Facebook? Pintarest? LinkedIn? Twitter? What's next?!

I would like to see an admin response to this so am reporting my own post and to keep it at the top of the list even just for a little bit.

Glad~I believe it is to allow you to log into facebook, twitter, pinterest and sharing the website address. I certainly hope it does not mean any of us can share a post with our name on these sites. That would clearly be a violation of privacy. I am sure someone from Admin will respond in the morning.

Maybe I am just paranoid, so much has happened this past fou years.

And many of the changes made are great and welcomed!

But we still cannot convince them to add an edit button. I wonder why that is such an issue. I also wonder about a quarantine type function for when those strange, strange posts come up. Course I can see where that wouod cause problems, gladimhere could get angry with another poster and quarantine a post, I guess.

Glad, I have a filter that blocks social media because I find it annoying so I didn't see those buttons when they appeared, but your post made me curious. AgingCare has a presence on all those sites, and the links will take you there. I think you should check out what is posted. Remember that we all agreed to terms and conditions when we joined (I know, who bothers to read that or ponder the implications) and what we say here is now the property of AgingCare...

Cwillie, I know anything we write is AgingCare property. That does not change how I feel about it being shared with this common sorts of social media. I wonder the purpose as I will find another way to get support.

I couldn't see what is shares on Pinterest as they want you to sign up for their site, and the stuff on Facebook seems pretty innocuous, but the tweets are pretty alarming if you value your privacy, if we wanted to tweet to the world we would all be on twitter and not AgingCare. I wonder how they decide which questions get included?
Of course once directed to this site people would have to sign in to comment, but anyone is free to read posts here.

I suppose it is a good thing the links were included in the upgrade, because the association with social media sites is not new and I think most of us were previously unaware.

Our posts belong to AgingCare, but does that or should it extend to all users here? I don't think so, if a poster is upset for whatever reason they can submit anybody's post to any of these forums?

Gladimhere, I can find our postings on the Internet. That is how I found this website to begin with. I was looking for a different website when I saw an interesting question written by one of us alive and well on the Internet. So I have to keep reminding myself that anyone world wide can read what I written.

Now I understand why some new screen names don't fill out their profiles.

Glad, you or I have always had the ability to copy and tweet or share on facebook anything that we find here. Whether that is legal or not I will leave to the experts. The links just take you to the sites, the information sharing is all filtered through AgingCare, they are not intended to allow members to re-post.

Keep in mind that this is a public forum. When anyone does an internet search, such as using Google, and looks for "incontinence in dementia" some of our posts or the expert articles or anything on here may be returned by the search. And that person may then go on FaceBook and say, "Look what I found out about this subject," and then quote one of our posts, or the article, etc.

I know this can be a little unnerving, and it is scary because it may result in a personal opinion being presented as scientific or proven fact. But that is the nature of communication in today's world. I can't imagine how AgingCare or any other discussion site could prevent that.

Just be aware that what you post does not stay in the "little" circle of people who regularly post here.

The button for emailing could be useful. Sometimes I want to share with my sisters something here that I think pertains to our mother. It is more convenient to click that button and send a link than the copy and paste method I'd been using.

Also, I am active on FaceBook. If I wanted to share a particular thread there I could click the f button and a link would be posted on my page. Anyone interested could easily click on the link and read the entire topic, or anything else they were interested in on AgingCare. Which they can do with or without a facebook link. of course. This just allows me to make a suggestion. Links to newspaper articles, political websites, charities, funny stories, recipes, all manner of things, are posted on FB all the time. If it is out on the Web and is open to the public, a link can be posted to it. This button is just a quick way to post a link to this site on FB. It is a little more convenient than doing it by cutting-and-pasting, but it isn't really necessary. Anybody could do it the long way now.

I assume the other buttons work the same way; I don't use those sites.

The icons on the left do not represent some magical new ability to share. That has always been there. The icons just make it more convenient and perhaps serve as a reminder that The Whole World is Watching -- or could be. :)

The print icon only sets up the original post in a thread for printing. Can't imagine that would be very useful. But it you wanted to print out one of the expert articles it would be very handy.

Although most of the contents of this article aren't new or surprising, what I did find unsettling is how criminals are now using social media to target people.

Read the section "How the New Phishing Attacks Work" at
xfinity.yoursecurityresource/feature/prevention/new_phishing_scams/#.VcNVzzZREfg. This is actually based an article by Norton.

If this link is deleted by the Admins, this is a quick synopsis:

Criminals research Linked-In, searching for activities, conferences, etc. that link people, then e-mail targets pretending to be someone who also attended those activities.

I used to attend State Bar conferences on real estate transactions and occasionally would ask a question. If someone e-mailed me re that particular seminar, I might at first think it was someone in the admin section of the State Bar - after all, they would have my e-mail address assuming I provided it to be notified of any changes in conference scheduling.

