Privacy policy, revisited May 9, 2016 1:55 PM Subscribe
I think the last discussion on this was several years ago where the general consensus was that the staff just hadn't "gotten around" to creating a privacy policy. Unless I'm missing something it looks like you still don't have one.
It's not that I don't trust you guys to do the right thing. It's more that having a clear and comprehensive privacy policy is just the sign of being a good internet citizen, so to speak. Metafilter is a good community website that should set a good example for others and that includes having a clear privacy policy.
If you do have one and I just didn't find it, my recommendation would be to have a link to it clearly displayed in the footer of each page.
What we've got currently is a fairly comprehensive FAQ entry on privacy issues on the site:
What should I know about privacy at Metafilter?
Which covers I think all the major points about what we can see as administrative staff, what users and non-users can see, and whether and what is ever shared outside of the site (basically nothing that's not already explicitly public and indexed). We've gone over it in response to this suggestion to make sure it's up to date and add a couple extra details, so thanks for the push there.
I think it'd be a good thing to get it linked in some capacity more visibly; we'll look into adding some sort of "about privacy on MetaFilter" reference to the site footer for folks who don't go looking in the FAQ of their own accord.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:00 PM on May 9, 2016 [7 favorites]
What should I know about privacy at Metafilter?
Which covers I think all the major points about what we can see as administrative staff, what users and non-users can see, and whether and what is ever shared outside of the site (basically nothing that's not already explicitly public and indexed). We've gone over it in response to this suggestion to make sure it's up to date and add a couple extra details, so thanks for the push there.
I think it'd be a good thing to get it linked in some capacity more visibly; we'll look into adding some sort of "about privacy on MetaFilter" reference to the site footer for folks who don't go looking in the FAQ of their own accord.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:00 PM on May 9, 2016 [7 favorites]
Yeah I'd consider linking it more visibly. I understand why there is not a privacy policy but since there are a lot of interdependent privacy-related issues at MeFi it would be good to have one place where people can read a document and figure (most of) them out.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:47 PM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:47 PM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm a privacy professional in my day job, so I'm happy to have a look at it, see if anything looks like it could be tweaked . At a glance it looks fine though, nice and clear.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:45 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Sebmojo at 3:45 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
People just don't read FAQs anymore and what's more other people don't remind those people to "just read the FAQ" like they used to do and I just wanted to say "thank you" to Celsius1414 and Cortex for reminding us what's been lost.
posted by notyou at 3:57 PM on May 9, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by notyou at 3:57 PM on May 9, 2016 [4 favorites]
It is always nice to have someone you care about FAQ you.
(Yes, I am groaning as I type this comment)
posted by Literaryhero at 4:44 PM on May 9, 2016
(Yes, I am groaning as I type this comment)
posted by Literaryhero at 4:44 PM on May 9, 2016
Maybe a link to the Privacy part of the FAQ can go right next to the FAQ link at the lower right of every page, taking the place of the "contact" link there, which is duplicated just a couple of inches to the left: "Contact Us."
Or maybe it'd be better in the much larger text size, so maybe next to or beneath the "Contact Us" link?
People don't read the FAQ, or TFA, or TFM for that matter, as much as they used to. IDK if they don't know what a FAQ is, or if they just can't be bothered. It's irritating, but I don't see it getting any better around here tbh.
posted by merelyglib at 4:56 PM on May 9, 2016
Or maybe it'd be better in the much larger text size, so maybe next to or beneath the "Contact Us" link?
