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poshtotty

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Just to clarify one point.

If someone finds this site through Google, then yes they can comment on it on Facebook.

They can also comment on it on any of the many, many different discussion areas on the Internet.

People could be linking to posts on here on Mumsnet.
How would you know?
How do you feel about Mumsnet?

People could be commenting on Google+.
How would you know?
How do you feel about Google+?

There are other diabetes fora (all over the world) and people could link to posts on here.
How would you know?
How do you feel about them linking to your posts and discussing them without you knowing?

People could well be commenting on this very thread all over the Internet.
There is no requirement to become a member of this forum to comment on the posts.
There is only a requirement to join this forum to comment on posts within this forum as part of the discussion within this forum.

Facebook is a complete red herring.
This is a public forum and ANY other forum can link to this site and the content within this site, and comment on it without anyone on this site knowing about it.

Please, just because you personally hate Facebook doesn't make others posting to Facebook some kind of crime.

Cheers

LGC

Very well put, LGC but I don't think that is necessarily the point.

What seems to be coming across from other posters is the decision by Administrators to repost certain threads without our knowledge, as if they are playing God.

I for one would feel much happier and have a better sense of being respected as a member, if a note was added to the bottom of the thread in the way that moderators do when they lock a thread or edit it, simply saying that this thread has been reposted to Facebook because the content is considered to be of interest.

How poor daniT1D feels about seeing his dating thread reposted and finding himself laid bare and exposed to potential mockery, I cannot imagine. As things stand at the moment it seems we are encouraged to post as members simply to provide additional material to promote DCUK on Facebook but we are offered no protection or even the courtesy of being informed. We are afterall members of this site, and normally membership means we are protected by a governing body - not exploited by them.
 
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Kat100

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I have been watching this thread and would like to thank @zand @Brunneria @Kat100 @Robinredbreast @poshtotty and the others for putting across so eloquently the fears and concerns of those of us who find it difficult to express ourselves,
@satindoll you have just put across your view , and expressed the fears that some share....
Sorry to hear you are feeling concerned as well , it is all a shock and not nice ....
Let's hope there can be a positive solution
Take care ...Kat

Santindoll you are not alone , not at all ....Thank you for sharing
 
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dannyw

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I agree the internet is a monster we have no control of but this is a members only forum. We sign up, otherwise we can't post. If I put a pic on here, I would expect it to be private. I do use FB but I have set security settings so if you are not on my "friends" list, you can't see my pics. Why then should admin here be allowed to post a link from here to FB where a complete stranger can see my pic ? It's not the same thing.
 
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tim2000s

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I get the feeling that the key issue is that people thought the forum was a private space where they could express themselves freely without anyone outside it seeing what they had written, and the discovery that links to the forum are posted on Facebook where non members can follow the link and read items they have written has shocked and surprised a fair few. It's not so much that it's Facebook, more that the forum was never a private place and has been treated as such.

Let's not forget that the only thing posted to Facebook is a link to a thread. Those Facebook users cannot see your pictures, etc, on Facebook. They have to come to the forum like anyone else to do so.

I'd also remind everyone on this thread that at any point in time, guests outweigh members of the forum reading it typically at a rate of two or three guests per member online, or more.
 
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dannyw

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Tim, you're right about guests etc etc and I'm fully aware that if anyone wants to search my posts or pics or whatever they can find it. That's not so much the issue. My problem is that it is being "pushed" by site admin. I appreciate they want to attract numbers and I understand FB is as good a place as any but it still doesn't feel morally right. An example, we are all aware there is porn on the internet ? So, if someone chooses to search for it, they'll find it. No problem. However, how would they feel if porn sites started posting links on their FB page ? I guess pretty angry. My point is then, the ability to search for information on the net is different to having it delivered.
 
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Brunneria

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I get the feeling that the key issue is that people thought the forum was a private space where they could express themselves freely without anyone outside it seeing what they had written, and the discovery that links to the forum are posted on Facebook where non members can follow the link and read items they have written has shocked and surprised a fair few. It's not so much that it's Facebook, more that the forum was never a private place and has been treated as such.

That is definitely not my issue.

I've never considered this forum private - I was reading it before I signed up, so how could it be?
And a week ago, I googled Vitamix, and found a thread I started in the Forum Chat section listed 3rd on Google's list. That was a surreal moment, I can tell you!
But the only surprise was that a minor thread on this forum had been thrown so high on the list.

So the privacy thing doesn't bother me in the slightest.

My problem is the FB chat about our threads being owned by diabetes.co.uk, but not being adequately maintained. Few of us knowing it existed (if you are not a FB member, how could you know?). The moderation system on FB doesn't seem to be adequate (probably through work pressure, and one member of staff cannot possibly cover 24/7/365 - nor is it reasonable to expect it).

