Re: This thread in The BBQ Pit.
Is there an official policy concerning the gathering and releasing of personal information about another poster without their permission? If not, shouldn’t there be?
Not sure what the Board could have to say about gathering information. I mean, our Mods are the most competent jackbooted thugs around but I can’t see how they can prevent googling.
Releasing information, sure.
Should fall pretty firmly under the “Don’t be a jerk” rule.
I just googled “how they can prevent googling” and this thread was the first hit. Also the second hit was that thing you did to little Susy Breckinmayer in third grade. :eek:
That’s why I used the word “and” instead of “or”.
<Sheldon>
Sarcasm ??
</Sheldon>
Who the person actually is in real life or other personal details. Don’t do it IMO. Even if its easy for you to do, don’t throw it out there for other folks not so inclined.
On the flip side, “Hey, I figured out who this dufuss actually is and trust me he doesn’t know squat about quantum physics and is NOT a physics professor…trust me on this”…okay IMO.
How about a post like “I won’t tell you who she is, but I called/am going to call her”? Fall under the “Don’t be a jerk” rule? The admission would be on-Board, but the action would be off-Board.
Referring back to the thread in question, I don’t really see how anyone but SL did anything wrong (and what he did wasn’t related to gathering or releasing information).
Why would my post be sarcastic? It was pretty straightforward and appropriate. Posting personal details would be a jerkish thing to do, and therefore would violate the “Don’t be a jerk” rule.
Could someone summarize the issue? That thread looks really stupid and I’d rather not have to read it.
AClockWorkMelon found and linked to posts from pchaos on another board where he also claimed to be an attorney and got accused of trollery. The forum those posts came from included pchaos’ real name.
Simple Linctus did some internet detective work to find more personal information about pchaos (something I’ve certainly done in the past, though not for pchaos) but took it a step further and actually called a phone number he found and left a voicemail with a “password” for pchaos to share with the board to prove he’s the attorney he says he is.
Overwhelming consensus is that SL went way over the line in attempting phone contact off-board, and I agree.
I’ve opened a discussion of these issues among the mods to make sure we’re on the same page. But my understanding has always been this: a poster’s personal information is rarely relevant to discussions on the board. That’s the case here even though I will admit I also had my doubts about this poster’s claims about himself. Our main piece of advice is that posters should be very careful about posting this kind of information about themselves. Once it’s out there, other people can find it and they may do things with it that you don’t like. Even if we didn’t allow people to post it here it can be shared privately or on other boards, so banning it here wouldn’t do much of anything. We also generally don’t moderate off-board behavior. I think that would include Simple Linctus’s dumbass stunt, but like I say, I’m confirming that the other mods agree with me.
A random thought using the Golden Rule of Ethics.
If YOU aren’t willing to have your personal info spread far and wide here on the SDMB…ughhhh…don’t do it to someone else…even if they are the worst poster here.
Suggestion: if your e-mail address includes your real name, don’t put it in your profile.
Suggestion: don’t stalk other posters.
That too, but it’s going to happen, so protect yourself.
All good suggestions. And Czarcasm, Really Not All That Bright’s post isn’t a defense of “stalking,” however you’re defining that. It’s a suggestion that posters who are concerned about their privacy should be careful about the information they make available.
Does anyone else who lives at your address, which is 1234 Bluebird Lane, feel the same way?
No. It’s being a jerk, and creepy.