Again, if people don’t know their message is published, how would they know to complain?
Even if they would know, many think postcrossing team should not be bothered.
At the moment the other poll shows 76% doesn’t think it’s acceptable to show the message without their permission.
"In general, is it acceptable for the recipient to post your writings without your consent?
76%No
24%Yes"
What I read from these polls is, that majerity doesn’t like their message been published but they don’t think the extra feature in profile would be the solution.
There is another issue there: how many people read the sender’s profile? We don’t know who the sender is until we register it, many of us struggle to understand the postcard before registering so we can write a proper hurray message… Even if it would be done, would it be useful at all?
Seems like the simplest option is to not write anything on a postcard that you wouldn’t want published. I would say it is a very very small percentage of postcard backs that are published either here or on the web in general.
While I’m quite bothered about my cards being shown on high traffic platforms like instagram, but realize I can’t really do anything about it, I’m not bothered at all by the translation thread. This is a tiny corner of the web, the text snippets usually don’t reveal anything about the sender and I found the team (admins and moderators) very diligent about removing inappropriate content like addresses as soon as it’s flagged.
So those who are or feel violated, should change very very sad. I don’t think so at all, but of course I know it’s safest not even join here at all.
Maybe simplest would be to kick out the members who show no respect to others privacy maybe a warning first, and let them send and receive lesser cards.
Or treat the “publisher” equally, if they publish what they know about me, I can publish what I know about them of course that would be totally ok and fair, because why would they think they can do something I can’t.
Yes, the suggestion for a consent/preference feature has been rejected outright.
Still, the inconsistency between the community guidelines and the translation thread remains unresolved. Possible actions, from what I gathered from our discussions so far, are as below.
I understand the translation thread represents a small portion of the postcards being exchanged. Rather than how each individual assesses the risk of their writings being posted, it is the unfair nature of the thread that I’m taking issue with…
Similarly, if it is just a small portion, why do we need to invest so much energy (say, the amount of voluntary moderation work) into something that has not yet been properly sorted out and serves only a few forum members while keeping non-members in the dark? Those who want a translation/transcription will be able to get it in one way or another. Plus, Postcrossing risks lending legitimacy to those questionable posts (English messages, ID/name not removed, etc.). @admins
Look, we should absolutely maintain that postcard backs are private. We should, because then it becomes part of the Postcrossing culture and it is widely understood that you don’t show the backs.
However, we also need to be realistic. According to the front page, there are over 800,000 Postcrossing members. How many Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Youtube accounts is that? How many blogs? How many in other forums or chatrooms? It’s impossible to police that many accounts.
The translation thread, which seems to have started all this angst in the first place, is small scale and posts are regularly deleted.
Basically, yes the backs should be treated as private because that is the fair thing in Postcrossing, but we also need to be aware that they are not truly private.
I hope you are not suggesting that is what I meant, because it isn’t.
It doesn’t have to be the senders themselves that complain. Anyone who sees or knows about the translation thread could do so if they feel that a card being posted there is somehow offensive.
100%. That is the only thing you can control…what you write. Whether or not they are shared are completely beyond your control, no matter how many rules are put in place.
And, as you say, this happens so rarely yet so much air time has been given to discussing it.
We don’t have to police all accounts. If one account reveals many cards, and if one is deleted, it’s better than nothing. It can also serve as a good warning.
To me seems odd that if we can’t do “all”, we should do nothing.
The link is right under the part you quoted. I tried to get it directly to the poll, but now you need to scroll maybe a little. I think these results can be taken as “complaint”. There are people who don’t want their message published.
This is why I explained my standpoint - I don’t want my message published in general (already covered by the community standards), but have no issue with snippets being shown in the translation thread or a similar exceptional installment.
So I don’t think you can take the results as the equivalent of a complaint for every case.
Since it seems that many forum members are not bothered that the message images are posted in the translation thread, I take it that they wouldn’t be bothered if one or more of the suggested measures are implemented. For example, screen before making public or explain the idea of this thread on the main website.
I think it partly is, because in the translation thread cards are published too.
It would be different if there were small snippets, like @Wolfsmondfee wrote (that she’s ok with), but now there are full card with all the message with id’s and names shown.
I like the @varn 's suggestion above, that the messages would go through a checking, before published.
Also, I personally don’t think it would be needed or useful to have any tick box in profile, but: I still don’t like my cards being published. So the poll in this post does not equal how people think about the publishing, when the polls are about having an extra feature in a profile.
But what about when the whole message needs to be translated? It’s very often the case. Or people ask how is the person called since they want to properly address them when registering the card? And implementing a check would add to an already heavy workload of the admins.
Also, this is not “a feature of the main site”, like has been suggested above (not by you, I’m just adding my thoughts on another angle that has been discussed). People often post forum cards there or even cards completely unrelated to Postcrossing - at least that has been my impression.
Like I said before - I don’t see a need for any changes. The admins, at their discretion, can allow this exception and it doesn’t violate the guidelines or create any confusion for me. I assume anything I write can end up online somewhere in the end, without my consent, so I write my messages accordingly.
As I’ve mentioned before, all these do not actually warrant the posting of images publicly. One can ask for help in translation of a certain language. Someone responds and then take the rest in private. It can work like trades. Ask one by one until a satisfactory translation emerges.
Plus, moderators don’t need to screen the images anymore. The burden falls on the recipient in need of a translation to actively look for a translator, which seems fair to me.
I too was confused with translation thread but the messages get deleted regularly, which is great
And I think leaving it only to moderator and admins will make their hands full
I hope those who help translating the cards will mention @the one who needs help with translation after the translation that they have to delete the picture soon after the translation is done
Example :
Person A : Can someone help me with this (insert picture)
Person B : (helping with the translation) and then mention @PersonA to delete the picture
Of course anyone who shows up in the thread can help by mentioning the OP to delete the pic
It’s like in the lottery section where some of the participants help to fix numbers
I guess this is how the translation thread is supposed to work, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to at the moment. Again, the picture part can and should take place in private, not least because of the community guidelines, among other concerns. One hour of public exposure on the Internet can simply mean forever.
From what I understand, there is an automatic deletion of posts in place, after a certain time has passed. Simply deleting the picture doesn’t work, you can still see it in the edit history.
The one improvement I can see that could be implemented is to shorten the time until the automatic deletion happens but it would still need to be counted in days, like it is now.
very very sad. I don’t think so at all, but of course I know it’s safest not even join here at all.
maybe a warning first, and let them send and receive lesser cards.