Private Mode

2020 Dec 28 - by Robert Giordano | Blog Index

Instead of doing any kind of censorship, banning, suspension, or deleting accounts, Linkatopia has implemented a new type of administrator action... "Private Mode".

If you are seeing a message in your settings that links here, this post is for you!

Linkatopia has always had "Private Mode" where you can set your entire account to private. Many of our members have used this feature since the beginning. They simply use Linkatopia to store their bookmarks online and don't want anyone else to see them. If you want to keep your entire account private, this is the setting for you. No one can see any of your links, your name will not appear in Google searches, and no one can search for you here on Linkatopia. Simply go to your settings and scroll down to "Account Privacy". Select "Private" then save your settings.

As I've been rebuilding Linkatopia, I've been presented with a dilemma. Some of the old accounts are kind of "spammy". Sometimes it's difficult to say if they violate the Terms of Service or not. Years ago, people were trying to use Linkatopia for SEO or SPAM, even though I tried to prevent this.

On one hand, the main purpose of Linkatopia is to share YOUR links! I want people to be able to share all of their social media, whether it's Twitter, OnlyFans, or a personal web site. On the other hand, I don't want spammers and scammers using Linkatopia for SEO. I am complying with all of Google's recommendations and all links are set to "nofollow".

So, what can I do with these "spammy" accounts that were created 10 years ago? Well, I DO NOT want to do what all of the other social media site are doing.

I DO NOT WANT TO:
- censor or remove anyone's links or content.
- ban, suspend, or "Facebook Jail" anyone.
- delete anyone's account.

Instead of doing any of that, I came up with the following policy. If your account looks "spammy" or if we receive a VALID complaint from someone, an admin may set your account to Private Mode.

What does this mean? It means you CAN STILL log into your account. None of your links have been touched. You CAN STILL use Linkatopia to manage all of your bookmarks. You CAN STILL save new links, and edit your old ones. You have FULL USE of your account and you can access all of the new features I'm adding.

But while your account is "Private Locked", no one else will see your account but you. If you don't mind this, you don't need to do anything.

If you don't want your account "Private Locked", please email me and we can talk about the complaint. If there are specific links that shouldn't be public, maybe you could set those links to "Friends Only" or "Private" and then I can remove the lock.

ALSO, DON'T WORRY...

I WILL NOT be locking anyone's account because someone else was "offended" by one of your links. I'm not playing stupid games here. If you don't want to be offended, stay off the internet. The only people who need to worry about locks right now are the old accounts that were being used improperly for SEO and spamming.

One last thing. If I find accounts that DO violate the Terms of Service, they will be deleted without warning. If you've used Linkatopia for SEO manipulation in the past, you know who you are. PLEASE consider cleaning up your account and using it properly.

If any of you have feedback on this new policy, I'd love to hear it.


thanks,

Robert