Public or Private?

[SeeyaGal]

Just to let my forum Sisters know that this forum is Public NOT private. I thought when we sign in it's private and it is not!! I had to delete a thread because I mentioned a "Name". That name was googled and up popped the forum!
Please be aware there are "other people" in here and not all of them are RV gals

only "private" info on the forums are your Password, Private Messages, and the email address stored in your Profile. The Private Messages can only be seen by you and the recipient. The email address can only be seen by registered members, who have logged in. Everything posted is eventually copied by Google, and can be found on their servers even if it's later deleted on ours. This lack of privacy is not unique to our forums, just about EVERYTHING on the Internet is stored on multiple servers and with enough imagination can be found by anyone wanting to do so. Deleting something doesn't mean it's still not available elsewhere. -

I learned a shocking lesson from this!

[pattyk]

Jenny, thanks for posting that here. I saw that earlier today. We do all have to be careful using names, etc.

I will still be thinking of you as something similar has happened in my family.

[retiredhappy]

a good reminder -Always assume NOTHING on the internet is private. Its probably okay to post photos of yourself or your family BUT be careful that none of your posts would indicate where they could be located. I have no problem saying where I am located. Unless you have an exhusband who is stalking you, the chances that anyone would tract you down are pretty slim. Its not like any of us are famous and stalkers are looking for us. Welcome to the 21st century.

[Bethers]

Actually - most of that is true- but it's not Google that saves things - there are sites that save everything - you can find a website and what it looked like several years ago - and all the changes in between.

When Google - or any of the se's cache a page to be able to give search results, they save the latest copy in their "memory banks" to help them decide. But when they reread the pages, those pages get updated. So if a page is deleted, it will, eventually, go out of their search memory. However, that can and does take time. But the websites that save the old pages - those never get deleted.

Yes, there are password protected pages that only those with passwords can see. And there are even forums that way. And we could make a forum that way - but they we would defeat the purpose of people finding us and joining us. That is usually done only for exclusive groups - or sometimes specific pages. I do belong to a forum where we have some pages that only members can see. But most are open to everyone.

The general rule of thumb with the internet - is if you don't want it know, don't post it. That's true of pictures, words, etc. Actually, if you go through history - it's been true off the internet also - look at all the letters, etc that have gotten people in trouble since the written word.