[41419]

Just posting here to note that VerticalScope has not responded to my formal GDPR takedown request or even acknowledged it. While VS does have 30 days to comply, they are supposed to reply and tell me who their nominated Data Controller is but haven't even done that.

Not exactly promising, especially given the earlier comments about GDPR from VS in this thread.

 

[Nic]

I've been absent from the forum for a while.

So do I get this right: the forum was sold to one of the companies which skim off the cream for ads/publicity? Many writers left (how many)? Old posts are getting deleted? Alternatives have been founded (which and who is where)?

Personally I have no qualms of allowing the new owner to do what they will with my posts. Nic is not my real name and I don't work for Foyles. I haven't posted anything leading to me personally and have suffered the continued suspicion for refusing to "prove" myself. I knew why I kept my relative anonymity, I let out a couple of minor facts after all. But in the end I was being as cautious as I usually am on the net, except for when I am in an official role, such as with my business.

My main question at this point is where KB stands now as a writer forum. Will enough of the valued oldtimers stay to make it worth the while, or is the current exodus its death knell?

 

[AisFor]

I've requested, under the GDPR for my account to be deleted as I don't agree with the terms and there was no notification or opt-in acceptance of this. SINCE I emailed them to have this removed, I've since got a tonne of spam, such as what others have reported since the takeover. I did not have this before. I'm still waiting to hear and if I have not heard from them within 30 days I shall be reporting them to the ICO in the UK.

They have no listing of their data controller (which they're supposed to) and I do believe that SINCE MY REQUEST TO DELETE MY INFORMATION they have passed on my details to those who are now spamming me (this is the ONLY website that I use that email on save for my own website!). Again I will be adding this to my complaint when I contact the ICO.

Following...

 

[Jena H]

I've been absent from the forum for a while.

So do I get this right: the forum was sold to one of the companies which skim off the cream for ads/publicity? Many writers left (how many)? Old posts are getting deleted? Alternatives have been founded (which and who is where)?

Personally I have no qualms of allowing the new owner to do what they will with my posts. Nic is not my real name and I don't work for Foyles. I haven't posted anything leading to me personally and have suffered the continued suspicion for refusing to "prove" myself. I knew why I kept my relative anonymity, I let out a couple of minor facts after all. But in the end I was being as cautious as I usually am on the net, except for when I am in an official role, such as with my business.

My main question at this point is where KB stands now as a writer forum. Will enough of the valued oldtimers stay to make it worth the while, or is the current exodus its death knell?

To clarify, "old posts are getting deleted," yes, but as far as I know, they're being deleted by the forum members themselves. Many people went through and either have (or want/ed to) gone back through history and deleted their own posts. Imagine how time-consuming that could be!!!

Like you, nothing on this forum suggests or can lead to my identity (except the state that I live in). I do realize that if I've posted in in Book Bazaar, someone could look at the links to my books, but.... eh. I could go back and delete those posts, but, honestly, I don't know what good that info would do them.

As for your last question, I don't know how many "old timers" are still here. Many may simply be lurking at this point. I think the panic and wholesale "cutting off nose to spite the face" actions were a bit extreme, but who am I to say. Their life, their right. There IS a new forum, which apparently had some initial bugs, not sure how it's operating at this point. Many of the WC "regulars" seemed to have made a presence there.

 

[Nic]

To clarify, "old posts are getting deleted," yes, but as far as I know, they're being deleted by the forum members themselves. Many people went through and either have (or want/ed to) gone back through history and deleted their own posts. Imagine how time-consuming that could be!!!
....

Thank you! I guess I will wait and see. A pity if this concentrated well of knowledge would be gone.

 

[writerlygal]

I think much of this sky is falling stuff was over hyped. I've noticed that many of the people claiming they're done w/ Kboards for good have come back to post. Even some of the big names who threw big fits are here posting under new names. So to me it all seems like a whole lotta hoopla about nothing & a big waste of time. Maybe Kboards is just too hard to quit. 

 

[PhoenixFromTheAshes]

The ads look to have been fairly well cleaned up. Still some dodgy vanity presses coming through, but I don't know how any company can filter those except on a per-ad basis. I do have deep concerns about VerticalScope, in general, and am waiting to see how the GDPR requests play out.

My main personal beef with them, though, is the covert rights (licensing) grab of content, and the outright ownership rights grab of ads. I do not grant them permission for the over-reaching rights grab to any of the content I've posted here prior to being made aware of the new terms. I'm continuing to selectively overwrite posts that are not scam-related that I want to ensure remain out of VS's over-reach (and yes, it's time-consuming).

As a compromise, I made a clean break with the content I don't want under VS's control. As my new name, I am posting here with the acceptance of the new terms. But I will always be aware of what I'm posting, and will make decisions on what I post based on the filter of the TOS. So while you'll see very little in the way of marketing data from me going forward, I'll continue to post about scammy behavior and maybe answer a few newbie-type questions while I'm browsing here. My hope is that the Amazon reps who read this board in the past will also continue to frequent this board. Much of what I have to say here, I suspect, will be directed toward them, in particular.

 

[Lydniz]

I don't post much anywhere any more, but I do like to keep up with the news, and now I'm having to lurk in two places to get it instead of one. Bah.

