Anyone Else Had Their Post Put Up On Storify By Anthony

[greenleaf]

Given how many millions of people have ptsd worldwide, the chances that anyone would correctly identify any of us here seem pretty small (short of putting your name and address in a post)... I hope the posts here are helpful to lots of folks out there and am glad Anthony et al. are trying to spread the hopefully helpful information. One can hope that the stigma will slowly decrease too.

I don't know why Anthony puts his name on the posts, it might just be how Storify works; it should be obvious to anyone who digs deeper that he wasn't the original writer of a lot of the stuff even if he owns it. Not sure how Australian law works there but anyhow I'm not planning to support myself via my posts on ptsd! :O_o:

 

[Deleted member 28740]

@Nighthawk

Being called paranoid was offensive, rude, judgmental.

another dog analogy - this site is seeming more like a dog park. Some on leash, some not, ones your pal knows because they did the sniff and play and traded pee- mail. Trade pee mail even if other is not present. Piss pee. Sorry for your interpretation on the difference. Yet no one to worry about calling a complete stranger paranoid. yeah, so pee on it, and walk away.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Do you not see the paranoia in your posts? You jumped on me after I suggested Shutterfly to someone as you didn't like their privacy policy (which seems to be pretty standard across the net). I had suggested the website because I thought it could help someone organize/display/etc their childhood photos.

Its like when someone is in the hospital.....they talk to us about this phenomenon as everyone goes through it to some extent. Instead of focusing on our own healing, we each (in our own way) find something else to focus on or pick apart as focusing on what we CAN control is just too daunting. I see you as doing that. You're trying to control the internet, you're trying to control MyPTSD, you're trying to control Anthony.....but the thing is you can't control any of these things. It is what it is. You can only work on healing yourself and changing things which you have direct control over.

I think people lose sight of the bigger picture. Do you all realize how much gratitude we owe to Anthony for starting the site, Nicolette for running it as well, and all of the mods (even those who have come and gone over the years)? Do you realize there is NO other community out there like this one? This site is a gem, and its unfortunate that you can't see what a huge gift it is to all of us. Where else are you going to find a community of people who truly GET IT? I honestly don't think it exists, at least not in this capacity.

But, if you want to focus on the things you can't control, then that's your choice. You always have the power to walk away.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

Uhh guys why are you attacking each other? I think Changeling's reaction is logical, after all I was also shocked when I saw one of my posts on that facebook page. But later I understood that the process is automatic and has definitely nothing to do with anybody sharing someone's posts on purpose. If it gets the site more traffic then it's a good thing I guess (although I still have my doubts about sharing content from members but hey I already discussed that topic on here before).

It's normal to be a little paranoid in this day and age where huge sites such as facebook try to make our info their own and privacy is under fire everywhere. Well I know I am. Maybe Changeling you could have phrased your concern in a way that didn't attack anyone. Just voiced it and ask questions. It's normal to be pissed off but accusing straight away is going to end up in conflict like this...

 

[joeylittle]

I'd like to put this link here, in case anyone is curious about the Help Desk version of this conversation - it has some actual information:
Link Removed

Something that could be useful to people, if they are feeling anxiety about learning how the site is networked on the Net: Quit your browser, then restart it. Go to your search engine of choice. Now, think about what the nosiest, most frustratingly/dangerously invasive person in your life would search for, if they wanted to find you on the web based on what they know of you.

You'll probably learn a lot; you might never have even tried to search yourself before.

Second exercise: examine your social network profiles for direct links between your social network identity and your MyPTSD identity. If your user names are the same there, then yes, that might be scary. If you have only "liked" one organization on Facebook and it's MyPTSD, then you have dropped an obvious breadcrumb and will want to fix that (probably).

I'm not tremendously internet-savvy; I'm really good with search engines. After I joined this site and before I posted anything of substance, I scoped out how everything was working. And I definitely felt a real shock at first when I saw that MyPTSD had a facebook page. Why? Dunno, really - but then I looked at how it worked and realized that so long as I did not begin a post with incredibly identifying details (I mean really identifying), and didn't have the same user name, the odds were greatly against anyone ever even finding "me" here, let alone recognizing "me" from my posts.

Not trying to negate anyone elses' experience, and writing purely as just another member with very real privacy concerns, not a staffer making a proclamation - but I think there's a leap between "MyPTSD is networked to social media" and "I'm in danger".

 

[Deleted member 28740]

Do you not see the paranoia in your posts? You jumped on me after I suggested Shutterfly to someone as you didn't like their privacy policy

Jumped on you? I have not posted about Shutterfly. Perhaps you confuse me with some one else.

