[MoxieDoxie]

https://forums.psychcentral.com/comm...ml#post6010413

Because of this situation I just do not feel safe that my words are not going to be used out side on another site in a article without my permission.

I will still be here lingering and if I feel I need to add my 2 cents to a post I will private message the OP.

[MoxieDoxie]

https://www.emaxhealth.com/1/i-know-...-dont-know-how

You want to bet this is also from a post here.

[scarlett35]

So sorry you feel you can't post anymore. I feel like I've had my privacy invaded which is horrible. I'm tempted to not post myself. I think it needs to be members only viewing and also when we sign up we have to tick something to say we won't use content on other sites.

[LadyShadow]

Actually there is something like that, a "member's only" posting section. It's called the "Premier Poobah Forum" here: https://forums.psychcentral.com/premier-poohbah-forum/

I think you have to be at a level of "Poohbah" to access that section though which I think is "3,000 posts in any amount of time, or 600 posts in about 4 years' time, or is a part of our moderation team here." as the section rules have stated.

The only downside is, I don't think you guys have made it to that many posts yet, so if you want to rack up some posts, hang out in the "Games" section or "General Social Chat" section and contribute. I mean I had done that a while back when I wanted to have a "Custom User Title" which is probably a silly reason for doing that, but then again, silly things usually make me happy.

Again, I am sorry this happened to you scarlett35 and that you feel this way Moxie, I am sure someone will address this soon, if not DocJohn then at least one of the moderators can at least weigh in.

Hugs to the both of you.

[MoxieDoxie]

Originally Posted by LadyShadow

Actually there is something like that, a "member's only" posting section. It's called the "Premier Poobah Forum" here: https://forums.psychcentral.com/premier-poohbah-forum/

I think you have to be at a level of "Poohbah" to access that section though which I think is "3,000 posts in any amount of time, or 600 posts in about 4 years' time, or is a part of our moderation team here." as the section rules have stated.

The only downside is, I don't think you guys have made it to that many posts yet, so if you want to rack up some posts, hang out in the "Games" section or "General Social Chat" section and contribute. I mean I had done that a while back when I wanted to have a "Custom User Title" which is probably a silly reason for doing that, but then again, silly things usually make me happy.

Again, I am sorry this happened to you scarlett35 and that you feel this way Moxie, I am sure someone will address this soon, if not DocJohn then at least one of the moderators can at least weigh in.

Hugs to the both of you.

No you can also donate and that will get you in there also.

[LadyShadow]

Originally Posted by MoxieDoxie

No you can also donate and that will get you in there also.

Oh, that's right. Hmm. Not sure how I feel about that one though. Paying money just so you feel safe and private on a site? Eh, I don't like the way that sounds, maybe its just me.

[MoxieDoxie]

I would pay small yearly fee to keep this private.

[seesaw]

This one is also directly from this site: https://www.emaxhealth.com/1/falling...t-live-feeling

[seesaw]

I believe DocJohn could find this man's IP address and block him from accessing PC. I think that should be done.

[seesaw]

Um, so I'm sure DocJohn will do something. The TOS are pretty clear:

"Use of Intellectual Property

All users, visitors and members who access this forum agree not to copy and paste, quote, print-out, distribute, or otherwise use a member's postings or other contributions to the community on another website, blog, or service (including Psych Central's free user blogs) without first obtaining the expressed written consent and permission of the author to do so via a PM or email."

This "visitor" broke the TOS. I'm sure they will be dealt with.

[amandalouise]

ummm no offense here to anyone but I dont think this site is meant to be private anyway. I remember reading somewhere on here, maybe in the registration stuff not to post anything you would not want the whole world to see because psych central is free because of how it is google -able and the ads, people pay to have their ads on psych central which allows Doc John to offer this site to everyone for free.

yes there is a rule here that members can not use what other members post here .......Without......permission of the poster....but its an honor system thing, But that does not prevent any actual viewing/ reading and using the posts elsewhere...

let me show you what I mean log out of your accounts. then come to psych central with out logging in. can you read the posts? yes. can you right... click and copy and paste your posts to your journals, or save on your computers yes. can you with out being here on psych central google your username and see your posts and after googling your username then click on google images see any images/ memes you have posted here yes to both.

