I come here to try and get feedback on a college essay that I’m writing. The LOGICAL way to do this would be via e-mail, as it would preserve the formatting, handle attachments, etc. (not the forum-email, but real e-mail). Users on the board generously and voluntairly posted their e-mail addresses in a thread, but certain moderators felt the need to edit out everyone e-mail addresses (I still don’t understand that rule).
Fine, I’ll use PMs…
Wait! Now I find out that there’s a character limit on the PM-system, so now I can’t send my essay that way, either!
Fine, I’ll use the clunky forum-email…
Wait! I can only send one message every two minutes? How the heck am I supposed to e-mail a long list of forum users that way?
Ugh… This is very frustrating…
CC-- why all of the red tape?
“but certain moderators felt the need to edit out everyone e-mail addresses (I still don’t understand that rule).”
Spammers steal e-mails from message boards.
“Wait! I can only send one message every two minutes? How the heck am I supposed to e-mail a long list of forum users that way”
I am sure that the rule is to prevent members from receiving tons of spam.
Meanwhile, I think it’s a mistake to send out your essay to huge groups of people from the boards. Not only may they not want your essay, but some of them also could be people who would steal your essay. If you’re asking a long list of members whether they would read your essay, I am guessing that you haven’t developed a close enough relationship with any or many to get “yes” answers.
Most of the e-mail addresses were posted in spam-proof forms, such as *“user AT domain dot com”<a href=“spammers%20use%20automated%20e-mail-bots%20to%20scour%20the%20web,%20which%20is%20why%20they%20wouldn’t%20catch%20such%20an%20example”>/i</a>. Seeing as how those were edited-out too, I can’t imagine that spam is the logical justificaiton for the rule.
Furthermore, even if people wanted to post their e-mail addresses in forms that could potentially be used by spammers, is it really necessary for the mods to “protect us from ourselves”? Especially when it causes such inconviences as mentioned earlier? For what it’s worth, I’ve posted my e-mail address all over the internet, and I recieve almost no spam.
Well fortunately, my essay is personal and specific enough that anyone else wouldn’t find it very useful to steal. Also, the posters I am trying to send it to have already offered to read over it, so I’m not trying to randomly solicit strangers as you imply. I think what I’m trying to do is a legitimate, if not commonplace, use of the forums, but this red tape is awful!
There are a few reasons why we don’t want members to post emails.
Poster remorse - after people realize that their email identifies them, and that it will live in Google et al forever, they want their post removed or edited.
Spam harvesters scour sites to pick up email addresses.
Due to the popularity of CC, we experience frequent instances of commercial or other promotion. While some of these are blatant, others are more subtle. We don’t know if a member who invites other members to send their essays for review (for example) is merely being helpful, is looking for ideas to plagiarize, is running an essays-for-money website, or hopes to sell rewriting services. Since we aren’t psychic, we don’t permit any such invitations.
To make CC the most useful possible resource to our present and future members, we expect discussions to take place here in the forums. Members discussing an admissions topic by email won’t benefit the rest of the members. (That’s one reason why we don’t allow most links - they may not be accessible in the future due to changes on the remote site. Keeping the discussion here in the forum insures that the thread will make sense in the future, too.) For topics that are better discussed in private, we have the facility to send both private messages and CC emails (which don’t reveal the recipient’s address unless a reply is sent).
Posting an email address on the web makes it visible to everyone - including weirdos, stalkers, etc. For the protection of our members, we don’t want their info out there. While a weirdo/stalker COULD register and send a PM to someone, there are inherent safeguards. First, the member getting the PM can ignore it, or even reply, without ever exposing any personal information (like their email). Second, if a member is found to be sending problematic PMs, we can turn off that ability. Finally, for internal site communications we also have a permanent record of IP addresses - in the event that we need to file an abuse complaint, we have the data for an Internet Service Provider or even law enforcement.
In short, we want our members to have a positive, stress-free, and safe experience here at College Confidential.
We really don’t want anyone emailing a long list of forum users. Unless someone has requested such a contact, it is likely to be unwelcome. Spam complaints can result in a loss of CC privileges and may be reported to the appropriate ISPs. Fortunately, this hasn’t been an issue yet, and we hope to keep it that way!
Heck, Roger, you make some good points. Thanks for taking the time.
If CC is intent on limiting/encouraging communication to the PM system though, would you consider uping the character limit a bit? I was several hundred characters over with my 1-page essay and short greeting.