It is a pity that activity has slowed down so much here, as there are some very valuable threads on KB - plus it looks like a lot of the nefarious stuff is starting up again (banned publishers slipping in through the back door, and new developments in the Hamilton case), and I think it's in everyone's interest to discuss that publicly rather than on a non-indexable site like the new one.

 

[writerlygal]

I stick to what I said in the beginning. If someone doesn't like the TOS of a free forum they can pay for a payroll one or start their own.

Edited. PM me if you have any questions. --Betsy

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

Folks, bothered by the ToS, not bothered by the ToS, staying, going.  Let's accept everyone's right to make their own choices and keep it civil.  No need to deride either side.  Make a civil case for your point of view, thanks.

Betsy
KB Mod

 

[69959]

I think much of this sky is falling stuff was over hyped. I've noticed that many of the people claiming they're done w/ Kboards for good have come back to post. Even some of the big names who threw big fits are here posting under new names. So to me it all seems like a whole lotta hoopla about nothing & a big waste of time. Maybe Kboards is just too hard to quit.

Personally, I check in to see if VS has honored my demand to delete my account. [Cue hysterical laughter.]

 

[writerlygal]

Personally, I check in to see if VS has honored my demand to delete my account. [Cue hysterical laughter.]

Yeah sadly I think you'll be checking in forever at that rate.

 

[P.A. Woodburn]

I've been out of it for while and didn't know the forum was sold --sad. Then this last couple of days I noticed the number of forums written per day were a lot fewer than in the past. I'm not too worried about the new owners making money out of me because I certainly am not. Problem is we have lost a lot of people or no longer recognize those people because of ID changes etc.


I truly miss those I have met on this site and know more and more will vanish if they move to different new sites. I'm not particulary happy with Facebook at the minute and haven't looked at Goodreads in years. Spell check is not working.


I guess I'm just mourning what once was. I also think the quality has dropped in the short time that I've been back probably because many of the stronger writers have left.

 

[Vidya]

PA, many writers have now moved to here:

https://writersanctum.com/

Join us there! it's very active.

 

[41419]

21 days ago I filed a GDPR Erasure Request with VerticalScope. Yesterday I received the first response to that message. As you can see, Vertical Scope are interpreting GDPR in such a way as to keep as much of my content as possible on the site and have not agreed to my request to delete all my posts.

We are writing to confirm that we have reviewed your GDPR request to delete your kboards.com account and remove your personal data from www.kboards.com.

When GDPR applies and the conditions relating to the right of erasure under GDPR are satisfied, we are required to remove personal data about you -- in other words, information from which you can be identified and relates to you. As GDPR sets out, it may be possible to identify you from your name, username/online identifier, and other information about you. We are not required, however, to remove or redact posts that contain information from which, on a stand-alone basis or if combined with other information, you cannot be identified. Your profile data and posts (if applicable) have been anonymized on this basis. If there is other information that you believe could identify you on the basis specified above, please specifically identify the applicable posts or messages by including the post date, time, number, the url linking to the applicable post, and the reason why you believe this information could identify you.

Aside from the fact that I strongly contest their interpretation of GDPR above, and will be filing an official complaint with my data protection agency and seeking that Vertical Scope be sanctioned, and forced to comply with my request, VerticalScope has also completely ignored other parts of my GDPR Request - including, but not limited to, identifying their official Data Controller, informing me all the third parties with whom they have shared data, and passing on my erasure request to all of those third parties.

Furthermore, VerticalScope hasn't even carried out the limited acts that it said it would in this response - as you can see my account is still active, and my posts have not been deleted or modified in any way, and I'm still identifiable from them. VerticalScope did not respond to my email pointing this out, sent immediately on receipt of theirs.

VerticalScope has 9 days to comply.

 

[41419]

Whilst you might not like this, it seems to me that their interpretation of the GDPR is fair.

In the end, they are saying they will remove what they can and anonymise what is left.

Their interpretation of GDPR is that I'm required to provide URLs to all instances of personally identifying data that I would like to have removed.

This is most certainly inaccurate.

 

[41419]

I've no interest in debating this with you. I'm no longer part of this forum, I'm only posting in this specific thread for a specific reason: to keep members up to date with attempts to have my GDPR request acceded to and my content deleted.

 

[ET]

I've no interest in debating this with you. I'm no longer part of this forum, I'm only posting in this specific thread for a specific reason: to keep members up to date with attempts to have my GDPR request acceded to and my content deleted.

David, I've found your posts on Amazon issues useful, so I'm by no means an opponent. (On the contrary, I admire the work you do.)

I think one thing should be pointed out, though: The GDPR is an EU regulation. K-Boards is owned by a US entity and (I would guess) it's hosted in the U.S. Therefore, GDPR isn't relevant here.

Two sentences of political commentary have been removed. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca

 

[Blocked Writer]

I'm not a lawyer, but...

Has it actually been established by precedent that the EU can enforce punitive measures against non-EU entities? It's one thing for the EU to say that anyone storing EU residents' data is subject to the GDPR; it's altogether another to enforce it. If a "guilty" entity resides completely outside of the EU, then I assume they'd need the cooperation of some non-EU government to enforce punitive measures. Has that actually happened yet?

 

[Becca Mills]

Folks, we don't do political commentary here, so negative remarks about the EU (or any nation, bloc, or pact) are not welcome.

Discussing the GDPR's content and application in a factual way is fine.

ETA: I've removed a post. "Brexit, yea or nay?" is a subject for elsewhere.