Be careful what you put in threads!

I asked a questions re my Miss Kim Lilac a couple days ago and was still fretting on what to do so I did a web search. I was shocked to discover that thread in its entirety available to the world at a click! I've seen people posting pretty personal information in threads including email and home addresses. I will be sure to use Dmail to share personal information from now on!

Katy, I guess most of us knew the first post would show. You will sometimes notice people start a thread and the first box says "see next post". This is the reason. I believe it's like this so non-subscribers get a little tease to entice them to join. You can see a lot more if you are logged on to and go searching. If you log out, then search, much less info will be available to you. We also have a lot of public forums now.

No Badseed, it is the whole thing! Everyone's post! All!

If you saw everything, you either were logged into DG or it was a public forum. What forum did you post in?

Okay, I just googled "lilac" katymac because I pretty much knew the keywords. You posted in the Pacific Northwest Gardening Forum. Then I clicked the Garden Forums tab and looked for that forum. It is indeed a public forum. Many of the newer forums are public forums. :(

Badseed is right.

If you post it to a subscribers-only forum, logged-in subscribers can see it through a web search (assuming you're ogged into DG.) However, non-subscribers can't see it what you do. To test it, you can log out of DG, re-run your search and see how it looks to a non-subscriber.

If you post it to a public forum, you (and the world) can find and read the entire thread through a web search.

But it's a good thing to keep in mind that even in our subscribers-only forums, you're sharing information with around 6,000 other people. That's a bigger population than the town I grew up in.

I often ask myself "Would I mind if this information were published in that little burg's weekly newspaper?" If the thought of my info being in a small town newspaper makes me uncomfortable, it's probably too personal to post on a worldwide website, even on a subscribers-only forum.

Wow Terry, I didn't know that. I thought I'd read all I needed to and maybe it just didn't register. Ah, I just opened another window and I saw the (*) asterisk note. PNW Forum doesn't have one. Well, duh! I'll be more aware in the future.

Terry is right.

If anyone knows your usual screen name, they can Google it and get a complete history of anything and everything you've ever posted in any public forums but DG is not public in that sense.

Terry, did I say that right?

Dave

Yep, that's correct. Of course, if you have a "common" name, their searching might turn up a big haystack, in which your posts represent a tiny needle ;o)

I just entered "Lilac, Miss Kim" and it was about half way down the page!

Katy, this is one of the big reason's I don't go to the PNW forum very much. I know I was one of the people who asked to have it, but since it is a public forum, I tend to shy away from it. I changed my location because of that too. Maybe I'm just paranoid? ;o)

I don't mind it being public as long as I know. I'll watch what I say. I was just horrified when I remembered a member publishing WAY too much personal information, probably unknowingly. Good idea to make the location a little more vague, I think I'll do that now! Thanks!

Well, I googled my DG name and it seems there is a gal 34 who uses the same name on that "myspace" site. I am not too concerned and won't be changing my screen name. For one thing it reminds me to be sweet, which we should all try to do here at dave's.
Sidney

I agree sugarweed, tact and good manners are the foundation of our civilization. Maybe there could be a reminder in the title of public forums to remind the "slower" ones among us. Hum, green for private, red for public? DAVE / TERRY?

Why are the newer forums public? I don't see the logic behind which are some are public and some are not. Some of the regional forums are for subscribers, some are not? why? How is it decided which forums are public or not?
Shady

When we launched the "Home Talk" tab, and several new forums along with it back in January, they were made available to non-subscribers as a means of generating interest in this new area of the site. We can probably find Dave's thread that announced the forums, and the reasons for the launch if you're curious.

Since then, any/all new forums (with the exception of the reintroduced Co-op forum) are available to non-subscribers as well. So basically all the "new in 2006" forums are public.

Terry, is that written in stone? It would seem to me the regional forums offer the greatest temptation to exchange personal data; arranging RUs, meeting for special events, rendezvousing at garden shows, tours, sales, etc. Could those at least be private?

