If you type your name in google search your profile page may come up - my did after one group I was in warned us. I took out all info about my family....everyone should check. Go to www.google.com and see!

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 11:25 pm:

Uh...yup. That's how it works. Everything on here is public. That's why you posted "I understand" to the second statement in order to join. Look at your profile at the bottom.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 11:28 pm:

This is actually a warning on the main page. You can edit your profile to remove all personal information if you'd like to. I'm not really concerned, but I know a few people here have removed just about everything from their profiles. HOWEVER!!! If you have had it on here for a while, and remove it, it will still come up for a long time. I had old information off my old profile come up for months after I changed it.

By Reds9298 on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 07:10 am:

I'm not too concerned about it, although I'm sure some are. I do just about everything online (shopping, bills, investments) so my info is bound to be out there somewhere. I protect to the best of my ability, but I'm sure it's still out there.

By Karen~moderator on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 07:35 am:

We have warned our members about that for a number of years. As Crystal said, there is a warning to that effect. If you've ever posted on any other messageboards, you can google your username, etc. and find those as well.

So for those who have not read that, let this serve as a reminder to remove any personal information you don't want made public that you may have in your profile.

By Karen~moderator on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 07:49 am:

Here is our Privacy Notice, which is posted on the main board of Momsview discussion boards:

By Trina~moderator on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 08:10 am:

Shalom2t, to echo the others... This is how the Internet works, and we have always made this very clear to our members. Are you fairly new to the World Wide Web??

By Shalom2t on Saturday, February 4, 2006 - 09:01 pm:

Sorta Tina but some of the stuff we are required to put on the form I would prefer not. why couldn't it be held private? One of the reasons I joined this was of intrest and because you seemed to be more diligent than most groups. I'm in a yahoo group that lets nothing out at all. In today's age it is scary and your page was the only one that came up. I also have been doing the same with other searches and so far just your info page... it bothers me that's all. There has got to be a better way. Also the remark "am I new to the web" sounds condescending. Why make us fill in a form to join that could cause us harm later?

By Shalom2t on Saturday, February 4, 2006 - 09:11 pm:

I just ried to "hide" my info - guess what? I got a pop up saying the moderator says it can't be done!
Also no other boards are showing up so far.

By Luvn29 on Saturday, February 4, 2006 - 09:15 pm:

Hi Shalom2t! I just thought I would let you know that you can go and edit your profile, the form you filled out, and put an "X" in all of the "required" fields. That way, the form is completed, but none of your real info is in there.

Hope this helps you out!

by the way, saw on your form that you didn't know what SAHM, WAHM, WOHM are. They are internet abbreviations for Stay At Home Mom, Work Out of Home Mom, and Work At Home Mom.

You'll see people using lots of abbreviations such as DH, DD, and DS which mean Dear Husband, Daughter, and Son.

I think you can find a list of these somewhere on this site...

By Crystal915 on Saturday, February 4, 2006 - 10:10 pm:

Sahlom, all of these topics, and how to protect yourself are covered in the New to MV areas. Of course, we're more than happy to answer questions you have. As for your responses to TRina (Not TINA), your orignal posts were condescending, and I assure you the moderators make a point to be polite whenever possible. This is a voluntary board, and the reason so much info is required to sign up is to keep out some of the creepys. We have a few thousand members, and have had many problems with members lying, and starting drama here. We try to protect ourselves, and the moderators approve or deny applications in order to keep out harmful people. It CLEARLY tells you how to remove any information you do not want on your profile, so please take a moment to look around and learn about the site. Also, in the warning noted above (and on the front page) it CLEARLY says to contact Pam~Bubbels with any concerns. Starting 2 threads threads to warn those of us already aware of the policy was server space, which is paid for by the owners as a courtesy to us. This is a wonderful place to be, but posts that simply try to alarm or criticize the board and it's members are not acceptable.

By Crystal915 on Saturday, February 4, 2006 - 10:58 pm:

Registration page

More big red letters explaining the process and options. All of the "required" things have checkboxes next to them that allow you to hide them from public view.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Sunday, February 5, 2006 - 03:08 am:

"Why make us fill in a form to join that could cause us harm later?"

I am curious as to what exactly is in your profile that you feel can come back and harm you later??? I am also going to suggest like all the rest that you edit out all this pressing information with XXX. I will also suggest you edit your name off of your profile.

Through the comments you made I am going to assume that you lurked (read without being a member) for a while before you decided to join. It might have been a good idea to read the instructions and learn how this site works before you decided to become a member.

Just a little bit of information about Moms View for you. This is a privately owned, public site. This site is owned and paid for by John and Feona. John and Feona allow us to use this site with the understanding that this is a public forum. Thus, this whole site can and will be googled. For that matter that is exactly how almost everyone on this site found Moms View to begin with, through a search engine search (Google, DogPile, Ask.com and so on and so forth). The moderation works on this site for FREE. We do not get any personal gain from moderating this site. We do not set out to make your information public. We screen our applicants as strictly as we can, for the safety of our members, thus the lengthy application. Once the application is approved the program that you are reading off of right now makes the application public in the profile. This has nothing to do with the moderation. Once you are approved it is your choice and responsibility to monitor and edit your own profile as you see fit.

I think that many of the members will agree that this is a great site to be a member of... I started out as a member of this group almost 8 years ago. I have never had an issue with my profile being public... Liked this site so much that I became a Moderator when I was asked. There are a few members that have been with the group longer than I have.

That said, simply clear out your profile and move on to another post. Because you aren't telling the members here anything that we haven't already warned them about.. This is a great site and I would hate for you to miss out on all that these ladies have to offer.