A compliment ... but a warning as well

[Penny1959]

Last night I went to a session on story telling and was approached by someone that I don't know (but who was with people I do know)

The person wanted to thank me 'for being inspirational' - it seems she had been thinking of giving up childminding as things were not going that well - and had put a search in google on the lines of 'childminder wanting to give up childminding' and one of my posts had come up about what I liked and didn't like about working for others (in my case the LA)

She said it really made her think and as a result decided to give childminding another chance and all has worked out well.

So a compliment for me :D


BUT

I wonder how many of us consider that our posts can be seen by others through a search engine?

I am not sure if it is just posts in minding chat that can be viewed this way or other posts - maybe the Boss or one of the mods could clarify this please.

Penny :)

[rickysmiths]

Golly that makes you think doesn't it Penny.

The Boss's reply will be interesting.

[QualityCare]

Several times on a google search, usually child related, posts from here have shown up.

[curlycathy]

I think thats how I found this forum - by doing a google search for issues around childminding and potty training and it came up with lots of posts from here x

[vaughny82]

Every thing that gets written on forum gets "cached"...no idea what this really means but I do know that if people look hard enough they can find things you have written!

I used to belong to a wedding forum, until one day one of the girls on it googled her own name and discovered a load of cached pages from the forum. It turned out that the mods on the forum had a secret area for themselves where they b**ched about all the members!

[Pauline]

Anything out on the internet will come up on Google or other internet search engines, that is what the internet is all about you search and find anything in the public domain be it on a forum on a blog or a website.

The relevance to your search decides which page of the search engine it is on, i.e. first page or page 22,000. So, search for something like 'internet' and there will be billions of pages, search for something far more specific like your name and there will be far fewer.

Posts and threads in member areas will not come up on internet searches because of the settings and if that happened on the wedding forum vaughny82 then they had obviously not set things correctly.

The simple answer is, if you don't want to share it don't write it in public areas of any website, forum or blog and even if you use private areas still consider what you write because it is only as safe as the other people who are reading it!

With regard to cached pages: Google takes a snapshot of each page it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query.

Hope that helps. :)

[Playmate]

Anything out on the internet will come up on Google or other internet search engines, that is what the internet is all about you search and find anything in the public domain be it on a forum on a blog or a website.

The relevance to your search decides which page of the search engine it is on, i.e. first page or page 22,000. So, search for something like 'internet' and there will be billions of pages, search for something far more specific like your name and there will be far fewer.

Posts and threads in member areas will not come up on internet searches because of the settings and if that happened on the wedding forum vaughny82 then they had obviously not set things correctly.

The simple answer is, if you don't want to share it don't write it in public areas of any website, forum or blog and even if you use private areas still consider what you write because it is only as safe as the other people who are reading it!
With regard to cached pages: Google takes a snapshot of each page it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query.

Hope that helps. :)

This is soooo true Pauline. Just recently with various things that have happened on other sites, I have had several conversations with collegues over this issue. I think people forget on the internet, because forum members feel like friends (and many do become good friends :D ) However announcing something on the internet is no different from standing on a street corner and shouting your business and I think you have to consider would you do that? If the answer is know then don't say it. People forget that parents and jelous collegues can access what we say or know someone who knows someone and so it goes on! The old war time saying "Careless talk cost lives" needs to be taken into consideration before posting on the internet :D

[Mamma4Ya]

This is how I found this forum in the first place.

[Toothfairy]

This is how I found this forum in the first place.

Ditto :thumbsup:

[Pauline]

This is how I found this forum in the first place.

Excellent, shows it is doing its work! :thumbsup:

I think that the benefits of sharing information far outweigh any problems had by a minority of internet users.

[Mamma4Ya]

Excellent, shows it is doing its work! :thumbsup:

I think that the benefits of sharing information far outweigh any problems had by a minority of internet users.

One of the best searches I ever did, this forum has been the best source of information regarding CM'ing that I have ever found. I have learnt so much already and feel it has prepared me for when I get going :D :clapping:

[Penny1959]

Anything out on the internet will come up on Google or other internet search engines, that is what the internet is all about you search and find anything in the public domain be it on a forum on a blog or a website.

The relevance to your search decides which page of the search engine it is on, i.e. first page or page 22,000. So, search for something like 'internet' and there will be billions of pages, search for something far more specific like your name and there will be far fewer.

Posts and threads in member areas will not come up on internet searches because of the settings and if that happened on the wedding forum vaughny82 then they had obviously not set things correctly.

The simple answer is, if you don't want to share it don't write it in public areas of any website, forum or blog and even if you use private areas still consider what you write because it is only as safe as the other people who are reading it!

With regard to cached pages: Google takes a snapshot of each page it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query.

Hope that helps. :)

Thank you for explaining Pauline - I think we all need to consider carefully what we write on this and other forums. Personally I try to remain professional in whatever I write as I do not want things to come back on me.

What you say is so true - what you write is only as safe as the people who read it - and as in my case this also applies to user name as someone had told the lady my full name and pointed me out in the room.

Penny :)

[pears]

This is how I found this forum in the first place.

me too.:) x

[Rubybubbles]

I agree Penny, we need to remember anyone can access alot of information on here.

Not a bad thing if like you say you remain proffesional:thumbsup: I have always found with anything I really don't want to talk about going into a PM with trusted members/ greenies (not that I don't trust, but you know what I mean, I hope lol)

[LChurch]

I think this is a good point to raise on this subject, How many people write things on Facebook and post photos etc, remember that this is not secure and if you share info on facebook etc anyone can see it, it is not private even if you think it is!

[Pauline]

I've just popped this into the Lounge as it is not specifically Childminding related and covers all types of use of the internet. :)

[candlequeen]

My partner suggested I use a user name that has nothing to do with my real name. Although I am very careful about not using Facebook and other sites as I do not want to share my life with strangers, I have posted things on several different sites, that when put together could give people a wider picture of who I am, my opinions etc.

I can admit that I have googled people to get background on them before, and it is shocking how much I have found out about strangers.

[Pauline]

My partner suggested I use a user name that has nothing to do with my real name. Although I am very careful about not using Facebook and other sites as I do not want to share my life with strangers, I have posted things on several different sites, that when put together could give people a wider picture of who I am, my opinions etc.

I can admit that I have googled people to get background on them before, and it is shocking how much I have found out about strangers.

It pays to always have a different username for different sites, that way no information can be linked across them, like you say it is easy to find a lot about people who always use the same name. :)