If you are in a smallish town the local leo can probably often identify you by things you say on these sites.
If you are already on the radar they might read some of your posts and say, oh, that sounds like so and so.
I mean it might have happened to me, in that once I was in the supermarket and the checkout woman said my username and gave me a quick look to see my reaction.
Nowadays I don't come on line and say I'm growing, I feel around here it's too risky. We don't all live in states that have medical marijuana, in some areas the penalties are pretty high.
I mean I have already had two knock and talks and plenty of surveillance, and last year my outdoor grow was staked out, but they didn't get me, the value of knowing the terrain around your grow pretty well.
So I am very much on the radar, and there is probably a notice on the local copshop noticeboard about me, ie suspected of growing.
So the prudent thing would be for me to not grow.
The problem is a malicious neighbour who keeps telling them that I'm growing and also selling. And I mean he's contacting the drug squad once a week for months on end.
I mean the first thing is not to get on the radar in the first place, life is so much easier and relaxed if you know you are not on the radar, not living in fear of that knock on the door all the time, and if you are on the radar it often means that you fuc*ed up somewhere, but also sometimes it's unavoidable, in that sometimes you have to deal with other people and you can't control what they are going to do.
So I would say if you are just growing for personal then you shouldn't ever be on leo's radar, unless you were silly and showed people your grow or told people, although there is always the unforseen factor of freak occurrances, ie. a fire or say leo executing a search warrant for previous tenants who they still think live there.
So I would say lay low, don't give leo any excuse to come to your house.
No loud music, no domestic arguments, don't invite fools around. Be invisible. Don't get on leo's radar.
If you are growing for more than personal then it get's harder as you have to involve other people, and they can be the weak link.
If it is in a big city then you can be more anonymous, they don't even have to know where you live. In a smaller place though it's likely they already know where you live.
That sucks.
You have to be like a spy in enemy held territory in this game.