Please look after your privacy, we can't do it for you!

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

Thanks for your posts about the spam. We're aware and the team are urgently investigating. In terms of discussion could you post on the Site Feedback board thread linked to above about that, and keep this thread for discussion of the original topic if you feel you need to?

Thanks!

Andrea

Sunnylooloo

Hi Andrea and everyone

This is a very good thread. it is very easy when chatting to someone on the thread to then get chatting over PM's and then start by giving out your real name......... I feel like I do want to trust people but also understand there are some very strange people out there - one of the reasons I came off of Facebook.

Meantime it does sadden me that people are using the abuse button to get rid of posts they just don't like...... not because they are trollish it must take up so much time. I also had some trollish behaviour on the BR boards the other night.... and felt terrible that i had to keep reporting them as I am sure it must take up the abuse team's time.

One thing that i have noticed sometimes you report a post and it gets removed almost immediately at other times it seems to hang around which then must result in more people having to report it - what is the general rule/time limit for removal,

I guess the main thing to remember is you would be wary of strangers in real life so you should be wary of them on line. Also it is amazing the amount of bullying that can happen on line and this is not just to children but to adults and this is behaviour that people should not have to put up with.

However on a positive note, I have met some amazing supportive people here who are now classed as friends.

So all I can say is..... just be careful out there!

Browntoa

good article here

http://www.sophos.com/security/best-practice/facebook/

about Facebook settings

pay particular attention to displaying DOB and email addresses and location

set up lists from your friends depending on how much you want to share with them , if set correctly then only friends can see you photos and wall , and no-one can share your photo's

http://www.sophos.com/security/best-practice/facebook/contact-information.html

SusanC_2

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

Meantime it does sadden me that people are using the abuse button to get rid of posts they just don't like...... not because they are trollish it must take up so much time. I also had some trollish behaviour on the BR boards the other night.... and felt terrible that i had to keep reporting them as I am sure it must take up the abuse team's time.

You can't get rid of posts you just don't like by clicking abuse - MSE has to agree they are unacceptable. The incident referred to in the OP is abuse of the spam button in relation to a troll incident - not spurious abuse reports.

Sunnylooloo

SusanC wrote: »

You can't get rid of posts you just don't like by clicking abuse - MSE has to agree they are unacceptable. The incident referred to in the OP is abuse of the spam button in relation to a troll incident - not spurious abuse reports.

I acutally beg to differ as I know of a few occasions that someone has taken umbridge to someone posting on their thread a comment they did not like and kept reporting it so it was removed - the comment was not abusive or trollish but it still went.......

However i also agree that the spam button needs only to be used for spam as it does worry me that the abuse teams time gets taken up sorting out sillyness and real trolls/spammers get through

just my thoughts

Sunnylooloo

Browntoa wrote: »

good article here

http://www.sophos.com/security/best-practice/facebook/

about Facebook settings

pay particular attention to displaying DOB and email addresses and location

set up lists from your friends depending on how much you want to share with them , if set correctly then only friends can see you photos and wall , and no-one can share your photo's

http://www.sophos.com/security/best-practice/facebook/contact-information.html

very good - i just thought i would come off the site completely - but obv Facebook still own a number of my photos.

I also have to agree about childrens photos on FB it does frighten me a bit. someoneI know (who has had her FB account hacked before and it took over a month to sort out) posts daily photos of her new baby..................!

SusanC_2

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

I acutally beg to differ as I know of a few occasions that someone has taken umbridge to someone posting on their thread a comment they did not like and kept reporting it so it was removed - the comment was not abusive or trollish but it still went.......

However i also agree that the spam button needs only to be used for spam as it does worry me that the abuse teams time gets taken up sorting out sillyness and real trolls/spammers get through

I meant you can't automatically get a post removed just because you don't like it - not that nobody ever succeeds at getting a post removed just because they don't like it. I'm not going to comment on MSE's policy of post removal in case it makes this post get deleted. The spam button abuse was not people just being silly (although I'm sure it happens) - it was due to a real troll who appears to be allowed to get away with it.

Sunnylooloo

SusanC wrote: »

I meant you can't automatically get a post removed just because you don't like it - not that nobody ever succeeds at getting a post removed just because they don't like it. I'm not going to comment on MSE's policy of post removal in case it makes this post get deleted. The spam button abuse was not people just being silly (although I'm sure it happens) - it was due to a real troll who appears to be allowed to get away with it.

Ah ok - sorry me not reading your post properly - maybe sometimes it might be easier to get a comment removed for peace and quiet - I suppose I can understand that a bit althought this is an open forum....... Just glad I don't run it!!

Ok i missed the incident that Andrea was referring to but will just say again that I agree Spam and Abuse should be used for just that and not pressed willy nilly which I think most members appreciate??

SusanC_2

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

Ah ok - sorry me not reading your post properly - maybe sometimes it might be easier to get a comment removed for peace and quiet - I suppose I can understand that a bit althought this is an open forum....... Just glad I don't run it!!

I probably wasn't that clear - I hadn't spent much time considering my wording.

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

Ok i missed the incident that Andrea was referring to but will just say again that I agree Spam and Abuse should be used for just that and not pressed willy nilly which I think most members appreciate??

I can't say I agree with them being misused either - I just wanted to make it clear that the incident being referred to was actually about a troll rather than being pure abuse of the spam button IYSWIM.

Former_MSE_Forum_Manager

Just a quick note on the spam button.

It exists for spam, nothing more. We have had to take action against some members this week for abusing it to remove posts they didn't like. We consider this a HUGE abuse of our forum and will (and have) take strong action to prevent it being used for anything other than it's purpose. We can see exactly who pressed the button and I need to impress on people not to abuse it.

Please report all issues to abuse@. We read every single report, but we receive thousands every day, many of which can be quite serious legal threats to the site and we have limited resources. If you don't feel we are answering quick enough (remember we try and work to around 48 hours but sometimes it can be longer), my apologies but remember this is a huge forum and if you are finding any posts upsetting, it may be best to have a break from the forum to give us time to get to the reports. We don't charge you to use this forum, and the resource we have is limited to deal with the issues involved around it.

What does cause us a huge problem is people reporting, and then continuing to post and throw their tuppence worth into a thread. By the time we see the report the issue can often be a lot worse and we have to read through and try to comprehend everything that has happened since, aswell as the issues of the report. The only people who can help us on this is yourselves.

Lastly please remember we don't keep a potted history of of every thread and issue on the forum but are quite often are expected to come into this conflicts cold and understand every nuance that is going on. Added to that we have a certain faction intent on disrupting the forum by creating new accounts. Whilst they may boast they can find ways around our prevention tools, if they decide their life is best spent doing this and posting tirades that we are able to remove in seconds, that is entirely up to them, but the less you engage with them, the easier it is for us to pick up what is going on. Remember all trolls desire reaction - if you give them none there's a danger they may have to do something constructive in the real world

Hope this helps a bit - I realize at times we cannot engage with the forum on this explanatory level as much as we'd like, but a little understanding of how big this forum is, and the fact that it IS only an online forum where disruptive keyboard warriors can sit behind the safety of a keyboard and anonymity and do things they'd never do in real life is, sadly, part of what this environment contains.

I'm going to close this thread now as I think it's served it's purpose.