Suggestions

I reported a post and received the following
...............................

Dear Joy Kentish Maid
You recently requested a message board response added by first name surname (maiden name) for review giving the reason ........... .
After considering your request we believe the content to be unacceptable and outside of the terms and conditions and message board guidelines of the site. This content has therefore been removed.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Kind Regards,
Genes Reunited Support Team.

The fact that you gave a person's full name, including maiden name, in your email to me is a total invasion of privacy of that person. Please change this system.
If you need to tell me that something has been removed, please quote the person's board name; however, it is my opinion that I do not need this sort of notification anyway.

Thank you.

I also had this and did say so on your other thread on this boad "Posts requested for review"

To which GR have yet to respond

Roy

It is to be hoped that it does not happen in reverse..,,,that the RRd poster gets the details of the person who requested the removal ?

Joy

This is exactly what happened to me some weeks ago, when they sent my name to someone who had RR'd me.

I complained bitterly to them, and did get a respnse!

I was told by GR that, even though they say that your board name will be used in ALL communications if you tick the correct box on your Account page ...... this does NOT apply to communications such as the one Joy posted. They take whatever name(s) you have listed in your Account ................... in my case, my maiden surname, in the above case, both her maiden and her married name

The ONLY way to prevent this happening is to use some other name in the main part of your Account ................ that then becomes the name by which GR will have you in their records.

I am now Ms Sylvia In Canada :-D :-D

Ridiculous ....... and a complete invasion of privacy!



sylvia

I found out about my name being sent out by GR because the person responsible was so proud of what he had done that he sent me a pm! The RR was done in spite, and with a false report, as eventually became clear.

Just out of interest, this is the sequence of exchanges I had with GR about the matter.

To GR Support ...

Dear whoever,

I found the following pm when I opened GR a couple of hours ago (I am in Canada, not the UK) .................

From: xxxx
29 Feb 2012

So this is what takes place when others don't agree with you .........

Dear xxxx

You recently requested a message board response added by Sylvia (xxxxxx) for review giving the reason, Other
I can confirm that this posting has already been removed.
-----
As you will know
-----

I found this pm very interesting for 2 reasons, and very upsetting because of the second reason.

1. I had no communication from GR telling me that a post had been removed. It was left to the instigator to tell me that he had reported it under "Other" ...... and he is obviously very proud of it!

I would like to know the reason ....... obviously not abuse if he reported it under "Other"!!

I have no idea what post he is referring to ......... and am wondering whether I should start keeping copies of each and every post that I make on GR?

His opening sentence implies that he didn't agree with what I posted. Does this mean that discussion is not allowed, unless everyone agrees with everyone else? That smacks of censorship!!


2. You included my maiden surname in the pm to him.

I find this very upsetting because I have very carefully guarded both my maiden and my married surnames on this site, as well as on most other sites.

I have SylviaInCanada as my board name, and as the name on any pm that I send.

You have released information that I wanted to be kept private. I am DISGUSTED that you would do such a thing.

Please, no platitutudes in your reply!

--------

and GR's response (24 hours later!) ........

Dear Sylvia,

Thank you for your email,

I have checked our own records and I can see that when your post was removed we did fail to let you know. For that we apologise. I have re-read the thread and I can see that you were discussing the owners of our site. Whilst your comments were mostly positive towards us, we did feel that it was not necessary to discuss our current and previous owners in great detail. This is why we removed the post.

Your maiden name was included as this is the name you have added to the current surname field. This can be seen on the My Account page. I have now amended this to 'In Canada' for you.

Alternatively, on the My Account page you can opt to use your message board name for all communication through the site, rather than the name you have registered with.

If there is anything else we can do to help you please don't hesitate to ask.

Kind Regards,
Lisa

--------

and the reply back to that email ............

Dear Lisa

Thank you for your email.

OK, I can see that ....... although I do fail to understand why one cannot discuss on the site information that is in the public domain, and can be found by anyone googling the history of GR and its parent company FR,

However, so be it.

