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Exchange of Information Policy

by Elysa @ 04/26/07 20:10

Recently, numerous members of the MuggleNet Fan Fiction community have acted irresponsibly and failed to respect the privacy of personal and sensitive information. These events have inspired new policy to be considered, in regard to how much information we will allow to be exchanged over our medium. A consensus has been reached, and we have decided that the following pieces of information-- and only the following pieces of information-- may be given out freely:

Your real first name
Your birthday date
General location (nothing more specific than your state/province)
Your e-mail address
Your AIM/Yahoo/MSN screen name
Your personal website URL (not to be confused with linking to your fics on another site, which is not allowed)

Needless to say, you can continue to discuss your likes/dislikes, college major(s), musical taste, etc, in your profile. We only mean to ban the overly-personal subjects, such as exact locations, health conditions, last names, et cetera. Our site is not the proper venue for such conversations. That is why we allow the free exchange of e-mail addresses and screen names-- so that you can converse on those matters on your own terms, not ours.
Please note that this applies to both the main site (here) and our Forums. Violation of this policy will result in one warning for the first offense, but a second or third offense is grounds for a permanent ban and/or deletion of your account. Please take this seriously, as we sincerely don't want to have to take disciplinary action, and know that we enforce this only with the best intentions of protecting our beloved authors.
Feel free to contact a moderator if you have any questions. And, as always, thank you guys for your support. This site wouldn't exist without each of you.

Comments

MissyQuill written on 04/29/07 6:16

Its a fair policy I guess.

gryffindor_girl21 written on 04/29/07 8:42

Thank you guys so much!
I was getting kind of scared/worried abouth is stuff.
Just as a suggestion you should ban those irresponsible members!

written on 04/29/07 9:43

nice policy, keeping us all safe from those evil creepy ppl in that big bad cyber world

Wand_Waver2006 written on 04/29/07 19:47

Finally, some crack down on this information! I don't know which is stupider--asking for it or giving it out. I'm glad you modlings are keeping us safe. It makes me feel good that I joined a site that cares about its members!

Star

PhysicalGraffiti written on 04/29/07 23:36

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful comments and unwavering loyalty. Thank you for understanding why we felt compelled to implement this policy as well. It means a lot to us, having your support. How can we not care about our members when our members are this amazing? :)

<3, Elysa

Pafoo written on 04/29/07 23:36

*feels protected*

You guys rock.

m/(>.<)m/

LoOnY_for_Harry written on 04/30/07 14:10

Thanks for addressing this, mods! I think it's wonderful that you guys are taking such lengths for our safety. Keep it up!

MauraderManiac written on 04/30/07 14:15

I understand that there is a need for it. On the forums and on the main site, it is available to everyone. So, yes I completely agree. But, once you become "on-line friends" and communicate via email,. PM, and AIM, it is up to the participants what they discuss. I think that it is up to people on this site to make sure they are protecting themselves from violent people. I understand this policy absolutely, but I do not believe that it will stop anyone from talking over AIM, email, or PM, even though they should not discuss those things.

potterfan226 written on 04/30/07 16:01

I wouldn't give out anything else other than my first name, b-day, country annd ... well that's it. I'm not asking to be stalked and picked up, thank you very much =)

Nice to know other people feel the same way I do.

Dumbledore Prince written on 05/01/07 2:05

I'm glad that the mods are taking security seriously, 'cause giving out too much personal info online is definitely not a good thing. One question: Are we allowed to include occupations in our bios? Something general, of course, like student.

Roxy Black written on 05/04/07 12:34

Dumbledore Prince - In our policy we have said that 'you can continue to discuss your likes/dislikes, college major(s), musical taste, etc, in your profile'
I think saying a general occupation would be ok in a profile, as it's like a college major, it just says what you do.
~ Roxy

Bertybottaholic written on 05/05/07 10:59

I'm so glad you guys are doing this. The internet is like a big dark room, filled with people you don't know, and would you go around giving out your phone #, adress, and gender to all of them? Probably not. Thank you for doing this, because through restricting bios, you are possibly saving people from being hurt, and you are definitely keeping everyone safe. Thank you, mods, you rock!

Noldo written on 05/10/07 10:15

Dumbledore Prince -- as Roxy said, 'I am a student' is definitely fine. 'I am a physics major and a sophomore' is also fine. 'I am a sophomore physics major at Harvard' is really pushing it for obvious reasons. Just use your discretion for the most part -- could you be tracked using [x]? Then [x] does not go on the Internet publicly.

written on 05/11/07 12:20

Marauder Maniac - you are absolutely right. By putting this policy into place, we are trying to limit the amount of information WE allow you to give out on OUR space, in the hopes that it it turn makes YOU more aware of what you are saying in YOUR space. Unfortunately, online predators are very real, and your safety is one of our first priorities.

We are very lucky that our fandom is so maniacal *giggles* It makes it that much harder for an intruder to come in and pretend to be something they are not, but it could still happen.

This policy is meant for your protection while you are using the MNFF resources, so that you may feel safe in the knowledge that we are looking out for you - however, it IS up to the users to take this policy outside of MNFF and use it for their own protection.

Please, do not hesitate to contact a moderator if you feel that another member is prying into information via PM that goes beyond the scope of this policy - and if someone continually pesters you elsewhere for that information, blocking them is a good idea. Please take your safety seriously - that is what we are trying to help you do with this policy.

vampirebabe written on 05/12/07 18:28

wow i wonder what happened to get them all bezoomy about this.

Gynneva written on 05/18/07 9:09

How long does it take for my story to be validated so that people can read it and I can get some feedback?? Please let me know I am very anxious.
Thanks,
Gynneva Vinese

hopelives4ever written on 05/21/07 9:16

that sounds fair! No probs with me!

AnnaMuggle written on 05/23/07 14:33

Hey, I've been trying to contact a moderator about my story. The moderators list in FAQ doesn't work and I've been franticly looking around to find a moderator or another list. My story was deleted without any notification or explanation sent in mail. I just thought it was weird.

Please, if any mod sees this, contact me through my mail. Thanks.

MJ_Padfoot written on 06/05/07 11:39

AnnaMuggle--
If you sign up onto the Beta boreds and Personal Message (PM) and go to the section where it says "I didn't get a rejection letter" they should help you.

I'm so glad that MFF keeps all us Muggles safe. THANKS GUYS! YOU ROCK! ~MJ

Luna_Lovegood11 written on 06/19/07 17:20

I want to know, can we tell if we have any brothers or sisters?

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