Background: we recently took a vacation out of the country. As we were waiting to check out, I grabbed the bound guestbook and wrote a quick comment about the place signing my real name, city and state.
Weeks later, we were showing their website to friends and looked at the user comments. There was my comment transcribed from the guestbook. They spelled some things wrong which made it look kinda silly, but that’s OK. But it included my real name, city and state.
I was a little shocked at seeing that. I certainly didn’t expect what I wrote in the guestbook to be transcribed and posted on the web. I never post my real name on a website. My intended audience was other people reading the physical guestbook, not everyone in the World.
These are really nice people, and I’m not upset enough to bitch at them about it, I’m just wondering if you would be upset at the general concept of transcribing your guestbook comments to a website w/o your permission.
I would be, a little. If you had known the whole world would be able to read what you wrote, maybe you would have omitted some things, such as your real name and location. By not telling you they would post your comments online, that control over your private info was taken out of your hands.
But honestly, I probably would be more upset that they added typos to my comments. Just because you can’t spell doesn’t mean I can’t either, you know?
However, the rational thing to do would be to build a web site with a similar name and trash, satirize, and brutalize them in front of the entire world. Denial of service attacks will shut down their web site and spam flooding will block their e-mail. Once you think they have had enough, send them a note describing where and how to send the check and all will be forgiven.
Several years ago I left a feedback comment on a contractor’s referral website about a plumbing job I had set up through them. I assumed my comments were confidential and directed only to the specific contractor who did the work, but lo and behind a few weeks later my comments/name/city were right there on the front page of the website. Except they had edited my statement to include the “plumber was on-time for the appointment and did an excellent job” portion, while snipping out the “ridiculously expensive” comment that followed. I emailed and asked for them to remove my comments but got no response. I just let it go because the website seemed to get very little traffic and in fact was shuttered within months.
I’d imagine any opinion presented anywhere would be fair game for advertising purposes. Business quote Yelp reviews on their sites all the time. I’d be a bit annoyed with the full name + hometown, but otherwise, why shouldn’t, or rather wouldn’t they?
I workin a marketing department and for one product we use customer testimonials. When you sign the comment form you MUST check the box that gives us permission to reprint it. If you check “No” or don’t check anything, then your comment is off limits to us.
You should be able to contact the hotel in writing and tell them that you do not publicly endorse them and ask them to remove your comment.
A legal issue. Technically, you own copyright on what you write and putting it up without permission is a violation. However, since you aren’t likely to register your copyright, you can only force them to take it down.
Everyone in the world isn’t reading it, only the ones who make their way to that small hotel’s site and read the comments, just like the only people to read the guest book are those who are in the lobby where it is. The hotel could become wildly successful and grow into a huge resort, with hundreds, maybe thousands of visitors a month. They might keep the old guestbooks on display to give the megaplex a homey feeling, and just as many people would see your comments with your location as are probably seeing it now on their website.
If you’re bugged about it, it looks like you may have legal precedence to tell them to remove it, but as far as the difference in the effect on your personal privacy, I’d call it a wash. One of the hotel’s guests could be just as evil with the info as someone who spies it on the web.
Any day now, your 7th Grade English teacher is going to call you to
discuss your spelling and grammatical errors. And a note will go home
to your mother.
Guys, I’m just asking if you personally would be upset. I’m not interested in going after them / asking or forcing them to remove it / etc. We’re talking sleepy little fishing village in Mexico here - no big deal, I was just curious about my initial reaction and wondered if others would also feel weird about the same situation.
But what else would such comments be used for? Warm & fuzzy feelings are well and good, but when someone is volunteering a positive review of your place, of course you’re going to pass it on.
