To think this is odd behaviour for a web forum?

[luminousloops]

Not about Mumsnet.
It is a small, niche topic with a small user base. Somewhere around 6K in total. ,

I love reading the old stuff on there when I'm in chill out mode. I don't contribute much and don't know anyone on there personally, but am familiar with user names and such.

What struck me as odd is that the moderators (2 in total) discuss users log in habits and various info on the public forum. If a member is busy and doesn't log in for a few weeks people pester the mods to check if that person is ok (odd in itself, as I often take months away from websites because life gets in the way!).

The mods often post when the user was last online, when they logged in or out, and even look up geographic data to check if the user might be dead - often getting hilarious and wild results. Other users then go on a mission to try to track the missing person down, who is likely just working, dealing with kids or on bloody holiday.

AIBU to find this just a bit creepy and inappropriate?
I am not a regular poster there so doubt anyone would miss me, but even I have been contacted by mods when I wasn't online for a while (via email) as someone had asked about me. This mod then went online and told the entire forum that I had answered the email and was just living my life. I kind of didn't like that being discussed, and prefer much more privacy on the web. A few months later someone asked about me again, and the mods supplied info to the forum on my past months log in data. WTF?
I have only contributed to the forum a handful of times so feel a bit off about it.

This made me consider deleting my account - aaaand apparently you can't.
I thought about opening a new one just to get some more privacy as a reader, but these people even make it public when a user of an IP address creates another account.
Is this normal for a small forum? It's a nice enough place and people are friendly, but it just goes beyond what I find acceptable, and would prefer more privacy and anonymity.

I recognise this too, OP. There is a quite a bit of over-involvement on some forums, especially those with a niche topic.

For example I have a relatively uncommon medical condition. There's a forum for it, which is occasionally useful, but oh my there is over-involvement!

I think there are a few reasons:

People are nosey
People like to feel important
People like to feel they are in a 'fight' for something
People like to make other people dependent on them
People have little power or control in their real lives

BTW I'm no legal expert but moderators should not be sharing log-in information as this is personal data under GDPR rules (others correct me if I'm wrong here).

Bizzare. I've helped moderate forums. We talk in private (there's a board for mods and admin to discuss forum matters) about any issues with users. But we'd never publicly discuss people's online habits. So many reasons why people have gone quiet

It seems to be done in a spirit of friendliness, so a group of users will raise concern about someone who hasnt been vocal on there for a short white.

My issues is that the mods will immediately respond to the thread telling everyone the movements of the 'missing' person, such as when they last logged in and even what part of the forum they were looking at!

It may seem odd but if I am mooching about reading a specific topic, I don't want the rest of the public forum to know what hour, or what day i was doing it!

It's like if I was reading a thread in bereavement here and the mods told everyone in chat that I was doing it. Just no!

Yes I used to post on a board like that. There was a fair bit of”so-and-so hadn’t posted in a while hope they ‘re ok”

This is insane and totally out of order. Nice that users wonder where other posters are, but berserk that mods would feel entitled to publish the details you’ve mentioned. I really want to ask what the niche topic is. Is there any reason you are not able to deactivate your account?

YANBU - have you contacted the forum mods to request they not hand over your details?

You could point out to them that by sharing any kind of location data they may be putting their forum users at risk.

Presumably they’re based in the States so they’re unhampered by legal issues around posting information like this?

I have considered sending them a note to ask not to do that to me, but can't quite decide how to word it! They seem like pretty level headed folk generally, so would probably honour that if I asked.

But yes, it's an odd thing.
It really struck me this year when a new user (male) slotted effortlessly into the regular group, and within a week or so was posting worried questions about a long term female user being absent. It seemed very OTT of him to be doing that, as if he had known her long term. And everyone joined in to reassure him she was ok, that she was currently logged in and even mentions of what other online sites she used!

Very open to abuse, that mindset. The site is 50/50 male and female, usually harmonious.
I think the mods used the excuse that this level of prying keeps the site safe from crap, but I am not so sure...

The site isn't what it used to be as most of the niche topic gets drowned out by the regulars who turn everything into banter.

No idea why they won't do deletions. People have asked to have their accounts removed and it has been denied (in the mods own words) so that they can 'come back to us after they've calmed down. Sadly from what I recall, no one was particularly un-calm. It sounded pretty patronising to me.

I was alerted by forum members of a worrying post by another forum member. I was able to call the police who interrupted a suicide attempt.

I've seen "so-and-so hadn’t posted in a while hope they ‘re ok" on the more niche boards on MN. It's normal and ok, I think, if the same group of posters are posting over a long period.

But I would find it creppy if the mods were routinely doing it.
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I would love it if someone more experienced would comment but I'm sure that having done GDPR traning for various roles that this would be a breach. It's does cover use of data in digital settings, but I can't remeber who you would report it to. As I'd just report it at work.

Thanks Mig.
So far as I know, they moved to a US hosted space as the GDPR stuff came in. I suppose the mods don't have to conform to such? Not very well up on that kind of thing.
It was originally a UK website that separated from the magazine it was a derivative of.