Anyone can think, write, link and post what they like. The internet is well nigh infinite and uncontrollable. But diabetes.co.uk is moderating this forum and simultaneously running the FB page - to different standards.

I consider that a failing (ethics, control standards, communication - take your pick).

And, to repeat:
These issues could be quickly and easily resolved by removing links to individual threads from FB and replacing them with a promotion to the forum. It wouldn't stop people commenting on FB but it would discourage comments on the individual threads that are currently being promoted on FB. It would also actively encourage forum involvement and hopefully bring comments under forum moderation.
 
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Heathenlass

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Just to clarify one point.

If someone finds this site through Google, then yes they can comment on it on Facebook.

They can also comment on it on any of the many, many different discussion areas on the Internet.

People could be linking to posts on here on Mumsnet.
How would you know?
How do you feel about Mumsnet?

People could be commenting on Google+.
How would you know?
How do you feel about Google+?

There are other diabetes fora (all over the world) and people could link to posts on here.
How would you know?
How do you feel about them linking to your posts and discussing them without you knowing?

People could well be commenting on this very thread all over the Internet.
There is no requirement to become a member of this forum to comment on the posts.
There is only a requirement to join this forum to comment on posts within this forum as part of the discussion within this forum.

Facebook is a complete red herring.
This is a public forum and ANY other forum can link to this site and the content within this site, and comment on it without anyone on this site knowing about it.

Please, just because you personally hate Facebook doesn't make others posting to Facebook some kind of crime.

Cheers

LGC
Where have I said that others posting on Facebook is " some kind of crime"?

Just to clarify, none of my posts have been linked to on Facebook ( as far as I am aware ) . Also I have never said that I hate Facebook, only that I distrust it for various reasons . My concerns are objective, not emotive .

You appear to have missed my points, and the points that others who are directly concerned are making.

Of course people can comment on what they have read on here all over the Internet,without being a member of this forum . But in this instance, the links to threads on here have been made on Facebook by the administrative team, on a Facebook group that is connected to and part of this organisation. and have been commented on by people who may not be members on here. I don't think that I really need to reiterate my reasoning yet again ;)

My posts on this subject have so far been concerned with unfairness, and I do appreciate that people ( including some members on here ) do enjoy posting on Facebook , and that the Facebook group fulfills a purpose. However, I stand by my belief that it is not necessary to link to threads on here, as it should be able to achieve what it sets out to do without needing to do that.

Signy
 
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urbanracer

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Where have I said that others posting on Facebook is " some kind of crime"?

My posts on this subject have so far been concerned with unfairness, and I do appreciate that people ( including some members on here ) do enjoy posting on Facebook , and that the Facebook group fulfills a purpose. However, I stand by my belief that it is not necessary to link to threads on here, as it should be able to achieve what it sets out to do without needing to do that.

Signy
The same words keep reappearing in this thread, "unfairness" "betrayal" etc. YOU MUST ALL UNDERSTAND THAT YOU AGREED TO IT, WE ALL DID! There is no element of unfairness, there is no element of betrayal. You agreed that your comments can be reproduced on ANY website and ANY form of media at DCUK's discretion.
 

Brunneria

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The same words keep reappearing in this thread, "unfairness" "betrayal" etc. YOU MUST ALL UNDERSTAND THAT YOU AGREED TO IT, WE ALL DID! There is no element of unfairness, there is no element of betrayal. You agreed that your comments can be reproduced on ANY website and ANY form of media at DCUK's discretion.

You should learn that people's feelings are not governed by facts.
 
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urbanracer

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Brunneria

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Oh yeah, that works well in a court of law.
We are not in a court of law. We are on a forum where people chat, discuss, exchange ideas and offer advice. This involves both facts and emotions.

If you can repeatedly bang on about facts then other forumites have exactly the same right to bang on about their feelings.

Telling people that their feelings are 'wrong' and that they shouldn't be feeling something because (insert pointless rationalisation) never works.
 
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Heathenlass

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The same words keep reappearing in this thread, "unfairness" "betrayal" etc. YOU MUST ALL UNDERSTAND THAT YOU AGREED TO IT, WE ALL DID! There is no element of unfairness, there is no element of betrayal. You agreed that your comments can be reproduced on ANY website and ANY form of media at DCUK's discretion.


Ye gods :rolleyes: Such passion ! ;) :D

Signy
 
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graj0

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What seems to be coming across from other posters is the decision by Administrators to repost certain threads without our knowledge, as if they are playing God.

I for one would feel much happier and have a better sense of being respected as a member, if a note was added to the bottom of the thread in the way that moderators do when they lock a thread or edit it, simply saying that this thread has been reposted to Facebook because the content is considered to be of interest.

