To think the Social Share buttons on threads is a bad idea.

[SpottyDottie]

I made this comment on the site stuff thread:

I no longer want to post anything because of the buttons. It is unclear if just your comment gets posted (which would probably look odd/out of context). So I'm assuming its the whole thread. Whether I hide the buttons or not is irrelevant. If someone else shares and a comment I have made is there then it gets linked to another social networking site.

I appreciate that MN is in the public domain but I have chosen to come to MN to air an opinion or share a problem, not Facebook or google+ etc.

What you have posted is just as anonymous whether the thread is linked to elsewhere or not though.

The option to share it has been available for a while hasn't it? It's just the new buttons which are new (I have hidden to stop me accidentally clicking!)

MN themselves link to threads on Facebook when they are a good discussion.

Agree. I hate it and don't like the idea of potentially sensitive things being tweeted or whatever. I think the link gets posted and yes mn is in the public domain but generally the people who will see and reply to you are in or been in the same situation. Can you imagine if someone posts about being abused and it goes viral? Upsetting for the person involved and leaves then open to be trolled. Maybe remove the buttons for everyone other than op.

It has always been possible to share a thread by copying and pasting the URL anywhere you want. As an avid SM user, I do this all the time, even with the buttons, as the buttons don't shorten the URL.

The only way to guarantee your posts don't get shared is to not post anything.

As you said, MN is not private. It's very very public. And once you type it in, you no longer own it anyway. MNHQ do.

The buttons are not even "new", really, as the Facebook/Twitter buttons in the viewport bar have been there for a while.

If this makes you more aware of what you are posting then that's a good thing.

By the way - clicking to share just shares a link to the whole thread, in a look at this interesting thread on Mumsnet kind of way - it doesn't tell anyone if you have posted or which post was yours.

To be honest, I use FB and I have never seen a MN linked thread there, so I had no clue!

I do appreciate that anything on Internet is in the public domain but in my naivety didn't think that the comments on here would or could be found elsewhere unless I actively googled the subject matter and followed the link to MN. These are chatty threads, some personal others more serious. If you wanted to start a thread asking for help/advice would you now hesitate to do so knowing that with one button it could be linked to any social networking site? We all have nn but many a time I have read 'oh this may out me in rl' or MN HQ have edited to remove names etc.

I have only been on MN a few months and only know about the buttons since they've been made bigger. Didn't spot them before.

Nope. I won't hesitate to use MN in the ways I already use MN. Advice, fun, a laugh, friendship.

Personally, I use this name all over the 'net. For those that don't, it's not like the SM links add a note saying 'And SpottyDottie is actually Mable Jones from London'. You are as anonymous as you were before.

I guess some wont mind and others will......

I am actually Mabel Jones

'And once you type it in, you no longer own it anyway. MNHQ do.'

Tee - this was hashed out a while ago. Both the author and MNHQ have copyright, I believe.

Ooh, is there a way to hide them? They are MUCH TOO BIG and in too prominent a position. I'm terrified I'm going to click on one accidently when I bookmark a thread, and all my Facebook friends will know I've been reading about bumsex whatever embarrassing thread I happen to be looking at, and think I must be really interested to want to share it with them!

Now, will someone please tell me how I go about hiding this 'feature'?

I knew that Spotty. It's on my spreadsheet.

Heath, that may be. But if HQ have copyright, they can do whatever they like with it, including publish it, which they do, and promote it all over the 'net, which they also do. You have no right to tell or ask them not to. So, technically, you have joint ownership.

Velvet under customize there is a 'hide social media' buttons thing. Or something like that.

Tee

You can remove them really easily in settings!

I did as I was nervous of accidentally pressing one on my phone browser.

Yabu

Morning.

We do appreciate that not everyone will want to see these buttons, so, as with the previous buttons that were a bit smaller and lived at the top of threads, you do have the option to hide them: just go to Customise/Other Options and change the 'Hide Social Media' dropdown to Yes.

There are no social media buttons on sensitive topics, such as Relationships or Special Needs.

Just to clarify, though: the buttons have been on threads for some time now (as indeed there are commonly on most sites with discussion forums); we have just made them bigger and moved from the top of threads to just above the Add Message box.

We do get that some folks don't like them much. And we'd be being disingenuous if we pretended that it's useful for Mumsnet's social media presence to have them there (if folks choose to use them).

But we also think it's really important for folks to know that anyone has always been able to share a MN thread on Facebook/Twitter etc - even before we put the buttons on a good few months ago.

You could argue that having the buttons big and unmissable is a useful reminder that what you post on our publicly-accessible, Google-indexed site could be read and shared by anyone.

Thank you HelenMumsnet

I don't think I'm unreasonable when I say I don't like them and others have said so. Likewise there are posters that don't mind them at all.

goes off to change name by deed poll from Mabel Jones

Cross out fail!