Katy,

When people are arranging roundups, for privacy it is certainly important to post over in the round up forum threads instead of the regionals. Dave made sure those forums were only visible to subscribers.

One way to draw attention in the regional forums about a roundup, would be to post a link to the thread started with that information on it.

In any event, just keep in mind that if any nonsubscriber REALLY wants to read the private postings, they can buy a short temporary membership for $5.00 to look at them.

Although Dave's Garden makes you feel like a small close knit community, we are all still a part of the big bad world wide web.
Molly

Terry,
Well, I feel like this is devaluing my membership, how am I supposed to remember when a forum is introduced? Basiclly you are saying now that all new forums are 'open'. So what are we paying for? The privilege to talk with each other and have the whole world look at it (for free)? This brings me back to a thread I started last year: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/489738/
Shady

You bring up a good point - maybe there is a way Dave can make it clearer if a forum is free or subscribers-only. A background color change might be the way to go.

As to what you're paying for....the majority of forums are still subscribers-only. Subscribers also have unlimited access to PlantFiles, plus access to the advanced search and browse features. (Non-subscribers are limited to ten basic search per day; no advanced search or browsing.)

You also have access to the live chat sessions, which non-subscribers can't use.

And you have the ability to use the site in a totally ad-free environment (non-subscribers see Google ads when they use the site.)

I think making it more clear which forums are public and which are for subscribers only is a great idea! Even if it's only a short "Public Forum" or "Subscribers Only" at the top.

The suggestion to color code the forums is one I would support.
However, I think people are missing the security issue. This is the WORLD WIDE web and you should be carefull what you put into the web.Any notion that because someone is a member or seems to love flowers would make you safe is naive.

At work, I'm involved in teaching parents about internet safety for kids. They shudder at the problems kids leave themselves vulnerable to on the web. But I use DG as an example of how adults do the same thing: names, addresses, places of work, hours of work, children's photos, al available.

I could live with the colourcoding on forums, BUT however I think we demand a little to much of Dave to take care of everything for us. Are we getting to comfortable to look up for ourselfs.We already have the asterisks (*).
I haven't been on Dave's for so long but I try to use common sense. Yeah I have shown pictures of both where I live and what my kids look like. but in daily life I always see that the kids (DD) have someone drive here from door to door if she is at a friend house and always check for son when and where he is and coming home.
What gets me in using WWW is the schools here, there homepages and demand that our kids shown with pictures and there work and the full address to the school. My DD refuses to cooperate to that and therefore get minus on her degrees. THAT gets me.
They are totally open for any anonymous user to check and get info. Here we at least have the sub-forums and we have the (*)

AND regarding what we pay for...........Haven't you seen on this site how much Dave, Trish and the rest of the crew put in to this site. All the new servers and moving them to new location. building more forums for us to have fun and share both experience and plants and dreams. Fixing bugs that show up from time to time. Fixing the chat when we go nuts because we cant log in to have our two weekly doses of gossip and jokes etc etc. Nothing in this world is free and there is always someone (Dave) usually that have to go the extra mile to keep us "spoiled" subscribers happy.
Compare that to get your computer fixed when the guarantee has run out. here they charge 1/3 of my monthly rentcost for 1 HOURS work whether its hardware or software failure.

Also remember Dave with family had the choice of him keeping his other job building up other companies website and earn truckloads of money and let this site go to extinction so be happy that he chose to keep this wonderful site for all of us the "roam" about

Janett

Well said, Janet!! Jo

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a public place there is no privacy. In a semi-public place there is no privacy. All of Dave's is a semi-public place because for a pittance one can be a member. BESIDES, if you are kind to your neighbors, there is not much to worry about.

$0.041 cents per day? OH YEA!! I get my money's worth and have no question about what I'm paying for. It's the best nickel I spend every day and with change back from the nickel!! Thanks Dave and "your group"!

