to think MN should check with the OP before publicising a thread?

[HollyMiamiFLA]

I know it's their site. I know people can tweet it. But do you think they should check before putting a thread on Facebook?

Just in case there's comeback for the OP?

I don't think there's any "to be fair" about it. I've been on mn for nine years, long before fb was around, and it's no more of a public site now than it was then.

I am always fairly careful about what I post here but I was recognised in a shop once based purely on the fact I had posted details which could make me indentifyable (the fact I have a guide dog, a child, and made a recommendation for a school in the area I lived, over the space of about five years) I've never put up pictures of me, or my child, yet I walked into my local Tesco one day and someone said to me "you're wannabe from mn aren't you?" I was not because I had anything to worry about, but at how easily you can be recognised and how you actually have no idea who is reading your posts and who might know who you are.

I have recognised people from their mn postings, they have no idea that I know who they are though.

Anyone who thinks they are posting to a select group of individuals when posting on hhere and that their private posts are somehow safe is very naïve, and might I suggest, probably shouldn't be spending too much time online.

It's a public site. They are very very clear that they do it. Promoting mn is how they grow the business. In addition, the media takes what it likes and talks about it.

People post knowing all this and if we don't like it, then we have to not post anything that we would not be happy to be read by a wider audience. The only way to guarantee your privacy is to ensure it yourself by not posting anything that you don't want 'out there'. Once you press post, you have no control about anything.

It's not how it used to be. A tiny little forum that nobody really knew much about and fewer were interested in. Which is good news for the owners of the site who at least now get paid but bad news for anyone who wanted to talk deeply personal stuff and have nobody outside the mn club read it.

Of course they don't need to check, and shouldn't be expected to.

If the thing you posted was going to have repercussions then you should have been very careful about what you posted. It makes no difference if it's on here on the FB page.

The posts hilighted by Mumnset via Facebook and Twitter are far more likely to be picked up by the papers.

I suspect MN are alive to the possibility that publicity may put the OP in a difficult position and perhaps they are already careful about threads that they advertise.

Penis beaker was initially publicised via Caitlin Moran and then MN started promoting it too as it took off. So it's not just MN and FB that a thread can reach a much wider audience.

MN site gets way more views than their FB page has likes. But they use FB to advertise their brand if you like. I criticised them recently about promoting threads like Sheffield guy and there was a long thread in Site Stuff about what was "on brand" and which threads were appropriate to promote.

I think your thread was considered to be very mumsnet and of the moment. I liked it though didn't see the post criticising you - and I was alerted to it via FB.

I don't think MN should have to check.

But I think that thread had its own issues. I stopped reading at some point because it's incredibly long, but last I saw, it seemed to be basically:

OP: Look at this badly-worded maths question. Children find it hard to interpret.

mathematicians/people with higher maths degrees: Oh, yes, this is ambiguous, but mathematicians enjoy discussing ambiguities.

Many others (without higher maths degrees): OMG you are a terrible person OP, how dare you not know maths has a right and wrong answer, if you claim children don't understand this it must be because you are really stupid too!

I think if I'd OP'd that I would be hopping about it being promoted because it's an example of a thread where people are showing off how unpleasant they can be. I wouldn't expect HQ to have read it all in detail and I'd realize they might have promoted it just from seeing it had lots of responses and an interesting OP.

Why don't you get in touch and ask them to reconsider?

BIWI - Lots of people are in quite a bad way when they post on Mumsnet and need support. The thought of publicity is probably very far from their minds.

Yes OP - I'm sure if you asked they would delete from FB?

I suspect MN are alive to the possibility that publicity may put the OP in a difficult position and perhaps they are already careful about threads that they advertise.

I think you are right about MN but wont stop the papers or the wright stuff having segments about a post, but I guess that is the chance we take

TheBeautifulVisit - then this is a very timely reminder to people that they are posting on a public forum and that anyone can find their threads.

Even if you post in Off The Beaten Track you can still be found.

What does publicity have to do with it? It is already out there on the internet. If you don't want anyone to read it, why post it? Get pen and paper and write a secret diary

I just think there's a difference between just being one of 1000s of threads on Chat and suddenly being actively promoted on FB.

But I don't think anyone knows quite how a thread is going to take off. There is always a risk that no matter how inane your OP is, it could strike a chord and run and run...If you aren't prepared for that to happen, and are concerned about the content of your post, then don't post. Or ask MN to delete if you think it has become too 'high profile'.

I don't think people realise that using the internet is much like open speech...if you say it out loud to a public audience, there is no taking it back. Same thing with public forums, twitter etc....

It's more to do with being publicly identified. I use MN a lot under some different user names. It's a great way to get support that's lacking in RL. I should have used a different username.

You are no more identifiable just because a thread is linked to on Facebook though, unless you personally link it to your profile

I used to post on another very active forum with a lot of traffic and a diverse spread of posters. I joined there in 2001 and a variety of this discussion used to crop up regularly - not with the FB element, because that was still just a twinkle in Zuckerberg's eye back then, but the general discussion of internet security, the illusion of privacy, ten lurkers to every poster etc etc.

I once identified another poster on that site because she happened to post the KC name of her dog and by the purest of coincidences, I had been on a website for an equestrian establishment a couple of days previously (I was toying with the idea of buying another horse and so idly looked at a few horses for sale adverts) and on the "About Us" page of the site was a brief paragraph about a dog with the same, very distinctive, KC name. She was a very private poster on the site and although she had mentioned an interest in horses, she had never discussed running an equine business.

It's not what people like to hear, because there is a tendency to forget that you're not posting in a bubble with a handful of virtual friends, but the only way to guarantee the privacy and security of anything you want to post is not to post it.

Never write anything on the internet you wouldn't write in meter high letter on a sheet and hang outside your house.