Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to explain what it is that will appear on the new site, and why it's no different to the way the forum is set up now, then I'll respond to each point you've raised.
I understand that privacy is important, and that Facebook has a reputation for being more open than many of us would like it to be. That's one reason why I don't use it, and prefer to use forums like this.
The new TAS site has a button at the top of every page that when clicked allows a Facebook user to 'Share' that page. That means the page is shared with their Facebook friends, and a link to the page posted on Facebook.
There are also buttons for posting to Twitter, and for sharing by email, delicious, and other channels. I've attached a screen snippet of the buttons.
Any Facebook user can already do this, whether they are a member of TAS or not. This is important, we aren't opening the forum up to anything that isn't already possible and happening, just making it easier.The additional step they may have to take at the moment is to copy the site address and then paste it into Facebook, although there are lots of Facebook plugins for browsers that make it simple as clicking a button.
Why have we put the button on? For three primary reasons:
1. It means we can easily see exactly where TAS is shared on Facebook and respond or contribute if necessary.
2. We want more people to come to TAS. If sharing on Facebook opens the forum to a wider audience we think that's a good thing. More on this below.
3. Many of the forum members are users of Facebook and want to share with their friends. We want to make it easy for them to do that.
There seems to be two main issues:
1. Privacy.
2. The possibility of TAS being inundated with new members who somehow change the nature of the forum.
dont agree with the fb hook up. fb's a pain and is too open.
As I've described above, there is no 'fb hook up' - your profile here will not be linked with any profile on Facebook, nor will anyone on Facebook be able to do anything they haven't already been able to do for years. Your opinion of Facebook is valid, but not everyone shares it.
I agree. I feel rather sheltered here. I have a business page on facebook and yet I come here to ask for advice & share details about that business. I certainly wouldn't want that shared on facebook.
This is a moderated forum, so unlike Facebook we do exercise quite a lot of control when things are posted that we don't think should be, or when members don't behave in the spirit of the forum. That will not change. But it is an open forum - anyone can come here and read what's posted without registering. We will add a members' only forum on the new site, but the subject boards will remain public and open.
My Facebook settings are secure verging on paranoid, so if I shared something from here it would be visible only to my very small number of FB friends, all of whom are my actual real life friends and whom I know personally.
However a lot of people (a) accept any and all 'friend requests' and therefore have literally hundreds of FB friends and (b) don't set their security to limit the visibility of things they post and share to their 'friends only' anyway.
The upshot of which is, this charmed and charming environment we have here, where for the most part the only people that find us and read our posts are people who've typed something like 'curing bacon' or 'muck boots' or 'wannabe smallholder' into a search engine, will change.
The type of person who sends everyone they come across on Facebook a 'friend request' will arrive here in droves.
Well, that may not cause any problems at all and may well result in lots of perfectly acceptable new members we wouldn't have had otherwise.
That's what we're hoping and expecting. People who are interested in the subject matter will arrive, have a look around, and hopefully register and contribute.
I don't subscribe to the idea that droves of people will come here and register just because it's here. If they do register and don't behave, they will be removed. I delete dozens of accounts on here every day - as I said above this is a moderated forum, and will remain so. We may need some more moderators, and have some volunteers already.
Or, we may find we get 'stalkers' and start to feel that we are inundated with input from people who aren't quite what they seem - and some of us may natter on the site less, or leave.
Sorry Sally, that's scaremongering. The forum is already open to every internet user in the world, and the idea that making it easier to share on Facebook somehow suddenly changes the nature of the members we have here is simply not true.
I perhaps will become even more careful about posting anything that identifies what we might have here that could be worth stealing, and anything that indicates that we may be away for a day or two...
You should already exercise this self-censorship, regardless of whether it's a members-only forum or public. Adding a Facebook share button does not alter this.
I am not happy with this at all. I don't use FB and don't want to be quoted or identified on it - dinosaur maybe. Sally has put it very well.
Hopefully the description I've given of what exactly it is that we're adding will allay these fears. Nothing has changed about what people can see or share, or who can be identified by what they do here.
I have only just found this discussion hidden away in 'TAS testers wanted' - I think it's something which everyone should have the opportunity to discuss.
Describing it as "hidden away" seems to suggest that we're trying to keep something from you, and I hope that's not what you think. Everyone does have the opportunity to discuss it, here, where it's no more hidden away than any post on the forum.
To summarise:
There's clearly some strong feelings about Facebook, but as I've said above we're not doing anything to make the forum less secure.
The only effect that this button can have is to send more people to the forums. We think that's a good thing. We already get a lot of visitors here, and deal with those who aren't welcome accordingly.
Thanks,
Dan