But I would call before responding to verify its authenticity.

Last year I received unsolicited e-mails from a congressman in another district. It was really strange because usually they just pester people in their own districts. I reported all the e-mails, never heard anything from them, but I knew there definitely was something fishy (or phishy) about the e-mails.

And what a good source to simulate - especially with an election approaching. In addition to plastering open areas with their literature, it wouldn't be surprising if candidates started harassing people by e-mail, some of which they have if you ever respond to their offers to send information.

I knew that criminals were very negatively creative, such as checking obituaries to determine when people would be out of their house for a funeral so they could more or less safely commit a burglary, but I wasn't aware they were also looking for business, professional or perhaps academic attendances to leverage their way into someone's naïve confidence.

As FF observed, providing less information in your profile can protect you, especially where you live and your names. I'm shocked that some people have even provided e-mails.

AC? How does admin suggest we deal with this? There are a number of people that are concerned, including me. This site has helped me tremendouly through the caregiving, now I am afraid to especially vent which is what I have found so valuable on this site.

If you do not use social media, here is an example of how it works:

Last night I Googled the two ingredients I wanted to use to make dinner (broccoli and ground beef) and picked out a recipe to try. It turned out good. I often share recipes on FB. In this case I went back to site that had the recipe, clicked the f icon (just like the one now on this site) and I got a box that asked if I wanted to share it on my own page or that of a friend, and if I wanted to say anything about it.

I wrote a short paragraph and posted it on my own page (timeline). If you visit my page (and anybody can, I've left it public) you will see the picture of the dish and a link to go look at the recipe if you care to. I like this approach because:

1) It gives credit where it is due. It takes you to website of the cook who originally shared this recipe.
2) The originator still has control. If she changes the recipe, anyone going there will see the new version. If she deletes the recipe, you can't see it any more.
3) It is certainly easier to me than taking a picture and typing the recipe!

That is how the f icon here works. It will put a preview on the FB page of anyone who uses it, and then anyone looking at that preview can click on the button and the appropriate AgingCare page will pop up.

(I can't think of why I would ever want to post a discussion thread, but I might share an expert article.)

The important thing to know, I guess, is that this can be done with or without the f icon on the AgingCare page, it has always been available, and anything you post on here or almost anywhere else on the Internet has pretty much an unlimited audience.

I don't know what the administrators could advise us on this. It is how the internet works. Anything we post here could wind up elsewhere.

Agreed Jeanne - it makes it easier for anyone to post a link to a thread on AC to face book or one of the others. That has always been a possibility, but now it is easier and to me almost "invites" or encourages that type of sharing which I think is unfortunate. Yes, anything online or in a public forum is visible to the world; however, I think the large buttons take it to another level.

The best protection is to make one's profile more generic, less personal, use an avatar that will not point to you, and modify what you write. The latter somewhat defeats the purpose of the forum.

Golden, you are right. I haven't done much to disguise my identity, but I have tried to be very careful, even in my vents, to not say anything that would hurt someone. When I write about my sister or brother or friend I try to do it in such a way that they would not be alienated if they saw this. The chances are pretty remote, but I still try to be careful.

I can certainly see how this would crimp my venting style if there were people in my life I really needed to vent about, no holds barred. Then I'd want to be very careful hiding my identity.

My mother told me, and I told my children, be careful about talking to strangers. We are all strangers here (although we often know a lot about each other) and the caution applies. I don't think there is any thing the forum moderators can do to protect us from that.

You are wiser to be cautious about talking with strangers.
Part of the value of this site for some participators is that they can vent about family members to others who understand. Venting/sharing is a very legitimate need for caregivers. The relative anonymity of the internet, in some cases, encourages more sharing than might take place face to face. I guess the trick is to keep oneself as anonymous as possible.
Some of us share more of ourselves on face book, and maybe other places, and some of us email one another as we come to trust one another. I have made a few mistakes in judgement in that process, as I have in accepting friend invites in general on face book, but they have not had a major effect on my life and are dealt with easily.

My concern is not with regard to strangers, but those close to home, one or two of those, should they be inclined, have the skills to ferret out information which could lead to identifying me within this forum. And there is always the possibility of someone innocently/randomly making a connection re my posts. As far as I care, strangers can read and comment all they want. It is family and friends who can be hurt and/or use the information they find here to hurt. That is my concern. Those of us who have some very dysfunctional family members have had enough of that for a lifetime.

I also have concerns about those close to home. After much reflection, I realized that I am not that important to my in-laws, my in-laws prefer to bad mouth me based in info from another family member, and my family will not spend time looking for info because we have our own lives.

I will be not share much personal info or areas around where I live now that I fully understand how info can be shared all over the internet.

