GNHQ please make it clear that these forums are public!

No need to make any effort to keep track of you, dj Those are the things that you post frequently on GN, and are pleased to have all of us on here know. You are a warrior, you don't hide your sword and spear in the trinket tray.

I haven't mentioned any of your family, and I have not put anything about you on Facebook. I have put very little of my own private life on here, so I have more common sense than you claim. Go and thump someone who deserves it.

Safe now then, Elegran. You don't remember everything about me. I don't thump people.

Thanks for your reply but can you be a bit clearer as to what you ve altered ? As without knowing that people will not feel reassured that sounds a bit cryptic LauraGransnet
In what way has your approach to FB been altered and what about Twitter ?

There must be dozens of we Gransnetters with European family connections so I don't know why you would be subjected to hate mail djen. At least I hope not.

Thank you. That goes some way to addressing our concerns. A poster earlier today (l think eloethan ) said that this relatively new move to putting threads/comments on FB and twitter was 'A new dimension and a change in policy' which I think caught out many of us.
It's one thing to post one's thoughts on a site aimed at grans but another to find those thoughts on FB, a site most of us avoid!
Yes we've all been told it's an open site etc etc but this 'new dimension' was never flagged up, so many went on posting in blissful innocence.

GNHQ must now be very well aware after this upsurge of protest that the site will inevitably change and that this will be a more significant change then the tweaking of layout, font and colours.
As posters lose confidence in GN the whole site will be poorer.

Thinking about the 'more private' section is interesting.
Maybe GN extra and run almost like a dating website? Even a small subscription might be considered. Perhaps then we'd have fewer grumbles about those who join only to enter competitions but don't contribute to threads and it would also give some reassurance to those who have come to rely on GN friends.

I am pleased that you've now focussed on real concerns.

My post of 09:05:33 today should be withdrawn by now. I shall repost it here with alterations.

"I have been trying to find the GN membership stats, which we were told a couple of years ago. I can't find them, but I think that there were tens of thousands (80,000?) of members then.

Some posters reveal a lot about their present and past locations, their current political party membership and their past affiliations, and their occupations and interests, to say nothing of various bits of other personal and family stuff.

It is not just the limited number of active involved members who know all these details about frequent posters. All of those 80,000 already have access to that information and if they know someone in person or know of, say, a local party activist by repute, who features prominently on a much-followed topic they can identify him/her without difficulty, plus anyone who is NOT a member but has wandered onto the site because of an interest in some other topic can browse the forums and read all the posts.

GN putting things on FB and Twitter is a new dimension (and they have changed their policy on that) but GN has never been a closed site. That is why we are constantly reminded not to post info which could identify us. We can't have it both ways - if you "come out" and post private problems and opinions on a public site, you can't also stay behind a firewall. Even a section for members only would be open to the eyes of the tens of thousands of present and past members."

Sorry elegran l quoted your perceptive new dimension but attributed it to eloethan.

I wouldn't have noticed, McEm. In truth, I don't remember mentioning a new dimension, so it may indeed have been someone else.

Just found it again - memory like a sieve, Too busy reframing the post to avoid giving too much info to reread the bits that didn't need reframing.

For anyone concerned about the privacy issue.
If you haven't already spotted it please check the new thread about GN private forum for those who don't want to be on FB.

Funny thing is my Facebook page is private to just a few close friends and family as opposed to Gransnet which anyone can read! That's why I find it difficult to see why so many people are upset about things being put on FB which they seem to think is evil. Having said that I am easily identified on FB with my real name and photos etc but I am (I hope) anonymous on GN - I wouldn't want friends and family reading some of the personal things I've put on GN so will be more careful about what I reveal about myself in future. The things GN put on FB are indeed amonymous BUT ther is a link to GN where the whole thread is reavealed together with any photos etc. That's the bit I think they should change. Ther is no need for it.

I also think we should be able to delete or edit things we have posted, as you can on FB!

So the end of your 10.18 post states the problem which you could not see at the start of it, pollyperkins.

I've just been having a quick look on Mumsnet and saw that one feature consists of a few quotes from the GN thread on vibrators.
Names of posters didn't seem identifiable though.

correction - names of posters aren't mentioned.