One of the LBT moderators contacted me about the following issue one of our LBT users is having with our web site:

"A bandster just discovered that you can do a "google search" using your screen name and all of your LBT posts will pull up. It's one thing if someone logs into LBT and reads the post. But it seems like a major violation of privacy when someone can just do a "google search" for that same info.

Is there anything that can be done to block that from happening?

Bandsters have posted their pictures, a lot of personal information, a lot of heart to heart talks back and forth, and they feel "safe" at LBT. Now this has members afraid."

This is a really good point but I'm not sure what to do about this problem. If LBT is not indexed by Google how will new LB users find our web site ? We receive most of our new visitors and users through Google.

It is possible for me to block Google from indexing LBT but I'm not sure this is really the answer to the problem.

I'd love to hear what the LBT community has to say about this issue please.

Please vote in our poll since your opinions will weight heavily on my decision to allow or to ban Google from indexing LBT.

(the yahoo bandster site) (they don't have the delete feature of this site)

The moderators you wrote may not have been aware of it, for Yahoo has not ALWAYS had it, but for quite some time you HAVE been able to delete your own posts. Join again, under the same email address, then delete away. Can't EDIT, but deletions you can do.

It is ObesityHelp where there is NO WAY you can delete a post. BUT you CAN change a user name after joining. They don't TELL you how to do it, but you can. I did.

Deleting posts is not as effective as it sounds. A google search will likely turn up a cached page (an old view of what the page looked like when the search terms were still there).

Not to fear. Eventually Google's spiders again make their rounds of the web, and new versions of pages are cached, replacing the old. Won't linger for more than a month.

I just did a search and the first site that came up was this one. The link took me to the home page, and not my individual posts. The other two hits from the initial search were not me. Umm, I think I'm in disguise without even trying!

Alex, I would like to continue talking on this site but I don't want to use my last name anymore. How can I change my name to something else and start fresh?

As it turns out - for me anyway - if I google my name... there are several more people out there with my name and even a song by Acoustic Alchemy. There are two younger women on MySpace.com and a web site that sells custom made jewelry - all with my name on them.

It actually makes me feel better that if someone was looking - it would take them FOREVER to sift through all of the others before they found me.

Alex, I would like to continue talking on this site but I don't want to use my last name anymore. How can I change my name to something else and start fresh?

YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR OWN USERNAME!!!!

Log into your CP,

Click on "Edit Email, Password & Username"

At the bottom you can change your username, right under "Change Username (Optional)"

But if you change your username, does it delete all your posts?

But if you change your username, does it delete all your posts?

Nope, it changes all of your old posts to the new username.

ahh ok thank you, that would stink if it did and bring up a whole new set of problems.

Ok, I know you could change your user name as Alex showed us before, has that option been moved or changed? Did I miss it totally?

Thanks

Ok, I know you could change your user name as Alex showed us before, has that option been moved or changed? Did I miss it totally?

Thanks

If you're logged into the forum just CLICK HERE to modify your user name.

Thanks Alex, that's how I did it before, at the very bottom - that option is not there now

Enter your present password to continue:

Edit Password (Optional)New Password:

Confirm New Password:

Edit Email Address (Optional)New Email Address:

What am I missing?

Thanks Alex, that's how I did it before, at the very bottom - that option is not there now

Enter your present password to continue:

Edit Password (Optional)New Password:

Confirm New Password:

Edit Email Address (Optional)New Email Address:

What am I missing?

You don't see the "Change Username (Optional)" option ?

I found this place via a Google search, and will be forever grateful.

However, it would have been more useful to find a home page first, with summary info and links to the forum itself.

A couple of my posts show up if I google my screen name - that doesn't worry me too much, but I would prefer to only have the forum indexed if possible.

As a way around the indexing issue, maybe we could have an indexed home page set up that is separate to the LBT forum, which includes summary information and a link for new subscribers / guests to the main forum pages, which could then be unindexed. Would this work?

I have found posts by my other screen name, the one I use at most forums, on google. I have even googled my real name and found many items. That is why I use a different Nom de plume here.

PRIVACY??