Just to be clear. The owner (and moderators) of Deafreedom DOES NOT invade and read other members’ Personal Messages. Deafreedom (DF) is the ONLY deaf owned discussion forum that I am aware of that makes explicitly clear regarding the use of Personal Messages whenever a DF member sends a PM to another DF member. Deafreedom constantly reminds you with a message prior to sending your PM to another DF member:
"ALL PM'S ARE KEPT 100% PRIVATE AND ARE NEVER VIEWED BY ANYONE EXCEPT THE SENDER AND RECIPIENT"
"AT DEAFREEDOM.COM YOUR SAFETY, SECURITY, AND PRIVACY ARE TOP PRIORITY!"
Again, just to be clear, the owner of Deafreedom DOES NOT invade and read other members’ personal messages unless he happens to be the recipient of that message. The owner of Deafreedom DOES NOT condone this type of disturbing activity and has always believed fully absolute privacy for DF members. Deafreedom prides itself on being an open and honest discussion forum for any and all Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing members. The owner of Deafreedom prides himself on not restricting political or unpopular discussions when other discussion forums may deliberately limit such unpopular discussions just because the site's owner does not agree with or has an obvious but bent political agenda.
Personal Message (PM) by its very nature is supposed to be private between the sender and recipient. This is supposed to be the very common sense obvious to those who run deaf discussion forums. An obvious no brainer there. But apparently this has never been the case according to at *least* one deaf owner of a deaf discussion forum who did this sort of practice behind members' backs. Owners and moderators should not at all read other members’ PMs. This is the very precept that everybody ought to be in agreement of.
I couldn’t tell you how disturbed I was about this recent discovery on how personal messages were deliberately invaded and read by one deaf owner. This was done on a regular basis as far as I could tell. This particular deaf owner of a deaf discussion forum also had the gall to pass those PMs to moderator(s) in order to "inform" them of what's going on. "Big Deaf Brother" indeed! What is it with these invasions of privacy?
If you have been around long enough as an active discussion forum participant and a member of one of the many deaf discussion forums out there then chances are your PMs may have been invaded and read by that deaf owner and perhaps by an assigned deaf moderator, too.
A lust for absolute power and control?
A bit of a peeping Tom fetish of sort?
A way to get his/her jollies, too?
Why?
That's the big question.
Maybe this deaf owner did not like you. Maybe the owner was suspicious of your behavior or didn’t like your comments or that your attitude just irks the deaf owner. It could be for a political reason to look into your personal messages. It may have been a personality issue between you and the deaf owner of a deaf discussion forum. It could be because you brought up unpopular discussions that the deaf owner doesn’t like seeing them being discussed. I don’t know. The reason could be many. But what I do know is that this is simply a case of blatant abuse of power and authority. What’s more, this particular deaf owner never notified or made explicitly clear to his/her members that their PMs could easily be read by the deaf owner and even his/her moderators! Be aware of the fact that you may have been a victim of invasion of privacy and not even know it! You may have a "Deaf Big Brother" right now who have been invading and reading your personal messages at one of your favorite deaf discussion forums!
If you are a member of one or more deaf discussion forums, please ask the owners whether they have a policy regarding personal messages and the amount of privacy members should expect while using PMs. Some software that runs these discussion forums gives the owner the ability to easily view your PMs. Ask the owners whether they allow moderators to read your PMs as well. And most importantly ask your deaf owner who runs your favorite deaf discussion forum whether he/she has read other members’ PMs in the past and will this practice continue? Make sure your favorite deaf discussion forum has a policy regarding the use of personal messages by members and how they are to remain private between the sender and recipient(s) only.
Now having said that, chances are one of the deaf owners of those deaf discussion forums will lie about what he/she has done with other members' personal messages. Also, be aware that not only personal messages were invaded and read without members' consent, IP addresses and email addresses of members were passed onto other people WITHOUT members’ permission as well. This has happened at another deaf discussion forum.
Scary, ain't it?
One thing tho', don’t bother asking moderators questions but ask the owners of your favorite deaf discussion forums instead on just how private your personal messages are.
This has truly been an eye-opening discovery for me. And I am truly disappointed in that one deaf person on what he/she has done by invading and reading other members' personal messages. There is no excuse for invading other members' personal messages, and passing them around to other moderators. No excuse whatsoever!
If you're that deaf owner reading this blog and have done this sort of practice, then shame on you!
Lastly, please DO NOT ask me for more information on which deaf discussion forums I’m talking about. I won't reveal my sources. Just be aware of the fact that your personal messages may have been invaded and read at one time and you not know about it. Don't worry about the federal government, worry about what your deaf owners of those deaf discussion forums are doing with your personal messages! "Big Deaf Brother!"
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