People don't read the FAQ, or TFA, or TFM for that matter, as much as they used to. IDK if they don't know what a FAQ is, or if they just can't be bothered. It's irritating, but I don't see it getting any better around here tbh.
posted by merelyglib at 4:56 PM on May 9, 2016
Yeah I didn't realize this was covered in the FAQ. In my experience, FAQs are often anything but, and more often are "Here are some things we want you to know about but are too short and miscellaneous to have their own page." Obviously not the case with MetaFilter but so common elsewhere that I avoid them out of habit.
posted by Deathalicious at 6:03 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Deathalicious at 6:03 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
My point is I feel like FAQs forsake users before users forsake (forsook?) FAQs.
posted by Deathalicious at 6:05 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Deathalicious at 6:05 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
small-tag:
I think "FAQ" and "Contact" should just be additional entries under "Links". There are too many zones to look at in the footer. Maybe people would use the FAQ more. My scanning eye is just tired, darn it, by the time I get past the first three columns. (I'm looking at classic style, so maybe everything is different for modernists.)
posted by sylvanshine at 7:31 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think "FAQ" and "Contact" should just be additional entries under "Links". There are too many zones to look at in the footer. Maybe people would use the FAQ more. My scanning eye is just tired, darn it, by the time I get past the first three columns. (I'm looking at classic style, so maybe everything is different for modernists.)
posted by sylvanshine at 7:31 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not to make more work for Mother/Modder, but..taking a page from a few listservs and stuff, is there any use in once a year, or whatever, saying "here's your annual user info, please review the privacy agreement, etc etc" just to keep it in front of people on some sort of regular basis?
Maybe that's really more a CYA for site operators than anything of utility for the audience. It's true that nobody reads FAQs, EULAs, or anything else, and also true that the sheer volume of documentation for this site (or any other) sort of works against ensuring that anyone has absorbed any particular thing. But, like jessamyn said, this is one thing that does keep coming up and it would be good if there were more mechanisms to keep the current state of affairs in a really findable place, somewhat cohesively presented.
posted by Miko at 8:24 PM on May 9, 2016
Maybe that's really more a CYA for site operators than anything of utility for the audience. It's true that nobody reads FAQs, EULAs, or anything else, and also true that the sheer volume of documentation for this site (or any other) sort of works against ensuring that anyone has absorbed any particular thing. But, like jessamyn said, this is one thing that does keep coming up and it would be good if there were more mechanisms to keep the current state of affairs in a really findable place, somewhat cohesively presented.
posted by Miko at 8:24 PM on May 9, 2016
more often are "Here are some things we want you to know about but are too short and miscellaneous to have their own page."
Rarely-Asked Important Questions? (pronounced "rakes")
posted by ctmf at 8:58 PM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]
Rarely-Asked Important Questions? (pronounced "rakes")
posted by ctmf at 8:58 PM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm a privacy professional in my day job, so I'm happy to have a look at it, see if anything looks like it could be tweaked . At a glance it looks fine though, nice and clear.
Same, on all counts.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:24 PM on May 9, 2016
Same, on all counts.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:24 PM on May 9, 2016
Rarely-Asked Important Questions
Answers I Wish I'd Known (AIWIK), for the rueful.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:26 AM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Answers I Wish I'd Known (AIWIK), for the rueful.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:26 AM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
You might want to just slap it on the bottom footer. That's what a lot of places are pushing toward, including (I just had to do some implementation on this so it's fresh in my mind) Facebook with their instant articles stuff. Provide a clear and prominent link to your privacy policy wherever you collect personal information is what they say, which is sufficiently ambiguous that you could apply it to a free-form comment field like what is on almost every metafilter posting.
Not that you care about FB's rules, but I think they're a good canary for what other operations are going to view as standard and I would not be in the remotest shocked if it became the kind of thing Google started considering in their rankings.
posted by phearlez at 1:45 PM on May 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
Not that you care about FB's rules, but I think they're a good canary for what other operations are going to view as standard and I would not be in the remotest shocked if it became the kind of thing Google started considering in their rankings.
posted by phearlez at 1:45 PM on May 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
QFT:
I think "FAQ" and "Contact" should just be additional entries under "Links". There are too many zones to look at in the footer.
Also, I like phearlez's suggestion (directly above), fwiw.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:09 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think "FAQ" and "Contact" should just be additional entries under "Links". There are too many zones to look at in the footer.
Also, I like phearlez's suggestion (directly above), fwiw.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:09 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by Celsius1414 at 1:56 PM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]