Genealogy Chat

Hi All I just read a thread on the RO board placed by a very young girl and it caused much consternation among the regulars on that board. I was just wondering if perhaps GR had thought about using Moderators on the boards to guide new members, move postes to the correct board or remove said post? or use the same method as AOL do on their boards and have members (with much knowlage of GR ) as trained hosts to do something similar anyone got any thought on this???? Steve

GR could do more than they do to prevent problems. They could ensure that new members are aware of the site guidelines by asking them to read - and state that they have read - the terms and conditions of membership, before accepting them as members. I believe that the minimum age for membership is 16.....I'll be corrected if wrong, I'm sure.......so GR should check DOB's of all new members. They could also ensure that the member is using a credit card in his or her own name. Just a few thoughts........... Reg

I was one of the people who replied on the thread, and also sent a pm to the poster, not to 'have a go' at her, just to point out that it wasn't really a good idea to put the details she did in the public domain. I couldn't believe the response that followed. I agree that GR should do more to help newcomers understand what should and shouldn't be posted. I've been a member for about three years, and I can't believe the way people jump down your throat these days, for simply making an observation (and I don't think any of us said anything in a particularly nasty way, as was suggested). Kath. x

I think that if we're all alert to these things and report them straight away to the Genes team, they can remove any posts that break the rules. They seem to be pretty quick at removing stuff... I do agree that very young people should not be allowed membership as they may not have the experience to realise when they are endangering their own safety (and also because they sometimes just come on here to cause a nuisance to others out of boredom!) Leah

I must have missed this thread. Tried looking on the RO board, but can't see anything obvious. Before commenting on this, I'd really like to know what all the hoo-ha is about. As geneologists go, I'm on the young side myself (certainly judging by all those around me at the local Record office), so I don't really see an issue here about age. I'd rather more young people were interested in geneology and sat glued to GR instead of hanging around the neighbourhood in gangs making pests of themselves. She might have been trying to do homework for a school project on her family tree, and with no idea of where to start just asked for a bit of advice. This is a public board open to all, and doesn't need anyone to be a paid member of GR. Maybe that itself should change, but providing the request was 'on topic' so to speak, anyone posting on here deserves an answer to a question, even if they haven't already searched the archives to see if its already been asked. GR do delete threads, but you'd need to report it to them to get any kind of action. Frankly, unless things got really out of hand and insults start to get traded, I wouldn't even get myself worked up into a rage about it. It's like this row over those muslim cartoons. How stupid is that? It's not worth getting worked up about. If you see a thread that annoys you, just turn the other way and ignore it. My biggest pet hate on here are people who write in mobile phone text speak which make their posts even harder to make sense of than necessary - is it to much to ask for a bit of punctuation and basic English skills? That doesn't mean I'm going to demand all such threads be removed, though maybe I should... Michael

Who though- from regular posters- would be able to moderate in a totally unbaised manner, and totally consistent in their reasoning to do so? we all find different things offensive and think it would be very difficult for users to be moderators other than in the way we are now- report to abuse, althiough they perhaps need to 'man' the abuse line out of office hours. The sytem we have isnt good,but its better than nothing. jess x

I missed the post you are referring to, so can only answer generally. But yes I think these boards need a full-time moderator. Yes they will remove anything when alerted to, but only during UK working hours. A lot of damage could be done overnight... There have been several occasions while I've been on here regularly, that have caused me great concern. When I email GR I get bog-standard replies that have not addressed any of the issues (nor does it seem they want to) My main concern is privacy - I'm not mentioning any of the plainly abusive threads which are a separate issue.

