What was that about not posting anything that could be used against you later?
Yeah, maybe an I LOVE iguanas thread.
The OP is being pretty vague about it. He never uses the SDMB in class but kids magically found out about him?
What’s vague about it? He shows them threads he finds interesting, so I’m sure he’s participated in some of them.
Bingo. Kids ain’t dumb. If they see the same name appearing all the time in the “interesting threads” the teacher shows them, they’re going to put two and two together.
Again, not the smartest thing ever to do. But still a malicious thing for the kid to do, to post that info around. Your phone number and address can be “public information” too but that doesn’t excuse a kid putting up “Mr. Teacher lives at ___________ and his phone number is _________” signs all over school.
I read a post where he denied using the SDMB in class, so I didn’t see that. But I suppose if he was showing them threads, then yeah, it’s not too hard to figure it out.
Actually, I think I read this as, “This site doesn’t enter my classroom” when he must have meant that the adult threads do not.
ETA: Agreed that it was a bad thing for the student to do. It’s mean spirited and cruel.
Though as we agreed, it’s probably best not to share the SDMB with anyone. I often feel the urge to share stuff with others, but I’ve resisted it out of paranoia and I don’t even post very much personal stuff. The life of a Doper is a lonely one.
The student could have accessed it at home. Is your principal really that clueless about the way the Internet works?
You can actually make something positive about this. Your students can be taught that posting stuff they really don’t want a future employer or date to see on FaceBook or MySpace is a big mistake. If they use your experience to preserve their privacy, it would be a very good thing.
What are you talking about, Duke? I said “good luck keeping your job.” How can that be construed as “you should be fired?”
Why do you think he needs luck keeping his job? You were the only person in this thread to even mention that.
For showing the kids the SDMB in class.
This is the whole post in context.
Per OP’s OP:
I’d say they participate in some of them, and the students know damn well what his username, so there is no need for more speculation there, as it is apparently snowballing here.
It’s not saying “You should be fired”, but it did seem pretty malevolent, based on what you said in the post. It could have been looked at in a hopeful manner, though, it didn’t seem that way.
So do you think Green Bean was saying he should be fired or not? She says she didn’t.
Well, I get the feeling it was more that school admins might not be cool with this kind of thing being shown to kids.
While we do have forensic tools available, please remember that real life isn’t CSI. It might (might) be possible to determine what computer was used to post a particular message, but it would be near impossible to prove who was using it. And when it comes to determining who was just reading and printing a thread, that would be an almost hopeless endeavor–especially since they probably weren’t logged in at the time.
NOTE: Performing that kind of forensic analysis on our users is sometimes required for rooting out spammers and trolls, but we do not make this information public. The SDMB powers that be would be highly unlikely to do that research or analysis for someone else unless compelled to by subpoena.
If you and the students are only reading threads in class, there’s no reason to be signed in at all. Only if you are posting from the classroom would you need a username. As tomndebb mentioned, you’re not allowed multiple usernames.
Remember that everyone’s work situation is different. I own my own bookstore, and will do what I wish on the computers when I wish. I owned a software company back in the days when recompiling a program could take a half hour or more. I had no problem with my programmers doing other things while they waited. When I worked for a big company with an IT department, the rule was that we could do as we wished (within reason) during our lunch breaks. I’d frequently sit at my desk at lunch and browse Web comics and message boards–or even check personal email.
Question is, DO the school admins know the direct source of the material? Very likely, yes, but this isn’t a known fact yet.
Direct source of what? These threads?
The source of the material being plastered all over the school.
It’s unclear whether or not it’s known the SDMB was involved (ETA: could very well be plain text on the papers rather than printouts from the Dope displayings it’s logo/URL) , and if the admins even know it was being used in the classroom.
Ah, okay, sorry, I thought you meant the threads that the OP was showing his students.
Yeah, that is a good question. It’s a bit different if it’s print outs of the actual threads or if it’s stuff like, “MR. _____ GOT A DIVORCE.” Or if it was copy/paste of the thread into a black Word doc.
Well, yeah. Of course. What else would I have meant?
I don’t know. I was responding to Duke who made it seem you were saying that the OP should be fired whereas I thought it seemed like you were saying to be careful with what the OP brings to the classroom.
Oh, I know. I wasn’t responding to you because you clearly understood what I was saying. (and thanks for the backup) I was responding to others who somehow took “good luck” to mean something bad.
Sheesh. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, you know?