Asking not to post personal details

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the insistence of asking people to not post personal details. I'm fine with advising not to for all the right reasons. But if people want to expose their personal details like they do everywhere else on the internet then why do the ask. Just do the advise.

It seems that the mods will even edit out details. Why bother? Just advise the person that the information that they've exposed is visible to the world. Direct them to Edit Reply if they so wish. Inform them that asking for mod type help in the open community won't do it and that they have to send that information in a private message. Then they can decide for themselves if they want to bother hiding it.

[srlawren]

@NDesai I'm not going to quote your whole last reply but it's literally a perfect explanation....

...not that one should even be required.  I don't get why this is even a question.  This thread should have died off long ago.  

[ute1978]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Well now y'all're gonna get accused of feeding a troll.

Oh wow. Yes, guilty. Now what? Dwell on it as long as you get fed? I think all of us already got your point.

[NDesai]

Those who post their personal info here usually do not know that this is a online forum. They think they are directly contacting the support team. Even after advising, they will not come back to delete their posts because they are not yet familiar with the community layout and learned how to navigate. In this case, it is much easier for us or mods to edit out info as it's quicker. Sometimes users post personal info when mods are not online and that's when we come in. If everyone knew that this community is pubic, no one would dare to post any personal details just like no one would tweet any personal info to companies because it can be visible to anyone. 

Just because new users do not know what the community is and do not yet know how to navigate, we cannot just leave their personal info out in the public and wait for them to edit. I don't see any end user tweeting their personal details or listing on instagram or facebook.

Those community users who try to help by telling users not to post should tag Oracles that are currently online. I believe this is the quickest way to remove personal info. 

[Anonymous]

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@will13am wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@anya wrote:

As noted by a couple of people here, forums need ground rules which have to be enforced equally across the board. It helps maintain the integrity and quality of discussion. Besides, pm needs to monitor the posting of personal info in order to protect itself. Imagine the scrutiny this whole forum would be under if someone came to harm after posting something personal!

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Sure rules. Got it.

I'm not a big fan of being protected from myself. If I do something to myself, that is my fault. That's on me. If I post private information out in the open and some ill will comes my way then that's my fault. Not the place I posted it.

But this is speaking entirely theoretically. I'm well aware that that is not reality for many people and companies. It sucks. Have some dang personal responsibility. But unfortunately here we are.

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Try this theory on the case of the lady in the US who successfully sued McDonald's because the coffee was hot.  If someone experiences any kind of personal loss due to posting of personal information in this forum, rest assured the litigious type will be making a strong case that Public Mobile did not discharge their fiduciary duty to inform the users on this forum about the perils of posting personal information here.  Just cool your jets, you are digging a real deep hole for youself with the groundless opposition. 

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I am in no hole. This is a discussion of the styles employed to "help" people protect their privacy. Now it's all about protecting PM. Ok.

Of course I'm aware of the litigiousness infecting our society. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I'm lamenting the fact that we're where we are and that wouldn't it be better if it wasn't so. That and can't we all just get along. Without someone needing to do the dirty job and be the harsh dictator.

[will13am]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@anya wrote:

As noted by a couple of people here, forums need ground rules which have to be enforced equally across the board. It helps maintain the integrity and quality of discussion. Besides, pm needs to monitor the posting of personal info in order to protect itself. Imagine the scrutiny this whole forum would be under if someone came to harm after posting something personal!

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Sure rules. Got it.

I'm not a big fan of being protected from myself. If I do something to myself, that is my fault. That's on me. If I post private information out in the open and some ill will comes my way then that's my fault. Not the place I posted it.

But this is speaking entirely theoretically. I'm well aware that that is not reality for many people and companies. It sucks. Have some dang personal responsibility. But unfortunately here we are.

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Try this theory on the case of the lady in the US who successfully sued McDonald's because the coffee was hot.  If someone experiences any kind of personal loss due to posting of personal information in this forum, rest assured the litigious type will be making a strong case that Public Mobile did not discharge their fiduciary duty to inform the users on this forum about the perils of posting personal information here.  Just cool your jets, you are digging a real deep hole for youself with the groundless opposition. 

[Anonymous]

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@anya wrote:

As noted by a couple of people here, forums need ground rules which have to be enforced equally across the board. It helps maintain the integrity and quality of discussion. Besides, pm needs to monitor the posting of personal info in order to protect itself. Imagine the scrutiny this whole forum would be under if someone came to harm after posting something personal!

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Sure rules. Got it.

I'm not a big fan of being protected from myself. If I do something to myself, that is my fault. That's on me. If I post private information out in the open and some ill will comes my way then that's my fault. Not the place I posted it.

But this is speaking entirely theoretically. I'm well aware that that is not reality for many people and companies. It sucks. Have some dang personal responsibility. But unfortunately here we are.

I get that there are rules. What I've been questioning all along is how they are being transmitted. They could be helpful. Or they could be dictatorial. It seems for the most part that the accepted style is the latter. I find that unfortunate for a so-called community of people presumably trying to be helpful to one another.