is there any way of knowing who around the whole world is coming to psych central viewing, reading, copy paste -ing elsewhere no... every computer made automatically comes with right click copy pasting built in to the operating systems (example... microsoft windows of any version....) not to mention every internet website also has their own servers and programs and site domains that also have their own what is called options...

this site was never advertised as private and as far as I know has always included disclaimers in the registration to never post any pics or posts that are personal and private.

its the internet and as long as this site is listed with search engines for advertising and to promote the site, in order to keep the site a free to everyone, no fee to register and become, and remain members posts and pics and memes posted here are going to be found outside of psych central too.

because I read any sites registration and privacy disclaimers I know that every website I go to say the same thing... to never post any personal and identifyable things and never post anything that violates state and federal laws like criminal activities I knew from the moment I registered that I would never post anything I did not want my friends, family and strangers to know and I would never ever post any pics of me my friends or family, all of which (posts and pics) can be used outside of psych central too and theres nothing anyone can do about it. just the way the internet works.

there is also a frequently asked section and the rules and guidelines section here that also discusses the fact that this site is searchable on search engines and to not post anything of a personal nature that you would not want the world to know about.

in other words I am not surprised when I encounter one of my posts/ information that I have posted here is found outside of psych central, thats the risk I take by being a member of psych central, replying to posts and posting my own posts and threads.

[scarlett35]

Originally Posted by seesaw

Um, so I'm sure DocJohn will do something. The TOS are pretty clear:

"Use of Intellectual Property

All users, visitors and members who access this forum agree not to copy and paste, quote, print-out, distribute, or otherwise use a member's postings or other contributions to the community on another website, blog, or service (including Psych Central's free user blogs) without first obtaining the expressed written consent and permission of the author to do so via a PM or email."

This "visitor" broke the TOS. I'm sure they will be dealt with.

I hope so. I was friendly in the response back as didn't realise there were rules to stop people from doing this... hopefully this person will stop stealing people's forum posts

[amandalouise]

here is something that may be useful to know or remember. I found it in the guidelines....

What's your privacy policy?

Our privacy statement is available.

You should be aware that we allow Google and other search engines to index our community, in order to help others who are searching for a safe and supportive online self-help support community for mental health issues find us. Please do not post identifying information here that you wouldn't want to be seen by those who know you in your life.

my views this means everyone around the whole world has access to anything that may be posted here including personal posts and personal pic so I am very careful of what I place anywhere on the internet. I never post anything that I would not want my friend s family or strangers around the whole world to know and see.

[seesaw]

I just got this response:

"Hi MY NAME,

This is Armen Hareyan writing from eMaxHealth.com. I read your comment and wanted to reply.

First of all I do ask for forgiveness because I didn't have any harmful intentions. Here is my explanation and fix.

Explaination:

I was trying to be helpful. I used only one paragraph from the forum and put it in quotations. I didn't mention the forum trying to respect people's anonymity. However, I didn't claim it as mine because I put it in quotations, didn't use names. Also, the information was in a public forum and anyone can use it, unless they make it a closed or secret forum. No name or personality was revealed and I don't know them either. But I was just trying to write helpful stories about real life problems.

The Fix

I went through all these 3-4 stories and revised them. Now they have no reference to the forum and no quotes from the forum postings. It's all done. I did this out of respect to the forum members and to show my intent that I had acted in good faith.

Asking forgiveness

I do ask for forgiveness if there was anything wrong in my actions. I had acted in good faith and was trying to be helpful. When your comments brought it to my attention, I immediately revised the stories and they have no reference or relation the the forum.

I wanted to act as a friend of the forum community. If you are one of the admins or moderators, would you please restore my membership? Let's turn this around and make the best of it.

Thank you.
Respectfully"

And this is what I said in return:

"You expressly broke the terms of service of the forum. The only fix is to take the post down. This is from the terms of service/use that you agreed to when you went on the forum:

"Use of Intellectual Property

All users, visitors and members who access this forum agree not to copy and paste, quote, print-out, distribute, or otherwise use a member's postings or other contributions to the community on another website, blog, or service (including Psych Central's free user blogs) without first obtaining the expressed written consent and permission of the author to do so via a PM or email."

You did not act in good faith. The people on that site agree to the terms of service which state their posts and information will not be shared without their consent. You broke that faith. No way should your membership be restored. You violated our members' privacy with absolutely no respect for them. You did not even bother to ask if you could share their stories, which is against the terms of service that you agreed to when you became a member.

