World Wide Dissemination

Many forums are available to subscribers only, the rest are available to members and I see, the world at large. While I agreed to the first two as a subscriber, the latter came as somewhat of a surprise when I Googled for information on lead came for stained glass and found my DG Diary entry popped up. Without making the Diary all 'private', can the Journals and Diary's forum be granted "Asterisk Status"? Silly me, in my cyber-ignorance it had not occurred to me that my diary was available to the world when a word or phrase contained in it was also contained within a search for something unrelated by someone unknown. I'm not trying to be a paranoid schizophrenic troublemaker, though it may more truth than poetry, so when there is a lull in your schedule, would you please consider it. Perhaps there may even be someone else willing to comment on the addition of Journals and Diaries to the subscribers only category.

In the diary I think you'll have to go in and make the entries private--members are allowed to have journals & diaries too so unless Dave takes that privilege away from them I don't know how he could limit them to only be viewed by subscribers. Journals I think are private by default, I remember going in and having to change mine so that other people could view it, but diaries I think are the opposite and are public unless you tell it otherwise. If it makes you feel better though, I don't think the whole world can see your diary when they search on Google, only members or subscribers who are currently logged into DG will see it. If you log out of DG and repeat your search you'll see what "the world" would see.

Good point e3. I'll see what happens when I log out.

Diary is open by default. I would agree that it would be better if it was only available to subscribers. It limits it's sharing to make it private. I know a lot of other information is available to the world, but it's good to limit some things.

I logged out of DG and then googled berrygirl. My DG profile was the THIRD entry ! I am a little disturbed by this. I knew it was always there for me to see when I was still logged in to DG but didn't know I was THIS accessible- lol!

Same thing logged in or out. A diary still pops up in both cases. I don't mind having my journal and diary open to DG'ers and believe many of the forums benefit, as does DG, by being open to the public. Perhaps I'm being too narrow minded in my thinking, and after all, if it is available to the 200,000 plus members and subscribers of DG, what's the problem with a couple million more ? My preference is and will remain to have it added to the asterisk company. If that isn't reasonable then it will merely be an itch I can easily scratch.

Hmmm...that's weird. I wonder if something's changed recently? I didn't think anything like that would show up on Google if you were logged out, I know this issue has come up before on several occasions and all the other times when people logged out their stuff no longer showed up when they googled. Hopefully Dave or one of the admins will be able to shed some light on what's going on here...

balvenie,
I wasn't talking about the journal or diary- neither of which I have. I just do the trade and trade tracker feature. My DG page is on display.

I do NOT mind at all that DG'ers- and only Dg'ers can see my info. But I do not want the whole world to see my prayer requests or pictures of my home, etc...

This message was edited Feb 26, 2007 9:27 PM

The journals and diaries have always had two options: public or private. Choosing "private" means only you can see it, and choosing "public" means everyone else can (subscribers, members and visitors who aren't even logged in).

The journal system was created before the subscription system existed, and so public meant public in every sense. When I created the diary I kept the same system in place for consistency.

I think there is a lot of merit to providing additional options for limiting who can see your diary ("Public", "Subscribers Only", "Members of this group that I manually add my friends to", etc)

dave

On several occasions I have provided a link to friends and family members to look at my journal/diaries, so they could see what my new place looks like and what I have spent the past year doing.

None of those people were subscribers or even members. If the diaries were made private across the board, that would mean I would have to start a blog or something someplace else or write up emails every time I wanted to share these things. If I had to do that, there would be less reason for me to spend so much time at Dave's, and that's not what I want.

It's been said before and no doubt will be said again, ad nauseum, you play/post on the internet, you lose your privacy period

Molly

Dave, with regard to the Diary I think the options you mentioned would work well.

Molly, I certainly respect your position, and think if the options Dave outlined were to be implemented it would not change your use. "If I had to do that,there would be less reason for me to spend so much time at Dave's, and that's not what I want". DG is a big part of my daily activity too and I would not wish to be the cause of anyone's dissatisfaction in their ability to use Dave's to it's utmost. I really enjoy the Diary, but it is a small part of the whole and I can do without it, for the rest of the site offers so much more to stimulate the little gray cells and bring the world into my home.

belvanie,

I'll add to the TODO list to get groups functionality in place, but I have to warn you that it's a huge massive feature that may take a long time to get going. In the meantime, I sure hope you continue to have your diary here. I personally love reading it and I'm sure hundreds of others out there get a huge inspiration from your wonderful works of art.

Dave

Dave, on the TODO list would be great. Molly has a point, as does Berrygirl. There are so many opinions that I would hope this will not be offensive to anyone. Regardless of the outcome I will still maintain my diary as a personal repository, and of course now more than before, be more cautious about the entries.

I second the motion on this notion: "Members of this group that I manually add my friends to"
That would be a wonderful option to let us practice a bit of a gatekeeping to our own entries inviting only specific viewers. I hope the major undertaking is doable for you Dave.

I will add yet again, I do not have a diary or journal. Even if I did, I could care less if someone in Timbuktu came across what I was growing by "googling" that plant or info. I would hope it would be of help to them. I realize the net is a huge place and a lot of the people on it aren't so nice. I am also aware that lots of DG'ers can see my posts but that has always been ok with me as we are like a family here. I want what I post here of a more "personal" nature (not journals, etc...) such as prayer requests, details of my home/yard, etc...to be for DG'ers eyes only.

I was always under the impression that "non-subscribers" could not see all of your posts. Again, I guess I naively assumed that also meant all those eyes outside of DG. Yesterday's google experience showed me otherwise. I will continue to post here as I feel led, and I will have to accept the fact that a psycho from somewhere else in the world knows what my house looks like and where I live. I don't like it but I'll get used to it. I will not let my freedom here at DG be dictated by feelings of invasion of privacy.

It's easy to stay safe on the internet if you do a few things.. The internet is public - consider that one day a site you dearly love could possibly be hacked and all our addresses pulled off it.. It happens to banks all the time - so it could anywhere..

Get a PO box.
Don't post your last name.
Don't post pics of your house (or at least just show portions of it..)
Be general in your conversations - you can still be quite personal yet keep a few things to yourself.
More suggestions anyone? - I'm sure I'm missing a ton of things..

A member off a website I am on had another subscriber 'show up' at her house years ago. Nothing bad came of it but it made her think as it did me.

The internet is public - period... Davesgarden or any other website. I've met many of the fine folks on DG through Round Ups, etc - but that does not change the way I conduct myself on the net. You have to look out for yourself and not depend on any website to do that for you.

Also - paying $25 to be a 'subscriber' does not make anyone safer or more trustworthy. It just means they paid $25.

Nicole

berrygirl--some forums like Prayer requests are totally off limits if you're not logged in. I looked at the list of threads you've started, then I logged out of DG, then went to your profile and clicked the link to see the threads you've started again, and nothing from the prayer request forum shows up when I'm not logged in. And on the forums that are subscribers only, all you can see if you're not logged in is the first post. So if you're worried about where pics of your house, etc are showing up, make sure you're in a subscriber only forum and put your pictures in the 2nd post instead of the 1st one, then nobody except DG subscribers can see it.

Not to sound like a broken record but: (my quote) "I will continue to post here as I feel led, and I will have to accept the fact that a psycho from somewhere else in the world knows what my house looks like and where I live. I don't like it but I'll get used to it. I will not let my freedom here at DG be dictated by feelings of invasion of privacy."

'Nuff said- LOL!!