REALLY??? Someone who is a caretaker, of loved ones, family, work. life, kids, etc etc. and sometimes for more than one geriatric, do you really have to go on facebook, and all those other social networks? Who cares? If someone really wants to get in touch with me,, HELLO, PICK UP PHONE, AND CALL, STATE YOUR NAME, PHONE NUMBER AND A BRIEF MESSAGE!!!. I LOVE TALKING TO MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY, WELL THE FEW I HAVE. :=)

Bringing this back up to the top.
I have enjoyed my time on AC, and would hate to leave, mostly because of the intelligent and supportive real people here.
AC now has a magazine distributed at my doctor's office (a large HMO), called Aging Care.
Posters and their posts are shared in that magazine.
Guessing I will take those risks, but will not talk bad about my friends and relatives, too much more.
I will be more careful.

Send, I don't think many of us would be recognized by other family members in that magazine. First, they would have to take their loved one to the doc, second they would have to be interested enough to look in the magazine. I think most of them would prefer Woman's Day or some other such nonsense. Wouldn't they?

Or Architectural Digest maybe.

This doesn't surprise me; I honestly expected it would happen when I read the TOS as well as an announcement sometime ago that a magazine would be published. I also knew that the site founders were ad/marketing people, and suspected that the inability to delete posts had something to do with the desire to market the information being shared freely and willingly by posters.

Just as FB commoditizes our information, AC is doing the same with our posts, especially if they're charging for the magazine.

Although I fully understand the concern that a family member might see a post and recognize the poster despite the screen name, I think there's another issue as well, which is the intellectual property rights that AC assumes from our posts.

Of course, when we create an identity, we compromise or sacrifice some of our individual rights to our own IP. The question might be, whether we would be publishing some of our own thoughts and suggestions independently.

That's probably why those posters who have written books seem to have been careful about what they reveal, with the inference being that someone needs to buy the book to read their advice. Maybe instead they're just demonstrating savvy business sense, something we all should probably consider when we offer free advice here.

That's not to say that I agree with using our posts. But it's not unique for a forum to use contributors material for free. If you read the TOS of contests, such as garden photo contests, you'll find the same assertions. That's why I never submit entries to those contests.

I guess the bottom line is whether or not participating in a forum, or in contests, is more valuable and rewarding than not participating, and that's an individual choice.

I would wonder, however, if the feuds such as the one that has broken out on Anne1017's post are also included in the magazines?

I haven't seen the magazine and I don't follow AgingCare on Twitter or Facebook, but I i can't imagine they would include any of the more rancorous threads or advice, the purpose after all is to appeal to a wide audience and draw them in, not scare them off lol.
I have to admit it is worrisome to contemplate the possibility of Big Brother accessing our words on the site and possibly even using them against us (how far would your APS go to investigate allegations of abuse, for example). Still, for me the benefits definitely outweigh the concerns, I truly couldn't survive without this forum.

Interesting comment about Big Brother. I think the traditional 1984 novel concept of Big Brother has morphed into Corporate Big Brother with commercial interests leading the way to gather, harvest and use personal information, and the government focusing on more critical and legitimate uses such as security.

I don't know if the NSA scans extend to sites like this. Even though there are a few people angry at government entities, most of it here seems directed toward family and medical facilities.

As to APS, I rather suspect that they enough cases to investigate without trolling (using in the sense of fishing techniques) sites to look for potential abusers. There's also the issue of validity, since some of the posts are often incredulous and APS I would think doesn't have time to waste exploring what could just be unfounded complaints. In addition, it would have to work with management to get e-mail addresses of specific posters.

Given that Apple has just defied the FBI and seems to be taking an entrenched stand, I suspect that other companies may be encouraged to withhold information as well, especially since APS doesn't deal with national security.

Good points though, CWillie.

I was thinking more in terms of if Suzie123 is being investigated for neglecting her mother, and authorities become aware that she frequents this forum, then her rants about wishing mom would just hurry up and die could potentially be used as evidence against her.

I like that comment about Big Brother becoming Corporate Big Brother, it opens up a whole debate about the nature of government and whether politicians are in the pockets of corporate interests... I think my brain is getting starved for intelligent conversation lol.

CWillie, well, you could always watch the Trump if you want to hear intelligent conversation (choking on my chuckles as I write this)!

Download the selected sections of 6 magazines here, scan them for malware and viruses, then skim through.

https://www.agingcare.com/info/advertise/magazine.aspx

Jessie, Countrymouse, Sandwich, Windytown, Blannie and others are specifically quoted. In earlier magazines, quotes weren't attributed to specific posters, but I haven't skimmed through all 6 magazines entirely - just did some quick skimming.

So, Jessie, et al - you're getting your 15 minutes of print fame.

Whether anyone can identify you by your screen names is your guess. I think I'd be changing my screen name, though, if I thought family could identify me.