mails for several months. But it really wasn't necessary as e-mails were better than a voice mail. The other only very recently, But I had back tracked years of posts and trusted my instincts and felt that person could be trusted. It turned out nicely and I didn't have to worry about getting lost, I could call to make sure I was driving in the right direction AND taking the right exit. I still prefer e-mails both from here AND my private one as it's easy to take a pic of things interesting that happen during my day and put on a private e-mail than here. And also still better than a voice mail Besides, here I have those little smiley icons to make it more interesting

Okay, this is how to be evil. Guys do it all the time. Thus where I learned. Get a cheap prepaid cell phone from like 7-11 that you fill with cards you buy and has no association to you at all. Someone wants your number or to speak to you, and you think you MIGHT like to speak to them, have them call that number until you establish who they are. If you like them, you can then go into the land of the real with phone numbers. Though I have many. I have an unlisted land line, I have a Vonage and I have a real cell too so that's 4 just on me. I segregate who gets which. I call the Vonage "the bat phone". It's for chit chat. It has caller ID and it's messages are transcribed into my email. If you have that number and I can't stand you, I just don't pick up. My house phone has an answering machine and caller ID. I screen all calls. My real cell phone has caller ID and if I don't like you, I don't pick up. I will tell you and guys do this all the time, there is a reason god told programmers to go forth and make BLOCK and DELETE functions including on Mingle.

I just gave my number out to this sweet Nigerian woman who also needed some of my bank information just to verify that I was real. It's so nice that people actually take the time to be thorough nowadays.

Oh "Teadipper", ye be a wee heartless wench.

Yeah, I find really silly to block your number in general. Totally get annoyed with anyone doing that. We've gotten so secretive all of a sudden. There's no reason to. I wonder what goes through their heads when they block their number and it appears restricted on their end. Do they really pick up?

Hey Mariah..

Don't forget to call me later, k?

Ciao!

:D

Yes, there does need to be some sort of established relationship before phoning - at least there has to be for me otherwise it just feels odd.

One of my pet peeves is playing phone tag with someone..another is also relying too much on email because I like hearing the nuances in a person's tone of voice rather than having to use your imagination too much. I guess a combination of both is the right balance.

I know that writers, like (some) artists, tend to work in isolation I just imagined that there would be more human interaction.

Yeah..that seems like WAY too much hard work .

I have very little. The only people I interact with in real life are the ones who work in stores where I shop.

I've had guys send me their number on here in their first email to me. I do not know them, so I am not taking their number and would not consider giving out my number.

In general, if I have met someone through someone I know, I would give it out. Online, I want to get to know the person for awhile before I give out my number.

No wonder i call u and u pik my call but refius tallk to me