As I said, I will remain as a customer. And an enthusiastic one at that. And as I also said, this so-called community maybe not so much.

[will13am]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well...this IS the Discussion section. We ought to be able to discuss all we want. But apparently not.

I am not an authoritarian. Nor do I like those that are. Blind obedience has never been one of my strengths. Trying to affect change is one of my strong motivators. But authoritarians don't like that for obvious reasons. I'm more of a live and let live, personal responsibility kinda person.

So feeling rather unwelcome and from more than one occassion, I think I'll just step off here. The authoritarians can have it and the Rewards that I guess they're reaping. I'm happy with PM so I'll still remain a customer. But the repeating questions that I've already seen in just my very short time here and then the blind authoritarianism has quite turned me off of this so-called "Community".

I might pop in on occassion and I'm sure get summarily ignored but we'll see. No bridges being burned...just disillusioned.

Cheers

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Just to show that you are not being ignored, I will respond yet again.  I fully respect free speech and the right to saying what is on your mind provided that it is not illegal and immoral.  You have every right to continue to disagree the the rules.  I was merely suggesting that you have made your point loud and clear and saying the same thing over and over and over serves no purpose.  This is especially when you have no other backers.  Call it what you want, society without rules is anarchy.  I do not get joy from arguing with other members here.  As I said, it is a dirty job and somebody has to do it.  I get no additional rewards for this, perhaps a reputation as being an enforcer and nothing more.  I do see that you are transitioning through the 5 stages of grief.  Eventually, you will reach acceptance.  When you do come back and take an active role in supporting a service that we all really feel passionate about. 

[Anonymous]

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@ute1978 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

 Can we be nice about it though rather than bringing down the hammer. Every. Time.

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Well, I like the hammer. No worries, members can handle a little "demand" like you call it. Maybe it is just you who is offended by it.

What helping members intend to do is to protect other members from identity theft. As simple as that.

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Well now y'all're gonna get accused of feeding a troll.

I'm not offended. I'm not affected. I wasn't one being told not to expose personal information. I have no horse in this race. I merely observed these repeated demands to remove personal information and wondered why. Helping sure. Advising sure. Suggesting sure. But the thou shalt not show your personal information bit was getting tiresome every time after the equally tiresome repetitive time someone again exposed personal information.

Just pull out that handy dandy macro of canned text and guide the unknowing user to their private nirvana.

But yes...some people are more amenable to commandments from on high. I don't think it's necessary. Especially in a volunteer forum such as this. It's bossy. It's pushy. It's rude. It's unwelcoming. It's domineering. It's anti-community.

But apparently completely fine with everyone here seeing as how the people arguing for this kind of anti-social behaviour are getting bravos and hear hear's. And yet...everyone has the same intent. All good. It's the words and style used that brought my question on behalf of those unknowing people. Thus the discussion where apparently I'm completely alone in what I'm saying. Alas.

[anya]

As noted by a couple of people here, forums need ground rules which have to be enforced equally across the board. It helps maintain the integrity and quality of discussion. Besides, pm needs to monitor the posting of personal info in order to protect itself. Imagine the scrutiny this whole forum would be under if someone came to harm after posting something personal!

[ute1978]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 Can we be nice about it though rather than bringing down the hammer. Every. Time.

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Well, I like the hammer. No worries, members can handle a little "demand" like you call it. Maybe it is just you who is offended by it.

What helping members intend to do is to protect other members from identity theft. As simple as that.

[Anonymous]

 @Orz

While incurring the wrath of the almighty Oracles who were probably thinking good don't let the door hit you and then what you're back already, I'll respond to a non-Oracle.

Help is one thing. That's what I'm suggesting. The way that many here are "helping" those unknowing users is to basically demand that they remove their personal information. That's not helping. That's just dictating. If they stated in their "demands" that as per rule such and such no personal information is allowed here then while still being demanding...at least there's something behind it other than blind authority.

All of what you said can be said helpingly. Even with the rule. It seems to me that it's always being said demandingly though. And that's no community spirit in any definition that I know of.

This is not a rant. It has always been an observational feedback question in a DISCUSSION section. @wetcoaster had the most helpful answer...it's da rules. Fine. Can we be nice about it though rather than bringing down the hammer. Every. Time.

[Orz]

The purpose of the Community is to help each other. Helping someone to protect their personal info and better understand the nature of the forum is one of those purposes.

When no one tells these users to edit out their personal info, there will be a lot of malicious people lurking here preying on uninformed users. This will do no good for the users, the community and PM.

People giving out their info here thinking the Community =  Mods are either uninformed, or simply desperate to resolve urgent issues. When you are stuck you often cannot think straight and mistakes happen. It is great to have people willing to help each other.

[Anonymous]

Well...this IS the Discussion section. We ought to be able to discuss all we want. But apparently not.

I am not an authoritarian. Nor do I like those that are. Blind obedience has never been one of my strengths. Trying to affect change is one of my strong motivators. But authoritarians don't like that for obvious reasons. I'm more of a live and let live, personal responsibility kinda person.

