Nova,

 

 Whether or not it's offensive is not the issue....That's personal info that people should be able to choose whom to give it to or not to give it to.  Some don't want ANY info given out, others could care less. Either way the choice should not be taken away from the person who's info it is. Whether it's Birthday, email Address, contact info, whatever...the descion to have that out there should be the individual's not some webmastering company the band hired.

 There are many reasons not to want your b-day out there, religion, personal preferance, privacy, ect. GBS has made a point of asking us, in the FAQs to respect THEIR privacy ( and I wholey agree that it should be respected) so why is it ok for them not to extend to us the same courtesy? and the same should go for GBS emails, and PMs and every other method of contact off board.
 

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Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
"Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." E. Wiesel
OKP's Resident B****
Imprudens est draconem vivum de consiliis tuis omittere.
Steet team Leader for NYS, OH and Southern Ontario.

I too, have privacy concerns and chose to make those known to the administrator privately a while back -- not everything has to be publicly aired but since I got called out specifically, there ya go.  I've always found the administrators to be very helpful.   I got the impression that with or without the opt-out provision being fixed, there was opposition to a birthday list -- so I put my 2-cents in to Nicopop, who asked for opinions, for keeping the birthday list. 

I didn't mean to call you out, it just seemed like you had concerns that needed to be explained.  I don't think there's oposition to it for those who want to participate- for some that kind of stuff is what makes a community special. No one, that I know of wants to stop any kind of contact, friendship building, whatever, it's the mandatory nature of thing that bother some of us. At this point there is no opt out.

 The birthday list is a permnant fixture, because the powers that be seem to like it...but the folks who's info is being put on it have no say in that...that's what the oposition is about.

 As I understood nico's question she wanted to know whether it was to be up top as GoldenAger asked or where it is on the bottom. THere are several issues to that one bigee is that pages load from top down and for the many folks who have dial up having the list on top will significantly slow them down...if it's on the bottom they can just not "wait" for it to load. THen there's the fact that many of us don't wish to have to scroll past it,each and every time the front page loads - while you may not think it's a major thing, for some it is, especially those with arthritis or any other hand impairment, or how about just the annoyance factor of having to see this again and again in the course of a visit -especially since the vast  majority of those listed have never ever posted. I know my friend's birthdays - I don't need to know total strangers b-days. Nor do I WANT to know them. Some folks like it - fine and dandy - just because some don't like or want to be forced to participate doesn't mean they are offended by its mere presense.

 ETA: It does seem to  me that if one reads the privacy policy that the list's mandatory nature is in violation of the state policies of this board. So is the email's mandatory nature.

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Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
"Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." E. Wiesel
OKP's Resident B****
Imprudens est draconem vivum de consiliis tuis omittere.
Steet team Leader for NYS, OH and Southern Ontario.

nova, since I seem to be the only one that said anything dissenting about the birthday list, I just want to clarify.  I don't object to it.  I do think that it should be optional to have your birthday posted and I do think that the default should be set to NOT share it.  So you have to opt in for it.  I also said that I did not find it very practical to have all these names noone has ever heard of posted.

I DO wholeheartedly object to it being at the top of the page.

For reference, even with the option, I would choose to share mine as I tend to be singularly delighted with well wishes sent my way (especially as a single women, living alone states away from any family). 
 

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~Kes

Desperate times call for desperate measures
Open your mind to all life's little pleasures
The hole in this world could be healed if by chance
everyone just stood up, took their pants off and danced

~Bruce Guthro

We are looking at having the default not include a birthday. This will allow only those that choose to post that information to do so and not include everyone that signs up for a GBS.com account.

While we are still working on that, you can still change your birthday if do not wish to share that information. When you click on your username while on the site, you will have the option to change your birth date. On the OKP, if you click your user name you can either change your birthday or select "Not Set" to remove that information from your profile.

Hopefully this will help anyone who wishes not to share their birthday with the community. If you have any questions, please let me know.

-Nicopop 

Thanks for your quick attention, nicopop!

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~Kes

Desperate times call for desperate measures
Open your mind to all life's little pleasures
The hole in this world could be healed if by chance
everyone just stood up, took their pants off and danced

~Bruce Guthro