BAA Forum – wider access privacy issues?

[Eric Watkins]

Doing my own name search on google has produced several hits including BAA Forum messages  initiated by me.  This is of some concern to me.  I would have thought the forum could only be accessed by members only.  Could this be clarified.  I was not at all happy to read one of my forum questions and replies by simply doing a name search.  This is not the first time this has happened.

Eric

[Andy Wilson]

Hi Eric,

I am sorry to read that you are unhappy about your posts being publicly visible. While only BAA members can post to the forum, in common with most internet fora and other astronomy fora the posts are visible to all, e.g. SPA, AAVSO, cloudy nights, stargazers lounge, astrobin, etc. This means internet search engines like Google have access to the content, and this can be helpful when searching on a particular topic.

I would draw your attention to the BAA forum terms of use, in particular:

“We strongly advise that you do not disclose personal information to others. Do remember that the Forum and Member Pages are visible not just to BAA members, but to the whole world. If you wish to exchange contact details with other members, the Forum and Member Pages are not an appropriate place to do it.”

https://britastro.org/forum-terms

Kind regards,

Andy Wilson

BAA Systems Administrator & Web Content Editor

[Eric Watkins]

Hi Andy,

thanks for the explanation. In that case I shall review my use of forum and in the meantime remove my profile.  Maybe a bit OTT

Regards,

Eric

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