So feeling rather unwelcome and from more than one occassion, I think I'll just step off here. The authoritarians can have it and the Rewards that I guess they're reaping. I'm happy with PM so I'll still remain a customer. But the repeating questions that I've already seen in just my very short time here and then the blind authoritarianism has quite turned me off of this so-called "Community".

I might pop in on occassion and I'm sure get summarily ignored but we'll see. No bridges being burned...just disillusioned.

Cheers

[will13am]

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@srlawren wrote:

@will13am hear hear!

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It is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

[srlawren]

@will13am hear hear!

[will13am]

@Anonymous, I think you are taking your rant beyond reason.  You've expressed your displeasure which you are entitled to.  An approriate response has been given.  There is no point in continuing the argument without further rationale.  It is fact that there are rules against the posting of personal information on this public forum.  When rules are transgressed, Public Mobile and those who are tasked with upholding the rules governing use of this forum have every right to take enforcement actions, including editing and/or removing the offending information.  Escalating enforcement can include being banned from the forum for willful and perpetual rules violation.  We don't have to like it, however, the rules must be followed when using this forum. 

[Anonymous]

@mtfolks: I'm not calling anybody out. Just wondering about the demanding nature. I think it's great that people are concerned for the privacy of others.

@ShawnC13: You can demand all you want for what you do or do not want to recieve.

@wetcoaster: It's in a list of what not to do and many of them would be generally thought of as rules but even the wording here is more towards advice. But also has a bit of a rule flavour to it 🙂

[wetcoaster · Accepted solution]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for the replies @matbasm, @MacMe, @GreatCanadian, @ShawnC13.

All laudable sentiments but also all advice. Which is fine.

All of the posts that I see are about asking people in a commanding kind of way not to as though there's some kind of rule or something as opposed to advising them that maybe they shouldn't and here's why and here's what you can do about it.

While interesting that maybe someone could come back on you for having their personal information...you still get them even though you say not to (which in this case is not advice...it's...no don't send me personal information!).

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It's actually clearly stated in the community rules.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/Welcome-To-Our-Community/ta-p/641

Is it highly visible? No. But it's there.

I don't remember if there are "Get started in the community" links in your sign-up e-mail. IMO there should be. It would also be nice to have this stuff better visibile on the community landing page.

I personally have a tendency to familiarize myself with the rules if I'm fresh on a forum, but I acknowledge that I seem to be in the minority.

[Anonymous]

Hey username. You may not be aware that this forum (Community) is open to the internet as a whole. Anyone can see your personal details that you just posted. If that concerns you then click on the 3 dots to the upper right of your post just above the time stamp and select Edit Reply and edit the personal information out of your post.

If you need something resolved in your My Account then only send personal information through a private message to Moderators.

Otherwise, all the great people here will be only too willing to assist you with (non-account) matters in the Community.

[ShawnC13]

I say please in my request to not send me private info lol

[mtfolks]

This seems like a quibble about tone, right? You could maybe argue about people saying it in a nicer way but the fact of the matter is posting personal details including ones that could allow someone to access someone else’s account is extremely bad for the person that’s made the mistake. I think peoples responses are generally a reaction to that. 

And yeah sure someone may edit the post for them but that may not happen immediately and the sooner it’s removed the better. 

Overall, I think those responding are providing a service to the newbie and I don’t think deserve to be called out for doing so. Just my opinion. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the replies @matbasm, @MacMe, @GreatCanadian, @ShawnC13.

All laudable sentiments but also all advice. Which is fine.

All of the posts that I see are about asking people in a commanding kind of way not to as though there's some kind of rule or something as opposed to advising them that maybe they shouldn't and here's why and here's what you can do about it.

While interesting that maybe someone could come back on you for having their personal information...you still get them even though you say not to (which in this case is not advice...it's...no don't send me personal information!).

[ShawnC13]

@Anonymous, I have the message in my signature because I have been sent phone number, mailing address, DOB, and all credit card info in a private message to me before.  I would rather not have any of that thanks because if something were to ever happen I am sure the person would be like oh well I sent this person my info to get some help and now there are all these charges on my card.

[GreatCanadian]

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@matbasm wrote:

@Anonymous, ..... in many cases that the person posting is new to whole 'on-line' thing, and are often not even aware that the info is public.  They probably think they are giving their info to Public Mobile staff....

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^This right here. That's the reason for the advice, and sometimes that advice may even come across as a little stern. But if you read through some of the thousands of posts, the users were obviously unaware that they were posting personal details to a public forum. And for the most part, they were quite thankful after being informed.

GC

[MacMe]

If my mom posted her personal information on the internet by accident, I would hope someone would inform of that and guide her on how to remove it.

[matbasm]

@Anonymous, Asking vs advising.  The objective is to not have people expose their personal information here.  It is clear in many cases that the person posting is new to whole 'on-line' thing, and are often not even aware that the info is public.  They probably think they are giving their info to Public Mobile staff.

In the end, community members are simply trying to help those who are unaware...  Wording (I think) is irrelevant.

Did I miss your point somehow?