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.

To be honest, it doesn't really bother me. Now if I was going around and posting nude pictures, that isn't something I would want a prospective employer to see if they Googled me. LBT, though? Not exactly shameful, IMHO. All that I am doing here is trying to make myself healthier.

I have no problem with it being indexed but I have a few words of caution for everyone.

My day to day work is in law and I STRONGLY urge anyone who has their date of birth, real names, and/or home addresses in their personal profile to remove it.

Fraudsters love these types of bulletins and can you can become a victim of identity theft with such personal information in your profile. It's nothing for a fraudster to befriend you on line to get such details. You should never have personal information posted or give out personal information on-line unless you completely and thoroughly know the person (i.e. family, close friends..and even then you shouldn't give it online but in person or on the phone).

I've worked with victims of identity theft and I can assure you that it is very difficult to get your life back once that happens so please take caution.

Well since I personally found LBT through Google, I obviously vote to continue to allow Google to index the forum. Otherwise, it would make it very difficult for people to find this great board!

But in order to protect our identities, it's important for members to not post their last names and addresses, etc. on the board. Too many people out there on the internet that can't be trusted with our personal info!

I went to the "edit profile" page. It made me giggle, the part that said "if your date of birth has changed please notify the administrator" Do many people's dates of birth change?

I don't really have an issue with ths either, as long as people are awre that it happens- From the time I started using the internet in the eraly 90's I was always told that any thing you post or even email to a degree, is best thought of as though it has been stuck up on a public notice board for anyone.

Well from what im guessing, this is a VBulletin Powered Site. If you want to make it so only members can view posts and view peoples profiles, you can do so in the Admin Pannel under "Edit User Permissions"

Heres a SS of what you have to change:

Well for me, if it had not been for Google, I wouldn't be here. I wasn't referred, I searched for you, and thank goodness, I found you!

T

I tried googling green. It seems that there is a lot of green action out there and none of it pertains to me. So much for this green's 15 minutes of fame, eh.:heh:

Green, you're my favorite color! Keep up the good work!!! :heh:

Green, you're my favorite color! Keep up the good work!!! :heh:

Thanx, grrl.

While I agree that LBT should come up on a Google search; I've found that individual topics are flagged. When I've searched for my consultant on Google; topics that I've posted in have been hit just because his name is in my signature. I think this is going a bit too far and constitutes an invasion of privacy!

I did a search on google to see what all it came up with. It came up with all post from Lapband, Vanguard, EverQuest, and a few other sites i post on . guess i need to start making new names for different sites.

Well, I just did this on Google. I can not believe how much it shows. I have a couple of other forums that I use and evryone of them came up. I was shocked. Guess I will be more careful what I say and ask.

I would think you could submit a static info page about lbt to google with a link to lbt if it was such a conern and people wanted it to remain private. like a page with a differnt web address with information about plus a link to get to its a little complicated but thats one way to get around there system

found myself in the end

I dont use my real name

I did find mt friends huby webpage didnt no he had one do now.