Remember it's not just "words"

A few pictures of plants with your house in the background, someone sees it and says, oh, "I drive by there every day". All they'd have to do is basically watch someone's posts to see when they're home, when they're going on vacation, etc.... and anyone could do that, subscriber or non subscriber.
Kids pictures? I rarely post them anymore, and I don't mention the name of the school they go to. I love showing off my babies, but I don't want them coming up in a google search. LOL My flowers, yes, animals, yes.... but you won't see much in my photos other than the subject itself.

I live in a rural area near a very small town population about 1000 or so which is why my location says "Southwestern" Ohio and not the specific town, although I am in the address exchange, and I have mentioned the name of the school I go to a few times... I don't figure it would be too easy to narrow me down among the other 18K students.... I've waffled back and forth on the address exchange several times, but so far I'm still there.

You can't be totally anonymous on a website like this... but you can take a few precautions if you worry. I don't personally like all the "public" forums and like Mendy said about her regional forum, I don't go to the ORV forum much, even though I was the one who requested it... I guess I figure I'd rather be "exposed" to 6,000 people instead of 6,000,000,000,000+ when I post. :-)and the regional forums are just "too close" to home for comfort for me.... But, that is me, so I just don't visit the public areas much. I can't help but think that it would generate more subscribers if there was less to look at for free, but that is a decsion Dave made, and it's his garden, I just play in a few corners of it. :-)

Bottom line is we all just do what we're comfortable with... if you're uncomfortable with some of the areas that are public or 1st post viewable, then don't visit them, or post in the second thread as BS suggested... I do that with just about every co op or trade I've ever done, the first post says "Subscribers Only" the second post lists the info.

Melissa, those are some good points/suggestions. Thanks.

I am so glad I found this thread. Just yesterday I found all of my postings through google...It really shook me up. I had no idea I was public. So I asked my DH to try it on his computer. He couldn't get all the postings I got, because he is not logged in automatically. But he got a lot more than I realized the public could get. Somehow I thought I was more secure. I thought Plantfiles was the only thing the public could get into.

That said, I now have another problem. I went to DG at work to check on some threads, and now find that I am automatically logged in there. That means that anyone that uses that computer (and many do) can go to DG and they will see a welcome ceejaytown, and can post and do everything I can. Since many plants and gardening questions are googled at work, that is a very real possibility. So how do I undo that?

I really am glad I know these things now. I will be extra cautious in the future. I only wish I could remove some things.....

ceejaytown, just click on "logout" at the top left when you leave your computer. Then no one else will be able to use your user name.

ceejaytown, when you use a shared computer like that, it's definitely a good idea to click on "Logout" (in the menubar up top) when you're done!

dave

CJ, I think you can just log off DG at your computer at work. Don't leave DG without logging off unless you're at a secure computer.

beat ya, dave lol

Oh yeah, you're fast! lol

Thank you so very much!!! I will certainly do that ASAP! You all are so much help - so fast!
CJ

I went to a local garden tour site and it had a link to the entire Pacific Northwest thread's discussion about attending and getting together. I was astounded. I need to re-read all the items in this thread tomorrow and figure out what it is I am doing and where I'm safe!!!!

Such a fun site, but a little scary to be so "out there" like that.

Carole

There's a large group of wonderful forlks in South Florida that regularly plan get togeathers in the Florida Forum. I discovered today that this forum is public and I was beside myself. It wasn't public before and it was established before the big "Upgrade"???
The difference between $5 for a 2 month preview and nothing is the $5 preview does come with knowledge of a source from the $5s paid, ie a credit or debit card of some kind of payment trail.
Please re-think this decision.
Thank you,
Sidney

Sidney, you are safe - the Florida forum is not public, it's one of the one's that have an * next it's name here http://davesgarden.com/forums/.

When I checked earlier after Molly mentioned the WWW in her thread It DID NOT have the green star. Or possibly I'm just plain blind and crazy. Sorry I got so upset.
The point about the $5 is still very valid.
Sidney