You need to remove all the offending posts now."

[MoxieDoxie]

This brings to light a real problem. Just because he is trying to fix the situation does not mean this is not happening in other places as we just have not found them.

Something has to be done on this sight to protect us.

[seesaw]

Look if someone is inspired to write an article based on a situation on here, there are absolutely ways to do it without quoting that person's post and entirely rewriting it. You can also do outside research of similar situations to fill out the article. You can properly site other news sources and forums. There are ways to write articles like this without violating TOS. The fact is, this guy just needed content so he ripped off a mental health forum where people are trying to feel safe.

And he thinks that "fixing" it, editing his articles, should be enough for us to forgive him. Except that he trolled our community for his benefit. There is no good faith in that. How is he trying to help the poster by taking their story and responding to it elsewhere instead of responding directly to it here?

He is asking me to forgive him and reinstate his membership, but I don't have that power. I told him it wasn't up to me and there are consequences for actions, even when you ask for forgiveness or fix things. It doesn't mean it makes what you did just disappear.

[scarlett35]

I have got exactly the same email

[tecomsin]

It sounds like the guy hardly realizes how harmful he is to the community here. Not everyone will be affected by it the same way, and some may not care too much, if at all, what an obscure blog writer is making hay with from our forum. I am not sure what, if anything, the site can do about his present obsession with the posts here, but in the meantime everyone has to realize that their next post could end up being fodder for this other man's blog.

He should take down all his blog posts from this forum.

[scarlett35]

I know. It's not like a forum where people discuss tv or music or anything, it's really personal stuff and a lot of people rely on it for support. Thats why I was so annoyed.

I've just realised what this persons username was before and he had commented on the post he used.

[seesaw]

Yeah...and what bothers me most is the direct quoting like this was something that was asked to him directly. Seriously, all he had to do was ask if it's okay to use your question in his advice column. How hard is that?

[Unhinged88]

This brought something I didn't even think about to my attention. I didn't even imagine someone would come here to potentially take what I said for articles, etc. What if they use information against you? Now I don't think I will post anything too serious about my past.

[tecomsin]

I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, for being clueless, if he

(1) immediately takes down all his blog posts based on material here. They are terribly written anyway at this point.

(2) And if he never quotes or 'uses' without permission of the author in advance on any forum.

Otherwise, he is intentionally violating the TOS here and cannot claim it was an accident.

[Crazy Hitch]

Why on earth would he tell you his first name and surname

Some people have no clue about online privacy

[tecomsin]

Originally Posted by Crazy Hitch

Why on earth would he tell you his first name and surname

Some people have no clue about online privacy

It's possible he is having a manic episode. I could see myself acting in a similar way if I was manic and had some of his views.

[LadyShadow]

I don't know if this is going too far or not, but it is REALLY sticking in my craw that this guy is trying really hard to play the "innocent good guy." Our comments were intentionally left off of his article, mostly for him to save face, so his readers don't think he is absolutely horrible, so instead, he chooses to send the same generic email to everyone that complained about his plagiarism. I have the same exact email seesaw posted on this thread from him, word for word, with no effort or even concern that copy and pasting just proves that he gives zero (blanks) in reality for what he did.

This is the message I sent to that generic apology he sent everyone:

Where your apology may seem in good faith and nice and shiny on the outside, it was a generic message you sent to several people on the forum in which you stole this information from, so your "copy and paste" methods are both obvious and emotionless.

Honestly? The only one who you should seek penance from is yourself, and question the reasoning behind your need to plagiarize our members' heartfelt, raw, emotional stories, which was a huge leap for anyone to share to begin with, and then turn around and use it to promote your articles in a blatant act of self-promotion.

I am not a moderator, but I have been on the site for years. I find it a safe place to share my thoughts and views, and although this situation doesn't affect me personally, it raises alarms for me because it feels like you took advantage of a member's vulnerability and that's just plain wrong.

You have to live with your choices, so I urge you to think about how you formulate your articles in the future, and be aware of the sensitivities of the stories that you share without their permission. I can't stop you from doing this, no one really can, but you're the one who has to live with the fact that you're exposing sensitive issues in which my fellow members felt they were safe when posting on this forum.