A little more privacy?

[Joette]

Hi Everyone,

I noticed anyone can view the forum discussions without being a member. I wanted to start a discussion to see what people think. I personally would prefer the forums to be viewed only by members. We are sharing personal info in our posts and would prefer only members be able to view them. What is everyone else's opinion? Is it even possible to make them private through the site?

Thanks.
Joette

[Pat]

Joette, I totally agree. I just wanted it easy for the wave of mamas to join these first few days. I'm intending to make the site private, viewable to members only, and approval required to join, later this week. Friends are welcome to join and folks are welcome to invite other holistic families, ongoing.

If folks want it private sooner, I'm fine with that too! I'm going out for the evening. But, am glad to make it private tonight if most prefer??


Thanks, Pat

[Joette]

Sounds good. I am fine with waiting until later this week.

Thanks for all of your hard work on this again Pat. It is going to be a great support community!

Joette

[Pat]

I saw you started the Fort Mill Group!! Yeah!

Hey, that reminds me. I haven't seen Kelly Weyd here yet. Nor Suzy Dees. Do you know those ladies? They both homeschool and live down your way. I know there are others too! There are a bunch of SC ladies on the Nourishing the Carolinas site also. Do you know of it? http://www.nourishingthecarolinas.com/community/


Remind me, if we get past Sunday and the group is still public. Scott's birthday is this weekend and I'm planning a huge party (concurrent to this site launching, lol) and I am running in all directions. But, I do want this to be more private.


Pat

[Pat]

Ok, I changed the privacy setting to "view home page only" for the public. And added the approval process for new members, with the profile questions as "required".

We can make the site totally private, if folks want. But, of course, nothing is private on the internet, realistically. And we'll have more mamas join us, if it is searchable and the home page is viewable, imo. We can edit the home page to display less info also.


Thoughts?


Pat

[Joette]

I think it looks good. I agree that it is a good idea for the home page to be viewed. Then mamas can see a little about what we are about before joining. Thanks.

[Pat]

For added privacy, members can change their "name" under "My Settings" (top right-bar menu).

You can also reset your birth date to generic "Month" "Day" "Year", so that your age isn't viewable or attached to the Ning membership. Same with location, if you prefer.

I just changed the site settings to "private" to prevent Googlebot from crawling all or part of our site. It appears that only the main page is still viewable to the public.


Pat

[Joette]

Thanks Pat. I also wanted to say to everyone I referred to members as mamas. I am used to the Holistic Mom's Network and have to change my ways. I am glad the guys are here and want them to feel welcome. I will be more careful next time :)

[Pat]

Also, if members start getting SPAM solicitations from members, please let me know.


Thanks, Pat

[Terri Wilson]

Thanks for your hard work on this site Pat.

BTW- hi Joette.

[Joette]

Hi Terri!

I have been thinking of you...how are you feeling? January will be here before you know it with the holidays around the corner. I hope you are all well. Hope to see you at the MNO on 10/1.

Joette

[Pat]

I found out that as a "Private" site, the main page is NOT visible to anyone checking out the site and trying to decide if they want to join us. The only thing that happens is a "Sign In. If you're not a member, click here to sign up." Not very welcoming.

Apparently, the "google crawl" collects content and adds it to its search engine, so that when folks are searching for "raw milk and Charlotte", or "cloth diapering", "dehydrating", "co-sleeping", "non-vaxing", etc., etc., google will display a snippet of content from our archives. To view the content, the person would have to join and be a member to view the thread.

So, I changed the site to "public, visitors can see just the main page".

Let me know if anyone has concerns with this.


Pat