VF, Social Sharing, Privacy Concerns

[Lordmuppet]

Hi everyone,

So I came up with an idea that would significantly increase the numbers of people we could bring to the site but I wanted to run it by members first in case anyone had concerns about it.

The idea is to put facebook, twitter and google plus social 'share' buttons on ALL threads. This would function like (though maybe look different to) the 'share' button at the top of this story http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/201211255459324484.html. Someone just needs to click the share button and can post the thing to their wall or group or page etc in another click.

By doing this we enable people to share threads with just two clicks whereas currently they have to cut and past the url.

I realise that some people may have privacy concerns about this in particular regarding training logs. Allow me to try and respond to these in advance.

a) regarding privacy I hope everyone already realises that all posts here (except the members photo and video section for which you have to log in) are visible to the rest of the internet who can not only see but share. Admittedly, the sharing button makes them MORE visible and easier to share but still I would always recommend that (even in the absence of a share button) people assume that the whole word can see what they write here. Yes we are posting under pseudonyms but again I would always recommend assuming that people have found out what your handle is. I'm a bit of a paranoid android on this stuff but still.

b) we could (I think) build in an exception for training logs so that these don't have the share button

Anyway let's hear what people think

edited in light of Fredickw's comment below

[fredrikw]

(except the phwoar thread for which you have to log in)

Actually, to be a bit more exact the whole subforum "Member Photos and Videos" have this restriction, not just that thread, in order to encourage sharing among fellow VF members without it getting public to search engines and the rest of the world.

[Fallen_Horse]

Share it up! My privacy is dead already, and getting more attention to VF is a great thing I think....

[Talyn]

I think it's fine as long as the photos section is left out, that's basically the current setting with regards to privacy.

Adding this for training logs would be great, and probably its best feature.

[mouche]

I am absolutely cool with, and in favour of, everything that has been said above!

[Lordmuppet]

(except the phwoar thread for which you have to log in)

Actually, to be a bit more exact the whole subforum "Member Photos and Videos" have this restriction, not just that thread, in order to encourage sharing among fellow VF members without it getting public to search engines and the rest of the world.

thanks Fredrikw I'll edit my original post

[thestoatyone]

Yeah, I'm happy with that.

[Speciell]

I'll just go and freak out in a corner... It's not a logical thing, but I like to keep things separate. It seems to me that it would be easier for people to connect my real name to my alias but maybe it'll be just the same as now, with the restrictions that Talyn suggested. I would really like the restrictions to apply to photosection.

[Lordmuppet]

I'll just go and freak out in a corner... It's not a logical thing, but I like to keep things separate. It seems to me that it would be easier for people to connect my real name to my alias but maybe it'll be just the same as now, with the restrictions that Talyn suggested. I would really like the restrictions to apply to photosection.

Thanks for sharing your concerns yep I think we are all in agreement to keep the buttons off the photo section.

Could you elaborate on the alias-real name concern? Is the worry that, for example, if the two of us are both VF members are fb friends I could share a thread, tag you in it and comment in a way that strongly suggests which alias is yours. Like I said (and you also mentioned) this is all possible just now as anyone can copy and paste the url onto a social media post, tag you and comment etc etc.

So yeah (as far as I can see) this creates no new privacy problems as we are just making something which is already very easy to do (don't have to be a techie person to copy and paste a url). People are already doing it with our threads), easier.

If there is anything else we can do to make it less scary please let me know That the privacy issues already exist doesn't mean that we couldn't try to improve them. Perhaps we could add some guidelines to people suggesting they don't do certain things on social media to cut down on well intentioned breaches of privacy (e.g. me linking to your training log and tagging you on fb so it is obvious what your alias is).

[Lordmuppet]

Okay so Baldy has put the social buttons up. Sadly, we were unable to keep them off the members/photos bit (Badly can explain the technical reasons for those interested) as we said we would but two things to bear in mind

1) people still have to log in to get into this area. This includes facebook etc friends of members.
2) even without the share buttons people can share stuff. Only difference is that now they can do it in less clicks of the mouse.

Hopefully people aren't too upset about this but if you are let us know and we can look at a solution

[baldy]

Okay so Baldy has put the social buttons up.

Can anyone actually see them? Had unconfirmed reports that they might not be working.

[kallefs]

Nope, not sure what to look for but I guess I should find them anyway?

[blinki]

I could see them. Then I logged in to say so and they disappeared.

[baldy]

Nope, not sure what to look for but I guess I should find them anyway?

They are to the left of the "quote" or "edit" buttons. Probably a caching issues, heavy shift+F5 might fix it.

I could see them. Then I logged in to say so and they disappeared.

That is very annoying, I hope the issue is cache related and will fix itself.
Any webdev guru's want to give a hand to fix then please shout.

[blinki]

I don't know what caching is but I can see them now and didn't do anything other than leave the site and come back