Mods? Absolutely. I'm continually amazed at the amount of pointless flaming on these boards. (If I ruled the world) I'd also stop the ability to change names, it only ever causes trouble. You get people impersonating other people and then you end up with all the 'hiding/coming back/guess who I am' rubbish. I suspect I'm not the only one who finds alot of these boards intimidating and downright unpleasant at times. Julie

Yes thats the point i was trying to make, i know we all act as un paid moderators but as kath said the reaction of some went a bit overboard, if a board moderator was on hand that 15 or 16 extra posts may not have happend, also reg even if the min age is 16 i would hate to think of could happen to a very vulnerable teenager seeking a lost parent it only take a second to click on a name to make contact and with 5 million members who know? Steve

Mental Mickey and others who didn't see the original post: The girl in question was trying to find her father. She gave his name, date of birth, mother's and siblings' details and last known area they lived in - but she also mentioned that her father had recently been released from prison. It was totally inappropriate to post such sensitive information in a public forum, which is what other members told her.

yes that was way to much info hence the need for some kind of mederation

Well, if there are volunteers to do the job I say great, but I guess if they employed somebody to do it our subs would go up... Kate.

kate this web site made about £6.8 million in 2005 it was sold last month to ITV for £120 million so i think they could afford a couple of people to work on it lol Steve P

Yes Steve, they ought to be able to afford it..... I contacted the abuse people on here about a thread last week (9 working days ago) and the thread is still there (though it eventually fell off page one) and I have had no response as yet :o(( Ah well, maybe they are working on it! Merry

I haven't seen the original posting but reading through this thread just makes me wonder what the fuss is about. Ok this person posted info that many of us, including myself, would have rather kept private. GR give a warning (at the bottom of this page) but It's not against the rules is it? Perhaps the person concerned wanted to make the information public - who are we to be judge, jury and hangman?

Peter, the person being mentioned in graphic detail - name, date of birth, parents, etc etc, had NOT consented to having their details made public. Its very easy these days for people to find out where you live from simple information. Would YOU like to see your details, including address, posted on here without your permission? Identity fraud is only one of the issues. What about someone who gave a baby for adoption 50 years ago, and her current family aren't aware? I don't want to re-open that discussion, but sometimes people have good reason for wanting some privacy.

Peter What concernces me the most is the age of the girl who posted the thread she could have been no more that 13/14 if the age of the father was correct, if she is that desperate to locate him to put a post on here then she is vulnerable, and this site has 5 million members, i dont know if you are a parent but it would scare the pants off me if my daughter was doing that. Steve P

I have been on sites which have board moderators, and very worthy and boring they are, too. One in particular, which I will not name for fear of litigation, had a particularly pompus know-it-all in charge. He regularly posted information for the likes of us poor ignoramuses - then one day I realised he had posted something as a Fact - I KNEW it was wrong, dragged up my evidence and did a post - my post never got on the Board! I think GR would do better to employ a Gate-keeper - stop very young people using the Boards (difficult, if an indulgent parent has paid the sub) and also, more recently worrying (see Tania's post, top of the board at the mo) 'professional' genealogists using these boards to steal information to publish on their own websites. I wait to see how GR will deal with THAT! The nastiness which breaks out from time to time on these boards can be best dealt with by naming and shaming. Copy and paste their abusive messages so we all get a clue who they are, and who we have to avoid. Of course, one person's nastiness is another person's succinct advice. I am constantly amazed at how easily some people take offence at messages which dont appear TO ME, to be in the least offensive. Olde Crone

How interesting. I was told by a member of GR staff nearly a year ago that there would be moderators soon. :-)

I think some form of moderation is inevitable at some stage, probably sooner rather than later. There is far too much information posted about living people. I know it is easy to track forwards as well as back, but if the information is there for all to see, then that cuts all the work out. It will just take one case of stalking or ID theft to close the boards altogether. GR has far too much money invested to risk bad publicity. It just takes one journalist from a grubby tabloid to do an expose and that will be that. Then there is the privacy aspect. I would go ballistic if I found someone had published my personal details for all to see without my knowledge and consent and would certainly consider litigation against the site owners. I have corresponded with GR on this topic and they told me they only have a small team and cannot moderate the boards. I have to say that the general topics board can be a bit scary at times :-) What on earth some of the topics on there have to do with family history is way beyond me. I don't go there at all now! Ian