Using the Internet to Spread Misinformation about the Internet--for the Common Good

This is MY article. I realize I'm supposed to give my thoughts on someone else's article, but today I have something relevant that is all mine.

I'm on the mailing list for Oxford's Freecycle.Org group. Last I checked, there were 892 members on this list. Last week one of the moderators sent a message out about what would be done about members that accidently sent invites from a social networking site such as Facebook.

Quotes from this email:

"Many people do not understand that these sites take over your address book and spam all the people within that address book."

"There are dozens [of] social networking sites that steal your address book."

"The best choice is not to join such a site. "

This message, full of misinformation, and sent to a large group of people, angered me. Not only did she (or he) send it in the first place, but she did it anonymously. It is ridiculous to me to prescribe behavior to people based on a set of "facts" without backing these assertions up with your name.

I wrote her back. Okay, okay, I know it's usually not a good idea to get upset about something on the internet and then jump into writing back. But I so rarely do it anymore! I have a right to one or two a year....

Highlights of my message to her:

"....Although I've only had experience with 5 of the online social networking type services you mentioned in your list, my experience with those 5 is that none of them automatically send messages out trying to invite others. You are certainly asked if you would like to do so, and these services clearly state before you press the button that your email address book will be used. You are then shown which contacts will be sent information and you then have the opportunity to change who will be sent invites.

In fact, these services can only do this if a person physically types in the password to their email account, otherwise those services have no way of acquiring the address book information."

"I just wanted to let you know that as someone that helps novice computer users almost daily to get in touch with long lost loved ones, network to find jobs, see pictures of their grandchildren, etc, I know that discouraging and scaring people away from using social networking sites is doing them a disservice in two ways. One, it does not promote awareness of how to use the internet so as to not "spam" others. Two, it keeps people who would use those services for the reasons I listed above from trying them out."

She wrote back. She still did not provide a name--though that is more understandable given that I was some random kook that took the time to rant about her misinforming people.

"While I am positive that I have not done more harm than good, simply by the number of comments I have received today thanking me for sending this message, you certainly have the right to have your own opinion. Most people have absolutely no idea that they need to read everything presented to them when joining a social network. I appreciate that you do not agree with my choice of words, but that is inevitable- I cannot and will not be able to please everyone."

I'm done writing her. I mean, what else is there to say? I will not convince her, quite obviously, that she did something irresponsible. But the incident ended with me outraged-on-principle about three distinct things.

1) Just because the internet provides ample opportunity to be anonymous (such as an email address oxfreecyclevolunteer@yahoo.com -- which is, out of respect to this moderator, not exactly what the address was) does not mean one should be anonymous, particularly when prescribing behavior from a position of authority (such as a list moderator).

2) Just because someone is thanked for providing information does not mean someone has actually provided useful information. Misinformation is harmful no matter what.

3) Just because "Most people have absolutely no idea that they need to read everything presented to them when joining a social network," does not mean that one has the right to misinform in order to protect those people from themselves.

and actually there is a 4) If you're a moderator to a mailing list, yes please tell me what you'll do if fellow members get my invites and then complain, and what you'll do if I "spam" the group itself and you need to do your job and delete my message. Don't act like doing this particular act of deleting the message is a huge chore, and don't send your behavioral prescriptions to a mailing list about reusing items.