what the actual is that facebook like button doing there?

[CarolCervix]

has it always been there? or has it moved? and does that mean if someone 'likes' that thread it will be posted to their fb page?

Thanks wannabe I found mumsnet quite hard to handle when I was activly TTC as obviously most of the posters here are already mums..and watchign people complain about pregnancy or their children can be very difficult for someone who thinks they will never have kids.

wannabe, I've specifically said that I'm not just worried about people clicking the button by accident. I'm worried about a website whose record on privacy and data protection is frankly a bag of rancid shite linking up with any other website I also use, because it takes us all one step nearer to accidents happening without us doing anything at all, things being tracked that weren't supposed to be, cookies popping up and identifying us where we'd rather they didn't. As I said in my 9.45 post, isolated accidents like this have already happened.

I still agree with your "if in doubt, don't post it" rule and hold to it myself because you can never "guarantee" anonymity on the internet other than by not being on it. But I don't see why people shouldn't feel aggrieved that they set out to be anonymous on a given balance of risk, and now the balance is shifted. I've not got an interest in this, by the way - I'm a newish poster and I've not let on much about myself.

but if people are that dubious about facebook then surely they don't have it. in which case they're not at risk.

If people think that fb are going to gather your email address and personal information because someone else has clicked on it through mn, then the issue iw with mn's security. If mn's security is such that information such as your email address etc is being passed to 3rd parties without you even being a contributor, then tbh a like button on fb is the least of your worries.

But I'm fairly sure mn haven't got to the point of selling on email addresses to 3rd parties yet.

My teenagers use facebook on the same family computer I use to mumnset.

It would be fucking hilarious if my threads were posted (by accident or otherwise) to their walls wouldn't it .

Yeah I do keep meaning to close my FB account actually but I need to look up a way to do it properly. Using their standard "close" route means they disable your profile but still have all your data.

But seriously it's not just FB. They happen to have the lousiest rep for this at the moment, it could be any combination of sites with a shared information link that somehow land you in it. I really think it's crap, the way things are going in social networking generally. I don't mind being advertised to nearly as much as I mind things like this.

why would you Like your own thread though PissedOff?

I wouldn't on purpose.

But on our communal laptop if you hover over a button it clicks automatically on it. And I couldn't even unlike it without logging in to their facebook, which I don't particularly want to do.

It's just to easy to click by mistake, imo.

And my teenagers are much more computer savvy than me .

I think I'll just have to stop posting any advice or support, and restrict myself to bullshitting around on aibu .

I think Helen said you could unlike it from the Like button on the thread. I could see much cause for confusion if one of your DC's started getting MN Links on their FB page though

And I never said owt about people selling email addresses . There are laws for that, so not generally a problem.

I could unlike it if I realised I had liked it.

I'd better avoid the while mumsnetting on the laptop I think.

which may ruin my Friday nights a bit

I for one would like it removed from the Tamoxifen threads in General Health.

no but sadly people are implying that someone else clicking like on a thread somehow compromises their security. It doesn't.

There are even suggestions on other threads that someone liking a thread posts it on everyone's fb wall that has contributed to said thread. It doesn't.

I agree that there are issues with linking up one's identities from one site to another and that making one more identifyable, but tbh I think those are issues that we all need to personally be aware of, i.e. if you post your mn posts to fb/twitter then people may link your two identities etc, but that comes down to personal responsibility. Anyone who puts personal information into a website needs to remain aware that that personal data i.e. email addresses, phone numbers etc (if using a sms update service for instance) becomes the property of that website and there's a chance you may lose control over who gains access to it.

But people need to also realize that someone else linking a thread they happen to have posted on to fb isn't going to compromise their own security in that way.

What about the problem with clicking it by accident WannaBe - surely we should be able to customise it so that can't happen.

Especially people who share computers with others who use Facebook (as in pretty much every parent of a teenager).

surely though your kids have their own identities on the laptop? in which case if you click the button by accident it will post to your fb not their since they won't be signed in.

I agree there should be a customiseable option to not have the button there, but that's no different to being able to customize any feature within a site..

unless your kids leave themselves logged in on their fb account.. you wont be able to like anything and have it go on their page. The probably log out to keep you form seeing anything in the first place. However if they don't, you can simply click on and delete what you previously liked. or do it the way mumsnet have explained through mn.

I'm not so sure about that calmdown (though obviously I'm willing to be reassured).

I'm sure someone said it was to do with cookies and you don't have to be logged in .

For example, DrinkFeckArseGirls Fri 16-Dec-11 11:39:41 and HippoPottyMouth Fri 16-Dec-11 13:02:13 posts seem to say it can be linked even if you aren't logged in.

I really would like confirmation of this.

I don't have Facebook by the way, but dh and all the kids do. Obviously they log out.

They have their own areas on the family computer, but often use mine if they are just checking something quickly, and the laptop is old and only set up for one user. We all use it.

So if I accidentally click "like", where does it go? And don't tell me to try it, I'm not going to.

while it does depend on the cookie to take you to your fb page you do still need to be logged into fb. or at least have the "remember me" box checked on your fb page. if you have several accounts runing off the same computer a thread "liked" isn't going to be posted to all of them - you will need to select which one.

I'll test it for you give me a minute

Right if you are not logged into FB it asks you to log on.
If you are (or anyone else) logged into FB it just posts it.
If you are logged into FB but NOT into MN it doesn't post anything

I meant it doesn't matter if you are logged in to amazon / mumsnet / whatever you are 'liking' as it doesn't take account info from there.
You would have to be logged in to facebook, if you're not it pops up a window asking you to log in.

Most people with their own PCs that only they use probably have automatic logins to facebook, so don't see that (and in that case it posts on your wall even if you click cancel, which is a bit sneaky, but a facebook issue, not a mumsnet issue)

Alright, that makes it marginally better.

It's unlikely the kids won't log out (though dh never does ).

Would you mind terribly checking one more thing. If you like it when you aren't logged on, does it post automatically when you do (eventually) log on?

As you can probably tell, I really, really hate Facebook!

it would just ask you to log on Iam not save it for later, as people use shared computers.

Can I suggest that everyone starts using Firefox and downloads an add on called Facebook Blocker??? It works a treat!