Aa
Why are our Journal Entries public information?
I was kind of disturbed to be looking up something on the web and my forum name is spastic and was shocked to see a journal entry of mine. I don't mind people on medhelp seeing them but I am not greatly appreciative of finding Spastic's journal on the world wide web. Is there any way to just limit them to just MedHelp?
Thanks for addressing this. I'm happy now that it says, "public" when you write your journal. I couldn't believe the first journal post that Med Help had chosen to e-mail their members with.... I was angered when I read it. This person had the same illness as I have and came across like.... never mind. Anyway, IMHO.. her post was a poor representation of CFIDS.
WWhat about something in between "available to friends" and "everyone" such as "available to medhelp members" or "available to specific forum members"
These are all great comments and we love hearing what our members have to say about our features. Currently, when you write a journal, you can set the privacy setting for that journal by making it visible to Everyone, Only my friends, or Only me. If you do not want the journal to appear in Google searches, you can change the setting to "Only my friends." If someone on MedHelp wants to see it, they will then have to add you as a friend. This feature also allows you to set the privacy setting for each journal, so you can set some to be visible to everyone and some to friends only.
We also think that it would be nice to be able to limit access to journals to specific users and we'll keep tracking the need for this feature.
Also, thank you to JSGeare for the fantastically thorough and thoughtful explanation.
We also think that it would be nice to be able to limit access to journals to specific users and we'll keep tracking the need for this feature.
Also, thank you to JSGeare for the fantastically thorough and thoughtful explanation.
There is a privacy setting for journal entries. But not a setting where you can limit it to specific friends, that would be nice.
"I am not greatly appreciative of finding Spastic's journal on the world wide web"
Anything you post on the internet IS on the world wide web!
I agree though, it would be nice to have a privacy setting where you could chose who has access to your entries (you could limit it to friends and even select which friends could have access to it). This is a very common capability on many websites (facebook, myspace, for example)
Anything you post on the internet IS on the world wide web!
I agree though, it would be nice to have a privacy setting where you could chose who has access to your entries (you could limit it to friends and even select which friends could have access to it). This is a very common capability on many websites (facebook, myspace, for example)
This is what we in the cultural shock business refer to as the "unexpected consequences of technological progress."
Yeah, you're right, it IS kind of un-nerving. And it is also a good "talking point." Let's start with why you or anyone would WANT that (appearance in web searches) to happen. The main reason is that appearance "out there" makes the Medhelp site available to people who don't yet know about us -but who certainly could benefit from MedHelp. It drives traffic to Medhelp. Many folks have ended up here precisely because they were scouring the web at large for answers, information, help and often, just hope. So, it is a good thing in that way.
The background on this is that MH is FREE for its members. And it is also valuable -one of the few places anywhere on the 'net -or anywhere at all, for that matter- where people get actual help and feel reasonably secure. BUT, while MH is free for us, it ain't free to maintain and operate. There's a staff of people who develop it and monitor it and repair it and do all the things it takes to keep it going. We're talking paychecks here, my friends. And one of the ways THEY get paid is through the advertising revenues that come from all those little marginal ads floating around. And the success of those ads as money-makers has much to do with the size of the audience who is here to see them. And, so money figures into the drive for more people on the site. Just like "free" radio or TV.
All that said, is the risk of exposure of a journal entry worth the expected benefit? ANSWER: it depends. If a journal entry includes any information that can connect it to a particular person (name, address, phone, email, etc.) then there can be a problem. And thus, no one should put anything in a journal that would provide an avenue of approach to themselves or ANYBODY. Notice, I said "AVENUE." And that would include information which even indirectly exposes a personal identity.
The again, if you are an experienced web user, you either know this may happen and are prepared or don't care, or else you simply practice "safe-surfing" and don't disclose anything that would indentify you or anyone else. Granted, journals may get into some highly personal material, BUT if there is no disclosure of WHO it is, it probably doesn't matter -could be ANYONE. Could even be made up. Bottom line, if you follow the same personal safety rules you would follow anywhere else, you should be fine.
Part of the problem for some people is not just that the exposure is there -but that no one was warned about it. "At least TELL me!" And I'll buy that and believe me, Medhelp is reading this stuff right now so they can learn more about how to best implement the measures that will address the concerns of their members -that's why this forum exists. And, in fact, you WERE told. Where? In the Terms of Use (link at page bottom). But few people actually read that legalistic stuff.
Let me turn now to a somewhat darker area of web abuse. There are people on the web -just as there are people down at the grocery store- who "troll" forums and blogs all over the place looking for ways to connect with folks either to get their money or act out some other personal agenda. Any forum or blog site which offers personal "help" of some kind -but especially medical or spiritual or social help, is more likely to have members who are fragile and vulnerable then, say, a "Do It Yourself" site. And so, a "troll" will present itself as a member and attempt to "connect" with someone. They may suggest you try a certain web site that "worked" for them, or suggest (worse) a personal meeting or phone call. Turns out the web site is selling some "miracle" cure, and the phone call is all about either sending some money, or a personal get-together. Friends, this ain't theoretical -this happens. Other trolls are automated robots ("bots") which go through page after page of web sites looking for web addresses, emails and phone numbers, all of which carry predictable patterns, such as the "at" sign, the dot, and certain words, and which ALSO include the substitute words people use to mean the same thing. Consequently, Medhelp is very particular about allowing such information to appear in the forums -although what you do elsewhere is up to you. Their internal moderators and Community Leaders (volunteer forum menbers) keep an eye out for anything that might be a violation.