How poor daniT1D feels about seeing his dating thread reposted and finding himself laid bare and exposed to potential mockery, I cannot imagine. As things stand at the moment it seems we are encouraged to post as members simply to provide additional material to promote DCUK on Facebook but we are offered no protection or even the courtesy of being informed. We are afterall members of this site, and normally membership means we are protected by a governing body - not exploited by them.

Some excellent points made. I might have a thread that I wanted the Faceache world to know about and it hasn't been re-posted.
I hate Faceache and I hate the way it was started, sleazy blokes looking at girls WITHOUT THEM KNOWING and giving them marks out of ten. But I have an account, because it's a a way of keeping in touch if only to know that it's a friends birthday or they're on holiday. After the first flush of getting friends, I've been very selective and have unfriended quite a few people including my brother, my cousin and a dear old friend of 30 years because they use FB to promote ****, pure unadulterated ****! Especially the political, religious and racist stuff. I have a lovely cartoon that I post if I don't approve, it should be attached.
GiveAShit_zpsb9c028a8.jpg

Ah! There it is.

It's a great way of losing friends if you're not careful and they take it too seriously. Even unfriending can be seen as an unfriendly thing to do, I just see it as a way to say that I don't want to know people's thoughts on particular subjects.
There are a lot of idiots on FB who wouldn't dream of looking for a forum for diabetics and hopefully wouldn't look for a FB Group for diabetics, who knows.
I like the idea of a message being added to the thread saying that it had been re-posted; somebody has gone to the trouble of making the choice, they could easily add the message. That at least allows people the opportunity to do something, and for some it might be not making any further comments or even deleting existing comments. If the delete function disappears on re-posted threads, you'll know why.
I'm not happy but accept it because I agreed to it and I'm working on a principle, "don't get MAD get EVEN"
 
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Oh yeah, that works well in a court of law.

But this isn't a court of law urbanracer, It's a diabetic support forum :) Many people have showed their displeasure and some members don't mind or don't care where or how our posts are put, We are allowed to show that we are not happy with how this is done.

Hi all - it's good to see that this has stirred a debate. Just to reiterate - the forum is not private, and that's why it is policy not to have any personally identifiable information (no-one likes those tax-scam emails!).

Our research analytics suggest that most people who come to the forum for the first time will read threads for anywhere between 4 to 12 weeks before taking the plunge and deciding to speak and share their opinions, questions and experiences. They're motivated by the way people are communicating, sharing and liking posts - it's friendly, compassionate and welcoming.

How do we help more people? By spreading the word further. We understand the concerns regarding Facebook. All that is posted is a link to the thread in question - there's no identifiable information in the links that are shared, and users are directed to the forum. This is identical to how people come through to the forum on Google, twitter, Bing or any other platform.

In regards to a Facebook opt-in/opt-out - creating something like this is actually very difficult, as was mentioned earlier in the thread. The fact still remains - the community is improving the health outcomes of other community members through open sharing and engaging; so to then make this forum private goes against all the positive benefits of using the forum. Again, as was mentioned before, this is a global community and we're accepting of all.

Could I ask what the problem is with posting on Facebook? Just as this forum is moderated, so is Facebook (yes, you may find unmoderated comments - there is no reporting system so we have to go through pretty much every comment).

If it's trust, there is no information shared that wouldn't be otherwise shared if a user has come through Google. We don't post any identifiable information, and if a username is ever identifiable Giverny is always quick to ensure users change their email address. It is still private. If anyone has any concerns about their identity on the forum, please contact @Giverny who will change your username to an alias.

Your identity is exactly as private as it was if links were not shared on Facebook. We don't link to facebook profiles, we simply link to forum threads. (This also means that Skype requests are unconnected to the forum!)

If it's that people feel betrayed, we can only apologise. This is not our intention .The forum is public and as mentioned before, we naively assumed people were aware of how internet forums work.

The fact is that all that is shared is a link, like how a link to a forum post is shared in our weekly newsletters or social roundups. It's not identifiable and all the research suggests it is positively affecting others peoples' health outcomes.

As stated before (but in more detail):

  • 73% of forum members said that they had improved their understanding of diabetes because of information they had read on the diabetes forum
  • 44% of members said they had improved their blood glucose control
  • 35% of members said the forum had helped them to reduce their HbA1c
  • 55% of members said they had improved their diet choices
  • 49% of members said they had more confidence in managing their diabetes

We want to resolve this - but not sharing doesn't seem to be the answer. If that was to be implemented, does that then mean that posts shouldn't be indexable by Google? If so, thousands of members to this forum would never have found the forum - and - hence - not improved their health outcomes. And that's the key - people are getting better/healthier/happier because of what is communicated on this forum.