I was far more upset by the use of my maiden name.

I would point out that I do have SylviaInCanada both as my board name AND the name to use when sending messages. That is what is showing right now .......... and I also check regularly every few months with friends that SylviaInCanada is what shows when they receive a pm from me. I last checked with them in January.

So, all communications through the site SHOULD have been as SylviaInCanada, with no mention of birth or married surname.

I still think that it was an appalling break of privacy.

Sincerely

------

and THIS was their final response ...............

Dear Sylvia
Thanks for your feedback on this
I can confirm my colleague has amended your details so your surname and maiden name now do not appear anywhere in your profile information.
I'm sorry for any distressed caused but your name will never be revealed again. I do hope this does not spoil your enjoyment of the site.

Kind Regards,
Rachel

---------------------------


I think the lesson from this, and the email that Joy has received is very clear ................

IF YOU WANT YOUR NAME TO REMAIN PRIVATE, AND NEVER BE RELEASED BY GR .............. MAKE SURE YOUR "MY ACCOUNT" DETAILS DO NOT INCLUDE ANY OF YOUR REAL NAMES

Because, regardless of what GR says, they WILL release your private details if it suits them. Even if you have ticked that your Board Name is to be used in all communications.




sylvia

So what has happened to all the 'data protection' rubbish that keeps being used everywhere else?
My dentist can, apparantly, no longer leave me a reminder of my appointment on my home answerphone because of data protection and I am fed up with people phoning me and then inisisting I prove who I am, because of that 'Data protection'.
So what rules are Genes following??

Yet again:
Dear Joy Kentish Maid
You recently requested a message board response added by name (surname) for review giving the reason ........... .
After considering your request we believe the content to be unacceptable and outside of the terms and conditions and message board guidelines of the site. This content has therefore been removed.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Kind Regards,
Genes Reunited Support Team.

Giving a person's name in your email to me is a total invasion of privacy of that person.

http://www.sog.org.uk/leaflets/dpa2.pdf

Thank you all for bringing this to my attention - This is obviously an automated email that was set up some time ago. It does now feel out of date to show this amount of information in the email, so we will be reviewing the information shown. I will update you shortly once a decision has been made about how to deal with this in a more private manner.

Thanks

Katie

Katie, whilst your reply is welcome and hope you manage to get the relevant changes done asap,

May i point out that the data protection act has been around for many years now but in it's current form with just the odd amendments since 1998 and it came into force in 2000? in it's new form, so based on that your automated email ( It does now feel out of date ) it appears it was never in date,

Just saying :-D

Roy

This email has now been changed and will only reveal the first name of the person whose post you have requested to be reviewed.

Katie

Should it not just have the persons board name?

Quite, Island.
It should not reveal the first name of the person whose post you have requested to be reviewed, but the person's board name.

Island, I think that a first name would satisfy data protection and privacy laws, but unless the person who RR'd a thread is a serial RR-er it would not make that much difference whether it was the board name or a first name

although my personal preference would be the board name

Roy

The automated email used to show the board name.

I understand that Roy but before I realised that my real name was revealed by clicking on my board name I was really creeped out by someone who made it their business to do just that and refer to me by my real first name on the boards - because he 'refused to use 'silly names'.

I changed that immediately but the point is, if I wanted my real name known by all I wouldn't use a board name.

Think I´ve lost the plot.
I thought we used board names to protect our identity from other users & that we would only give our "real details" to someone we were in contact with if we felt it was appropriate, not that Genes could give out the information to all & sundry.

No, you have not lost the plot. Your reasoning was the same as mine when I requested that the person's board name be quoted, not a person's real name, if it was felt necessary to send this sort of notification anyway.

that was my understanding as well ...... it we ticked the box in My Account, ONLY our board name would be used in ALL correspondence



so GR has been breaking its own rules :-D

Nothing new there Sylvia.
They seem to make them up as they go along.