Did anyone else get this PM? If it is a joke it is pretty funny. If it isn't, then why is this person telling me I can't post whatever I want on my own social network site? Why does he seem to think that we want the Mudcat to control our pictures?



Dear member

It has been brought to my attention by Joe Offer that due to security flaws on some social networking sites that thousands of private photographs and contact details can be viewed by almost anyone on-line with ease.

We do understand that it's down to these social networking sites decision to make more of their users' information public right across the web -- without asking them for permission first.

Please keep in mind, there is a certain responsibly for members of this forum to promote folk music in a positive sense, and maintaining some concept of decorum to prescribed limits of appropriate social behaviour within set situations.
.
It is unfortunate, that we have been made aware of photographs of Mudcat members, inebriated and in compromising positions on drunken nights out on the town to personal photographs of yourselves .

In some cases there's even a GPS (Global Positioning System) tracker function pinpointing the exact location of the user. We have found that by simply typing keywords such as "Mudcat", "Mudcat Cafe" or "Mudcat folk" into Google's search box, it brings up an interactive directory of members of this forum.

We have deliberately decided not to disclose the identities of all members we found, but as ever, the internet is not just as discrete. Below, are a few examples of what we found yesterday evening.


FACEBOOK       http://www.facebook.com/home.php

MYSPACE          http://uk.myspace.com/home

EONS                   http://www.eons.com/members/profile

BEBO                   http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=10352074628

LIVEJOURNAL   http://mudcatx.livejournal.com/profile

FLICKR                http://www.flickr.com/photos/58977273@N03/

PICASA                http://picasaweb.google.com/DaveMudcat

Social networks are a great modern tool but like everything else they have bad elements too. A number of the photographs we looked at have been harvested from photos posted by our forum members, along with a lot of pictures taken by individuals at various Mudcat gatherings throughout the country.

You have the right to ask Flickr, Picasa, Eons,Facebook, bebo, LiveJournal or Myspace to remove any photographs of yourself that may appear on such pages. The photos in question are not posted at the Mudcat Cafe, and the Flickr/Myspace/Livejournal/bebo/Twitter and Facebook pages are NOT under our control.


All the best to you.

-Roger Gall, Forum (Elf) Moderator, The Mudcat Café.-

---

From Joe Offer: Oh, gee. I was thinking just last night about how quiet and pleasant it has been at Mudcat the last few weeks. Our little troll has been doing the usual dirty work on Facebook and other social networking sites, but I think our troll got bored because Mudcatters have become very good at ignoring all that garbage.

"Roger C. Gall" is not OUR Roger "Shambles" Gall. It's a fraudulent membership, taken out within the last few days, no doubt by our little Facebook / BNP / Flickr / IRA / Wikipedia friend. His/her aim is to get Mudcatters in a tizzy. Please, please, please - don't cooperate with this person by responding to him/her or by giving public notice to this person's antics. If you wish to discuss such matters, discuss it privately - and let me or Max know about it privately, too.

I suppose people could complain that Mudcat should "do something about this," but please note that this person has also done his/her dirty deeds on Facebook, Flickr, Bebo, and a long list of other commercial "Social Networking" sites that spend bundles of money on security. The best we can do is ask you to pay no heed to this person, and let us know about him/her privately. In turn, we will do what we can....privately and quietly, not giving the attention or showing the hysteria that this person craves. Oh, and please don't feed the troll by becoming outraged at the reference to Dave Bryant. Dave had an exquisite sense of humor, and there's a good chance he'd make an elaborate joke of that outrage.
So, as usual, "don't pay no nevermind" to our little troll. Thanks.

Oh, and thanks to Jeri for closing the thread while I was still sleeping. I changed the thread title because I thought it wasn't fair to Roger to leave it in his name.
-Joe Offer-