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New conspiracy theory!! P.M.'s are being moderated now??

I Sperg

Over Christmas, I got first moderated to death for posting a wholesome christmas message, then whilst trying to P.M. a forum member this little beauty pops up...

This is a little too orwellian for me to stomach. P.M.s are personal or private messages by their very definition, and should be mostly unavailable to third parties. 

Also we seem to have a culture of "Silent Accusers" generally developed in this country where people can make accusations against you and trigger "lawfare" without you ever being told who they are, or even the copy of the accusation that has been laid to "authority" made available to you.

There have been quite a few posts that illustrate this if you are aware of and see it as a problem.

Although I've grown quite "fond" of some of you, I've also previously adminstered one forum on the same platform as the alternative to this one and I knw that over there my personal mesages are only going to be read by the recipients and not some third party who might find them triggering or offensive and institute sanctions against me without my knowledge. As currently happens to me every single holiday when the mods are off now....

The internet is already NOT a safe place for people like me, I prefer a forum which doesn't metaphorically have "A wiretap on my phone".

Did you consent to having your PM's overseen routinely?

Parents
  • I Sperg said:
    Did you consent to having your PM's overseen routinely?

    I had a quick look at the rules:
    https://community.autism.org.uk/p/rules

    User agreement
    By joining the Online Community, you agree that the moderation team has the authority to edit or delete content and to suspend or delete accounts that violate the rules.

    It doesn't specify that the content is on the forum or private messages so it can be assumed that everything is covered by this rule.

    I don't see any "right to privacy" clauses so it is therefore logical that there is none.

    My interpritation of what a "private message" is in these circumstances is that is it not published publically.

    I think we are assuming a lot about what private should mean here, but given the potentially vulnerable people here, there is no doubt a case that "snooping" by moderators is permissable to identify exploitation, abuse etc.

    This is a free service after all and these rarely have any "rights" with them, just as with any other free platform.

    Most will mine your email, search history, browser history etc and use this for advertising leads (ie they make money selling the info). I don't see this site exploiting us this way but from the safeuarding aspect I think it is entirely appropriate.

  • in reply to Iain

    I agree with what you say and doubt admin will be constantly snooping however it is the principle of the matter. 

    The majority of users here will be autistic which means we have a difference in communication to the majority. This can put us into vulnerable situations depending on how vagueness is interpreted. It's another example of the world not being set up for us (especially as it seems the places which are supposedly here to help us). However I don't expect special accommodations and am aware language is used in specific ways sp backs are covered. However one would think clear communication would be used by a site which is predominantly used by individuals who are known to have difficulty with communication. I have wondered if the orange banner is a technical issue as commented by another user. 

    So while it doesn't specify which content,  the very fact of something being labelled "private" should indicate just that. 

    I was made aware probably last year of phantom accounts sending abusive PM's. Whether or not these were moderated I don't know. 

    Clarification is very much needed on the matter.

Reply
  • in reply to Iain

    I agree with what you say and doubt admin will be constantly snooping however it is the principle of the matter. 

    The majority of users here will be autistic which means we have a difference in communication to the majority. This can put us into vulnerable situations depending on how vagueness is interpreted. It's another example of the world not being set up for us (especially as it seems the places which are supposedly here to help us). However I don't expect special accommodations and am aware language is used in specific ways sp backs are covered. However one would think clear communication would be used by a site which is predominantly used by individuals who are known to have difficulty with communication. I have wondered if the orange banner is a technical issue as commented by another user. 

    So while it doesn't specify which content,  the very fact of something being labelled "private" should indicate just that. 

    I was made aware probably last year of phantom accounts sending abusive PM's. Whether or not these were moderated I don't know. 

    Clarification is very much needed on the matter.

Children
  • in reply to Iain

    Yes I agree. This place is (or has been!) a high priority for users but I don't think for the charity as a whole. For users here 'NAS' is equated with the forum, whereas, actuslly, it's a very small part of the services which are offered as a whole by the charity.

  • in reply to Deleted User
    Unknown said:
    one would think clear communication would be used by a site which is predominantly used by individuals who are known to have difficulty with communication.

    This is one area this site is actually really poor on - I can only assume the discussion board is a low priority add-on to the charities services and is not allocated much in the way of resources to have someone communicate with us.

    I've worked with a few charities over the years and most are well meaning but pretty rubbish at doing things that would be second nature to a commercial company. I guess I have low expectations for this site as a result of the experiences.