Suggestions

This thread has gone on for a long time and the real reasons for the request are becoming lost in the mists of time.

Could we please have a clear and concise explanation as to the benefits to the GR population as a whole for having this particular board moderated?

I accept that a security box is not going to deter spammers which are not computer generated however, I still maintain that if any board needs moderation it is FLR.

As there are so few posts on the Success Board why not let the members use this as they do the others and report any spam.

IMHO KenSE, just because a couple of staff will need to be hired to moderate that board is no excuse not to do so. Brightsolid is a big player and as such should take responsibility and moderate that board.

No TootyFruity, that would not have deterred the spammers. That system is for foiling spam generated by computers. The attacks on the Success board must have been done by a Standard member who would have had no problem typing in the security digits.

The point is that pre-moderating the success board only takes a Genes' employee a few minutes per week. To do the same for FLR would require most of one employee's time and mean the board could only operate during office hours.

For the success board, rather than moderation, a security box could be installed were you have to enter the randomly generated word or letters, or numbers or combination. This is usually enough to deter spam.

I can understand the need to find living relatives and it can be a very rewarding experience however, without having moderation on this board the person being sought personal information is being bandied about without much concern as to whether or not that person would be happy.

It is also of concern to me that members just hand over information willy nilly without investigating the back story. When I was a free member I found myself reporting a thread where an 82 year old man was being sought by his grand children. A little bit of investigation revealed that the person looking for him was not his grandchildren, they were not even his great grandchildren, not uncle, great uncle. The relationship was so tenuous I doubted whether or not he had even met the person searching (as they claimed). This 82 year old, potentially vulnerable man was put at risk by well meaning members. I would ask those that are handing over information that they do a little bit of back work to prove that the person is related as claimed and also bear in mind that not everyone wishes to be found. There may be very serious reasons why they shouldn't be found and should be taken into consideration before handing over the information.

The Success board cannot look after itself. When it was unmoderated it was spammed with adverts. The posting rate is about one or two per week whereas FLR's rate would be measured in posts per hour - a much bigger job.

If FLR were moderated the probability is that the requests would be put on Genealogical Chat or even General Chat.

If you are going to moderate one board then make it Find Living Relatives. The success board can look after itself. This is the board dealing with sensitive issues and so should receive the added security. Ideally tick the box which enables it to be hidden from search engine caches.

I personally will never like the Find Living Relatives board unless the person being sought is contacted before their details are being handed over willy nilly without their knowledge or permission, just because we can find it.

There is an adage:

Just because we can do something does not necessarily mean that we should.

I think some responsibility should be adopted as some people do not wish to be found.

it was probably about a year ago that GR staff said consideration would be given to the find living relatives board's posts being seen first by GR before being seen publicly.

Almost celebrating the first anniversary of this thread.

;-)

If I chose to post my personal details, car registration, bank account, NI number or for that matter anything else about myself that is not generally available in the public domain, onto a website, that is my business.

On the other hand if someone else chooses to post those details without my knowledge and express permission then it is a different matter entirely.

I tend to agree with Rollo's comments from last August on this one, if you don't like the board, leave it to its own devices.

Just repeating my request.

GR / Bright Solid staff:

would you be happy to see personal details about yourself in a public site?

For my part I would prefer that this board / forum was removed altogether. There are other places and other parts of the internet which deal with FLR inc lost parents and siblings in a far better way.

However it is here, it is on a commercial site and the objective is to drive up site traffic.

I suggest that if you don't like the board, leave it to its own devices.

Matthew 18:12

Pre post moderation on the FLR would not drive down site traffic.

it would mean that posters could actually be assured their post was 'suitable' and would remain on the board rather than being reported...surely that way they will get the help they seek and therefore be more likely to recommend the site to others , rather than being discouraged from using the site due to their posts disappearing and then going away with the impression it was a waste of time and money joining?

You have been banging away about this for months but you are banging on the wrong door. Gru is unlikely to make much of yr complaints as its objective is to drive up site traffic. Right now LR has a lot more posts than, say, SA, not least 'cos of the current disinterest in the rest of the site - note the dropping of site activity stats on the home page.

The general details obout a living person's tree do not contravene their right to privacy. That is why for instance the press have been able to publish details of the relatives of the royal family. If they can't buck it neither can you!

In some countries there are tight controls on access to BMD data before certain dates which can be as long as 100 years. The UK is not one of them.

However where these details are taken from sources such as GRO and 192 the data is copyright and neither GRO or 192 give the right to re publish. I suggest therefore that you present yr complaint to the copyright holders. Of course a general ruling by a UK court that barred putting copyright data from the GRO/LRO and other sources onto publicly viewable trees would pretty well sink the family history business in the UK. Be careful what you ask for.

Don´t think anybody´s listening Joy

Simon, You got it in one

Suggestions board is a decoy to let members think that GR are listening to the concerns of its members,

They do look at the board but whether they understand or take notice is debatable

Roy

It is very noticeable that there are very few postings by GR staff to these threads.

I find it disconcerting that 'they' don't appear to take any notice of anything that we members/users/subscribers say here.

Is the only purpose of these boards just to allow us to let off steam to one another rather than messaging the Help Desk?

Simon

GR is using moderation for something else as well as the success board:-

in "Photos and videos" a video appears to be "awaiting moderation".


Please, Genes Reunited, moderate the find living relatives board in the same way as the success board.

Isn't it possible for the board to be made 'invisible' from searching on the net?

I can think of at least one site that has a board for sensitive research the contents of which cannot be found by search engines.

It won't solve the problem of posts with too much personal information but at least they won't be found later by someone searching the web.

Chris

Infringement of people's privacy is the responsibility of Genes Reunited.