re-posted information containing non-DCUM names

[Anonymous]

I may be the only one who is bothered by this, but: I occasionally run across posts on DCUM that are copied and pasted from some other forum (usually a neighborhood listserv) and include the full names of people who may have nothing to do with DCUM. The most recent one I've seen was in the DCPS forum: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/46040.page (for another example, see http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/23898.page ), and I happened to notice it in part because it gives the first and last name and e-mail address of one of my husband's friends. I haven't talked to her about it, but my guess is that when she sent the note to her local listserv, she did not intend to give her e-mail address (let alone her full name and a few personal details about her kids) to anyone who is reading this site. I know that I sometimes use my real name in neighborhood contacts, and I would be really upset to see my name re-distributed like this.

Am I just being fussy about this, or do others (including Jeff) agree with me?

[jsteele]

The DCUM mailing has a rule preventing this sort of thing. Not that anyone pays attention to the rule or that we are able to enforce it, but technically it's a rule. So, I assume other mailing lists have similar rules. With that in mind, I've edited both messages to remove the email addresses. In the case of your second example, the person's name is included in the subject of every message in the thread. So, I can't easily remove it. But, frankly, I thought that was the poster's name rather than a third-party's. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much. I'm glad to know that there's a rule, and I'll be sure to report it the next time I see it.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry Jeff. I didn't realize about the rule and created the cross-post. I pondered whether to delete the e:mail info, but since the purpose of the eMail posting was to try to organize local parents, I left the original poster's info in so that people could communicate with her. In retrospect, I should have e:mailed her first and asked her permission. (To be honest, I was just so excited about the potential for developing strong parental involvement in another east of the park DC public school that I didn't think very clearly.)

Am very sorry for any offense.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Am very sorry for any offense.

Don't worry. It's not a big deal. The information itself is quite useful. I'm also happy to see improvements in east of the park schools.

[Anonymous]

I just posted the name and phone number of someone who was helpful at Comcast, under Off Topic. Is that okay? Now I'm not sure.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I just posted the name and phone number of someone who was helpful at Comcast, under Off Topic. Is that okay? Now I'm not sure.

It depends on the circumstances in which you obtained the number. Could it be said to be a public number or one that the owner would not mind having publicized? If so, than I don't see a problem. On the other hand, if it's the person's cell phone number, that could be a problem.

[Anonymous]

I do have her cell number but posted her comcast number. She specifically said to give it to my "friends and neighbors" if I heard they were having trouble with comcast service. I guess this qualifies? Not sure how many people visit this site and if she had this in mind, though.