The bottom line here is that Medhelp is doing all it can reasonably be expected to do to maintain a level of personal safety and security -while still allowing as much "freedom of expression" as possible. What is even possible to do at all is largely a question of how the web itself works -the boundaries aren't set by Medhelp.
One day, there may be a way to assign a secuity level to a journal, so that it can be visible only to certain people or groups, or invisible to the web at large. Believe me, Medhelp is thinking about it. But bear in mind that if journal entries were intended from the get go to be publically visible, then we run into a real problem of defeating one purpose to serve another. By and large, Medhelp appears to be doing a good job of treading the middle ground.
What Medhelp does depends in great part on what the members want it to do; if it loses sight of what concerns or interests the membership, then it lose members and be self-defeating. Therefore, use THIS forum to freely express what you want and need. That's why it's here.
OK?
Yeah, you're right, it IS kind of un-nerving. And it is also a good "talking point." Let's start with why you or anyone would WANT that (appearance in web searches) to happen. The main reason is that appearance "out there" makes the Medhelp site available to people who don't yet know about us -but who certainly could benefit from MedHelp. It drives traffic to Medhelp. Many folks have ended up here precisely because they were scouring the web at large for answers, information, help and often, just hope. So, it is a good thing in that way.
The background on this is that MH is FREE for its members. And it is also valuable -one of the few places anywhere on the 'net -or anywhere at all, for that matter- where people get actual help and feel reasonably secure. BUT, while MH is free for us, it ain't free to maintain and operate. There's a staff of people who develop it and monitor it and repair it and do all the things it takes to keep it going. We're talking paychecks here, my friends. And one of the ways THEY get paid is through the advertising revenues that come from all those little marginal ads floating around. And the success of those ads as money-makers has much to do with the size of the audience who is here to see them. And, so money figures into the drive for more people on the site. Just like "free" radio or TV.
All that said, is the risk of exposure of a journal entry worth the expected benefit? ANSWER: it depends. If a journal entry includes any information that can connect it to a particular person (name, address, phone, email, etc.) then there can be a problem. And thus, no one should put anything in a journal that would provide an avenue of approach to themselves or ANYBODY. Notice, I said "AVENUE." And that would include information which even indirectly exposes a personal identity.
The again, if you are an experienced web user, you either know this may happen and are prepared or don't care, or else you simply practice "safe-surfing" and don't disclose anything that would indentify you or anyone else. Granted, journals may get into some highly personal material, BUT if there is no disclosure of WHO it is, it probably doesn't matter -could be ANYONE. Could even be made up. Bottom line, if you follow the same personal safety rules you would follow anywhere else, you should be fine.
Part of the problem for some people is not just that the exposure is there -but that no one was warned about it. "At least TELL me!" And I'll buy that and believe me, Medhelp is reading this stuff right now so they can learn more about how to best implement the measures that will address the concerns of their members -that's why this forum exists. And, in fact, you WERE told. Where? In the Terms of Use (link at page bottom). But few people actually read that legalistic stuff.
Let me turn now to a somewhat darker area of web abuse. There are people on the web -just as there are people down at the grocery store- who "troll" forums and blogs all over the place looking for ways to connect with folks either to get their money or act out some other personal agenda. Any forum or blog site which offers personal "help" of some kind -but especially medical or spiritual or social help, is more likely to have members who are fragile and vulnerable then, say, a "Do It Yourself" site. And so, a "troll" will present itself as a member and attempt to "connect" with someone. They may suggest you try a certain web site that "worked" for them, or suggest (worse) a personal meeting or phone call. Turns out the web site is selling some "miracle" cure, and the phone call is all about either sending some money, or a personal get-together. Friends, this ain't theoretical -this happens. Other trolls are automated robots ("bots") which go through page after page of web sites looking for web addresses, emails and phone numbers, all of which carry predictable patterns, such as the "at" sign, the dot, and certain words, and which ALSO include the substitute words people use to mean the same thing. Consequently, Medhelp is very particular about allowing such information to appear in the forums -although what you do elsewhere is up to you. Their internal moderators and Community Leaders (volunteer forum menbers) keep an eye out for anything that might be a violation.
The bottom line here is that Medhelp is doing all it can reasonably be expected to do to maintain a level of personal safety and security -while still allowing as much "freedom of expression" as possible. What is even possible to do at all is largely a question of how the web itself works -the boundaries aren't set by Medhelp.
One day, there may be a way to assign a secuity level to a journal, so that it can be visible only to certain people or groups, or invisible to the web at large. Believe me, Medhelp is thinking about it. But bear in mind that if journal entries were intended from the get go to be publically visible, then we run into a real problem of defeating one purpose to serve another. By and large, Medhelp appears to be doing a good job of treading the middle ground.
What Medhelp does depends in great part on what the members want it to do; if it loses sight of what concerns or interests the membership, then it lose members and be self-defeating. Therefore, use THIS forum to freely express what you want and need. That's why it's here.
OK?
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