Good morning @admim
I highlighted a paragraph which seemed to jump out at me.
1) because of Heathenlasses above post
2) also the wording there is no reporting system so we have to go through pretty much every comment). which is stated above. I would of thought the length of time, energy and money that is needed in this task ( which would appear not to be 100% achievable) I think would obviously be better spent else where regarding the site? To me. I feel, it's complete waste of resources. As said before, an advert on Facebook would be more than adequate for people to be pointed here, via Facebook.

This would be far better, as this thread has caused quite a stir and some members are clearly unhappy and pointed out why.
I also asked before ( on another post), for your email address that was mentioned on the bottom of your first post on this subject ?
Could it be posted on here for members to pass on their comments ? Thank you @admin

Best wishes RRB
 
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AndBreathe

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But this isn't a court of law urbanracer, It's a diabetic support forum :) Many people have showed their displeasure and some members don't mind or don't care where or how our posts are put, We are allowed to show that we are not happy with how this is done.



Good morning @admim
I highlighted a paragraph which seemed to jump out at me.
1) because of Heathenlasses above post
2) also the wording there is no reporting system so we have to go through pretty much every comment). which is stated above. I would of thought the length of time, energy and money that is needed in this task ( which would appear not to be 100% achievable) I think would obviously be better spent else where regarding the site? To me. I feel, it's complete waste of resources. As said before, an advert on Facebook would be more than adequate for people to be pointed here, via Facebook.

This would be far better, as this thread has caused quite a stir and some members are clearly unhappy and pointed out why.
I also asked before ( on another post), for your email address that was mentioned on the bottom of your first post on this subject ?
Could it be posted on here for members to pass on their comments ? Thank you

Best wishes RRB


RRB - In your post, you haven't properly tagged Admin. You might want to have a look at that; especially as you are expecting a reaction.

I would make 2 comments:

Firstly, I think to expect any moderation to be 100% right isn't fair. Moderation, by its nature, involved subjective judgements relating to acceptable standards. Even when standards are define (and I have no idea if this site has such definitions in the SOPs), there will be grey areas and differing interpretations where you have human beings making those judgements. To be fair, citing the post Heathenlass did, it would be difficult to see how that could be assessed as anything other than unacceptable. But, in the real world, all it takes is for the checker to be interrupted, then resume their task in a slightly different part of the page than they left it. That's human error.

Secondly, I'm not sure what Facebook's T&Cs stand, in relation to advertising other sites. I know BT, and the like, have a presence there, but thikning about how they promote themselves, they will always link to something that's happening - an offer or a new product. It's probably doable, but maybe needs quite a bit of due diligence on Admin's part beforehand.
 
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RRB - In your post, you haven't properly tagged Admin. You might want to have a look at that; especially as you are expecting a reaction.

I would make 2 comments:

Firstly, I think to expect any moderation to be 100% right isn't fair. Moderation, by its nature, involved subjective judgements relating to acceptable standards. Even when standards are define (and I have no idea if this site has such definitions in the SOPs), there will be grey areas and differing interpretations where you have human beings making those judgements. To be fair, citing the post Heathenlass did, it would be difficult to see how that could be assessed as anything other than unacceptable. But, in the real world, all it takes is for the checker to be interrupted, then resume their task in a slightly different part of the page than they left it. That's human error.

Secondly, I'm not sure what Facebook's T&Cs stand, in relation to advertising other sites. I know BT, and the like, have a presence there, but thikning about how they promote themselves, they will always link to something that's happening - an offer or a new product. It's probably doable, but maybe needs quite a bit of due diligence on Admin's part beforehand.


Thanks AB, I will have a look, doing too many different things at one time !! RRB
 

Andy12345

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RRB when i said i don't care (if you meant my comment) it wasn't that i think this is right, i actually think its quite shocking and understand why it is so upsetting to some people, i meant personally i don't mind (care) who sees anything i write because everyone in the real world knows I'm off my nut anyway, i support everyone getting upset by it. i don't see it as a problem to sort out even, no need to moderate Facebook, or change the rules, just stop doing it seems the answer to me
 
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Mike d

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I've read all of the posts ..... and though I don't really care one way or the other, it IS an intrusion into an area of my life that I SHOULD be able to share with those I trust. And I trust no-one on facebook. Yesterday, today or any other.

Pity other parties pretended to observe principles I was raised with. That is THEIR loss, not mine.
 
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RRB when i said i don't care (if you meant my comment) it wasn't that i think this is right, i actually think its quite shocking and understand why it is so upsetting to some people, i meant personally i don't mind (care) who sees anything i write because everyone in the real world knows I'm off my nut anyway, i support everyone getting upset by it. i don't see it as a problem to sort out even, no need to moderate Facebook, or change the rules, just stop doing it seems the answer to me

Oh no Andy, it's the referral from you regarding the advert you suggested earlier and IMHO a good one.

RRB :)
 
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