Let me start by saying that you are all wonderful and bright and articulate women-and men. It's very rare that you encounter such intelligence in one place. It's already become an invaluable source of sisterhood for me.

I have posted a lot of thoughts and realized that this forum is searchable. But you know what? I would PAY to make this site private. So who's with me on this?

Hi Tiffani

What would be the point exactly? For me anyways, The option not to diplay any personal info (or even my name) or a picture of myself is enough to protect my privacy. Also, how could it be enforced? We're not in a position to supply union cards/numbers or suchlike. If sites like this started asking for fees in order to "protect our identities" I don't see how it would and could leave valuble sources of support and information up for exploitation.

xhugsx
Melody

I kinda think of this as a girls locker room....

One that allows boys 

It's been discussed before so I believe the admin here are keeping the forum open for good reasons which I also agree with. But clients DO read this forum and one of mine once accidentally admitted it to my face. I innocently asked him, "Oh, you needed some advice about seeing your first client?" and I think he at least said some vague apology but after all, it's not like I think the Internet is a place where everyone's reading habits should be policed. Quite the opposite so I couldn't get cross, annoyingly.

But it's always a good reminder to everyone to be careful about what they say here. Don't give out any personal details or anything too descriptive about any individual clients. Unless they do something bad - in that case, I'm glad they can see their foul behaviour revealed in full on the Warnings board!

I've also seen threads on Grunternet linking straight to threads here so just be warned, were hardly a secret community. PMs are good and also setting up buddy network so your emails and calls and whatnot can remain private.

Who is 'for' or 'against' is irrelevant; the forum is and will remain accessible to all, and the suggestion that members should 'gang up' and issue demands is ridiculous. Money is also irrelevant - most of us are hardly scraping a living and the suggestion that waving fistfuls of cash is a sure-fire way to make things how you want them to be is just plain bizarre- the forum is not public because of a lack of funds and I honestly don't understand the connection. Again, I can see the need for protection of identity when the law is not on your side but there is no such need here.

Anika's Sticky post at the top of this very board clearly addresses the privacy and anonymity issues members should bear in mind when posting and it, like everything else, is there for all to see should they choose to. As I say to callers daily who claim to be looking at my website and then ask where I am, it's all there but we can't make you read it.

The forum did actually briefly have a private section (before my time) and it didn't last long because it didn't work. We point out time and time again that this is a public board where anyone could be reading and anyone is welcome to post anonymously if they wish. Sensitive information is best kept to PM anyway - what criteria would you suggest for a private board, bearing in mind that anyone would be able to join it anyway if they wanted to? More importantly, who would you prevent from joining - those without a website, for example? Even I could knock a prossie site together in Wordpress in half an hour, so that's not going to deter anyone who really wants to read it.

SAAFE's main function is to provide help, support and information for all who need it, whether they choose to join or not. We will never exclude or make it harder for anyone to get help should they need it, and this site, information and this forum will remain accessible to EVERYBODY.

Harlow it wasnt aimed at you at all, if anything I was agreeing with all of the points you made. For every reason you have pointed out the forum will always be public and it was not you who first raised the issue of paying for SAAFE for whatever reason.

If it came across as irritable it was because it was clear from the thread starter that the OP had not bothered reading the forum guidelines and instead preferred to start a discussion on how she felt things ought to be done, after having been a member for barely a week. Ladies and gents in difficult circumstances are exactlytjhe reason why it is so important that the site and boards are open to everybody, and I'm sorry if my post was misinterpreted  .

As an aside, a friend of mine has just told me that her public library blocks access to this site and forum, which I suppose is understandable in a way, but hasn't exactly made my morning.

Hi

Thanks Amy.

H xx

Not sure we can get around the library thing, due to simple word filters if nothing else.

Regards privacy, have a look thorugh the forum, especialy the scam agency threads, see how many people have been saved/realised they have been conned by the fact everything here shows in Google etc, now scam threads apart, how many more subjects have people found via search engines, the stats suggest more than a few, now if we were a private site, none of this information would show, how would people who need help find us?

There are many closed to the public sites for the industry, anybody who has been around for 5 mins can find them, but as for help and advice, hiding it from the public view would be counterproductive.