 

[Deleted member 28740]

@joeylittle thank you for your post. Different circumstances bring many to this site each with their own reasons for seeking help here. And there is help here. Some seekers of insight and help that are in critical situations, that do not have help from private sources, me. I will speak first person. This is an ocean, there are islands and weather, and takes time to learn how to navigate. Some on this journey seeking help and healing do have huge health and security concerns because of PTSD, and social media concerns about those involved in the causation, at the same time. Some is past to be healed some is very present action.

 

[NovemberStar]

I don't think the main issue or concern for me on this, is being identified on here. It's more about posting something painful, raw, and from the heart, only to find it being posted sales where WITHOUT permission. Yes, when we sign up we agree we no longer own our posts - but how many of us REALLY had ANY idea that statement would mean 'your posts may be copied, put onto other Internet forums and said to be authored by someone else"

I think in ALL fairness, that needs to be made VERY VERY VERY clear to ANYONE signing up.

It's NOT what I agreed to, for sure.

I also want to know when these posts started to appear on other media forms? If it's a recent thing - ie, happened after many of us had already signed up - then I don't see how it's legal, unless it was made clear it would hapoen, or the 'rules' had changed to enable it to happen.

Similarly, are the copied posts only from when it started to be posted elsewhere? Or are they backdated? Ie, a post someone wrote a few years ago?

 

[TLight]

I also thought it was out of line to call your posts paranoid, Changling. But even though I still check in on this site and post a few comments here and there...I basically see some stuff happening that I don't care for, so I stay out of the senseless fray. I've had enough ridiculous stress in my life.

But my two cents, that was bad behavior in my opinion.

 

[TLight]

Also, my two cents since we are on it.
Yes, this advertising and costs stuff are disturbing. I understand if members wanted chat, IM, and all that other stuff that it needs to be paid for...but it seems this site has turned more into a side business than a clean support group.

I know how difficult it is to live on disability alone and I have a side business where I write resumes and other technical projects to earn a bit of extra cash, but I would not want to take on something like this, that is supposed to be a healing endeavor and turn it into something that is earning income. Is it a non-profit? There's so much we don't know and so many 'defenders' of Anthony. Why do many 'defenders' if there's nothing to defend? Seems things are out of control here.

I personally remember something about, if you sign up for a 'premium paid membership' you could have direct access to Anthony via 'ask Anthony.'........well, that's getting a bit scary for my tastes.

 

[Kintsugi]

This is a privately owned and funded site. See the donation cost thingy? That is under the amount we need to keep our server costs running. Members donate money to keep this place up and running, and otherwise, @anthony pays out-of-pocket for our site costs here. He loses money on this site monthly.

What advertising are you referring to, @TLight? No advertisers pay us anymore. Adsense removed us. Here's a press release detailing our funding crisis from a couple months ago: [DLMURL]https://www.myptsd.com/c/posts/779595/[/DLMURL]

I wonder how people found this site... Google? Bing? Tumblr? Did you read other people's posts before registering? The ones publicly posted all over this site, which contribute to the betterment of the community and seekers at large? This phenomenon is essentially what you are complaining about. Person + social media/search engine/networking tool on the Internet + search terms = results containing publicly available posts from this site. That is what we want. It's how people find us. It's how we found this place, unless you were referred by a friend or carrier pigeon or something.

At the bottom of our webpage, it says "By continuing past this page, you agree to be bound to and abide by our legal policy," with the policy linked. This is our policy: https://www.myptsd.com/help/terms/ . You will notice that at the top, it has all terms simplified into a 16-item list, all of which are one sentence long and contain no words outside an average English vocabulary. It is literally shorter than this post is.

Coming to this site, which you do not own, do not work for, and assumedly do not donate to, and complaining about the legal policy which you agreed to is absolutely ridiculous. Tell me, nay-sayers, what does this free service that abides by its own policies and consitution owe you?

 

[TLight]

Does Anthony pay himself?
Does Nicolette pay herself as things are run through her bookkeeping company?
Are moderators paid?

None of this is addressed anywhere in the fine print.

If they aren't selling advertising, why is there an 'advertisers' link? Why is there still advertising up everywhere?

Frankly, the other day I pulled up the site and there was an ad for a knife set......not too good if someone is suicidal.

I just think there should be full disclosure in order to make members feel safe and in America, if a person or organization solicits contributions or donations, they have to be registered as a non-profit with our Internal Revenue Service and the organization is audited to ensure all funds collected are going directly to running the organization. That does not mean workers cannot be paid, but their pay is disclosed and taxes are paid as it is personal income. Filtering this income (donations) coming in through this site and advertising income through Nicolette's bookkeeping company would not be allowed in the US.

I think honesty and integrity are extremely important for trauma survivors, as anyone and there is stuff going on here that doesn't seem to be fully disclosed.