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Curious and concerned

dogslife

Well-Known Member
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Staffs
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Don't know if this is the correct place to post this but:

I was just checking the "Members on line" list to see if there was anyone I knew on there and noticed the "Robots" section. Out of curiosity I went to "Current visitors" to see who these robots were and was concerned that they were viewing individual member profiles. Should we be concerned?
 
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Strange that. Why do Bing and Google need to know what I have had to eat for my tea?

Edited to add.
I do hope that these Bots are not able to access the information that I recently filled in for the survey, I did not put any identifying information but if these Bots have access I think it only fair that members are aware.
 
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Hi dogslife - if you see this again, could you do a screenshot or capture the robot names somehow?
 
sally and james said:
@DCUKMod This is what I am seeing, presumably it's what @dogslife was seeing:

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Yes there were 71 bots online just now when i looked, Including
Baidu, Inc incorporated on 18 January 2000, is a Chinese web services company headquartered at the Baidu Campus in Beijing's Haidian District.

Edit to add: When I was doing genealogy, I posted some private stuff on their website, then a Yahoo search later found this same data in plain view in the search results section,
 
Perhaps this is a good reminder to members that, personal details such date of birth, use of real name (other than a first name), clues and indications at to where you live, names of your grandchildren etc should always be avoided on sites such as this, as all these little details can combine to give a bigger, fuller picture. This is especially so as we also give away lots of very private, health related information.
We should all take care on line.
Sally
 
dogslife said:
Out of curiosity I went to "Current visitors" to see who these robots were and was concerned that they were viewing individual member profiles. Should we be concerned?
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Only if you have private information there, I wouldn't imagine they'll be cause for concern otherwise as these Bots seems to be a common occurrence on all types of on-line media (from what I can gather), I'll tag @Giverny into the thread as she is very savy when it comes to tech issues.
 
NB Also be aware that this site DCUK publishes some thread info onto Faceache and I find myself being sent topic of the day often just after it got posted on the forum.
 
sally and james said:
@DCUKMod This is what I am seeing, presumably it's what @dogslife was seeing:

View attachment 23550
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Thanks for that, sallyandjames - That's all very usual, and how the search engines index the site, which all helps when someone does a Google search.

As you have already said, now is a good time for everyone to review their privacy settings to ensure each of us is comfortable with what shows on the internet.

Don't forget; the forum is readable without joining or logging in, so please make any amendments you see fit to your profile.

@noblehead - Giverny is not available for comment at the moment, and is not routinely working on day to day forum business. For references into the Admin Team or the techies, I am the conduit, and will be happy to help.
 
Oldvatr said:
NB Also be aware that this site DCUK publishes some thread info onto Faceache and I find myself being sent topic of the day often just after it got posted on the forum.
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I'm not a Facebook user @Oldvatr but was already aware that some threads are shared on FB, the subject has been a bone of contention for some members who see the rights and wrongs of it all. Thanks anyway.
 
Remember everything you say you have ever said on the internet will remain public information forever. If you try hard you can find posts I made to newsnet in the 1980's a long time before we even had the web!
 
DCUKMod said:
Hi dogslife - if you see this again, could you do a screenshot or capture the robot names somehow?
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Hello DCUKMod: I have just checked the Robots as requested. Sorry,I don't know how to do a screenshot as I'm using my home computer but have noted the following :
Robot Bing viewing member profile philomena49, Member profile Ellama
Google viewing member profile paulhedge
Baidu viewing member profile ms fayerage??( unsure of spelling).
Proximic viewing "Hello from Melbourne"
Baiden looking at general threads
Hope this is helpful.
 

Thanks dogslife - I responded after sallyandjames posted their screenshot, which confirmed exactly what you mean. My post is post #10, just a few up.
 
Well I never put any personal information on profile pages for any groups or forums including this one. One thing I do object to here is having to put our birth date on here which has no relevance here and not being able to delete it if we do not want it on here.
 
sally and james said:
Who says it has to be the correct birth date? Me, I was born on the 1st April 1996, which makes me just 21!
Sally
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Presumably they expect us to put our right birth date what's the point for them asking for it otherwise. My birthdate on here is wrong but that was a typo mistake but I have never bothered to get it changed no reason to
 
Total: 1,141 (members: 121, guests: 942, robots: 78)
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It's just the search engine 'bots indexing the website, they do the same on other forums I am a member of.
 
Tipetoo said:
It's just the search engine 'bots indexing the website, they do the same on other forums I am a member of.
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Hi Tipetoo. Thanks. That's reassuring to know. I'm not on any other forums so have not come across these robots anywhere else. I still wonder why they are looking at individual profiles though as well as general topics??
 
I never give out my accurate birthday on forums or FB or anywhere other than official documentation for things like banks, passports and driving licences.

I also don't give accurate info about the town in which I live. I live within 50 miles of that place, but I would never say any closer.

Of course, it gets a bit confusing when I get scattergun birthday greetings from forums and websites I used to visit years ago, but it really paid off once when a nasty character on another forum started making snide comments about knowing where my hometown (the actual supermarket I had mentioned) was. I was able to cheerfully ignore the plonker, rather than feeling stalked.
 
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