An SDMB user recently flagged this post:
… with the comment that it may violate this SDMB rule:
No posting of personal information. To reiterate the above, do not post others’ private contact information (email, phone, mailing address, etc.), whether or not they are public figures. When speaking of others who are not public figures, do not use real names and be cautious in your use of details that could enable individuals to be identified.
The flagged post contains a link to a LinkedIn profile. We do not believe the cited post violates our rules and offer the following clarifications:
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Public LinkedIn profiles, by their nature, are information that LinkedIn members wish to have publicly known. It is not against our rules to repost links to public information, including LinkedIn profiles or any other online resource expressly intended to promote someone or something.
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It’s possible, as in the cited post, to use publicly available information to draw conclusions about those posting such information. This is not, in itself, a violation of SDMB rules.
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We reserve the right to take action in special cases, such as when private information is publicly posted without the permission of the owner. For example, if a hacker stole credit card numbers and reposted them publicly, we would consider posting a link to such information to be a violation of our rules.
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In the cited case, a poster later in the thread said they had sent a note to the owner of the LinkedIn profile asking whether she had had a previous career as an actress. Those posting LinkedIn profiles can reasonably expect to receive occasional queries. We do not consider such queries to be harassment as defined in our rules. We reserve the right to take action in special cases – for example, promoting a campaign to flood a LinkedIn user with messages.
We believe the distinction between public and private information is reasonably clear and reflects common sense. If you are uncertain whether information you wish to post is appropriate, we encourage you to contact a staff member to get a pre-determination.