Facebook publishing private messages?

[marlathrall]

Have you ladies seen anything about this? Supposedly, Facebook made some people's message from 2010 and before public on their timeline? You can see more here: http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com...s-private.html

Facebook is claiming it didn't happen (of course), but I've seen several people (in lots of places) swear that they had private messages with addresses, phone numbers, scandalous conversation topics, etc posted on their wall. On a photography forum I visit, ladies have said they had private messages from clients on their wall that they can match with messages in their inbox. I've gone back and looked at mine and didn't see anything I thought was private, but I figured I would post something anyway. I think it might be a glitch on happening to certain people? I could see this being seriously embarrassing for some people (myself included) if their private messages suddenly became public.

Check your timelines ladies and let me know if you think this is real!

[deebirks]

Oh, that's scary! I don't have anything embarrassing but people have messaged me for an address to send me a Christmas card or a phone number because they were in town and wanted to get together, and I sure don't want those published! I guess I'd better check.

[marlathrall]

To be fair, snoops posted that this isn't true, so I really have no idea: http://www.snopes.com/computer/faceb...temessages.asp

So many people are claiming that they have real private messages displayed that I'm dismayed. lol.

[Jennilyn]

It's real. Luckily all the messages that were shown on mine didn't have any info or talking behind peoples backs. It's nothing you wrote that is on your timeline, but what others wrote to you. That means, stuff you wrote to your friends is on their timelines! Unless people go snooping now because they know it's happened, who would normally go into their friends walls that far back to see stuff?

[SmallMoments]

Yep true. Joel and I both had to "hide from timeline" today. Yikes!!!

[origami]

I saw nothing except what people had actually written ON my wall or timeline. I saw no private messages.

[heathergw]

They're old wall posts, not private messages... In the past they didn't have "like" or "comments" so we had regular conversations by posting back and forth on each others' walls, so they've ALWAYS been there on your wall, and not something new that just popped up

remember how we always complained about the changes lol... looks like the changes were a good thing lol

[BrattyMeg]

Originally Posted by heathergw

They're old wall posts, not private messages...

that may be the case for some but there definitely were private messages. I had messages on mine that people had messaged me in my inbox--not on my wall

I went in and hid it all when I saw it posted on fb. Thankfully it was nothing bad but I did have a couple phone numbers so that irritates me that fb would be so careless with their privacy

[heathergw]

Did they have private message back then? I'm pretty sure we just wrote on peoples' walls back then not realizing they weren't private

[Jennilyn]

There have been private messages since way back! Yes, these were definitely private messages on my timeline. And not even full messages, just a few lines from a conversation.

[BrattyMeg]

Originally Posted by Jennilyn

There have been private messages since way back! Yes, these were definitely private messages on my timeline. And not even full messages, just a few lines from a conversation.

what's what mine were too

[marlathrall]

The whole thing is just crazy... Some people swear it happened (and I believe them), yet it doesn't effect everyone and Facebook denies it all? I hope they are scrambling to cover their butts and writing new code. In the meantime, I just hid my stuff to be safe. Hopefully, I didn't write anything too dramatic to my friends that's now public. I did get Facebook when I was 17 so who knows! lol.

[Traci Reed]

i don't see any of that on mine

[YepBrook]

Ok, so.... how do you hide those messages from your timeline? Does anyone have a how-to?

[Nikki Epperson]

I had some on mine. They were messages from a high school friend and I actually remember having the conversation through private messaging, lol. I hid them.

[SmallMoments]

Yes, mine were definitely PMs, too... phone numbers and addresses. We wouldn't be putting those on a public wall.

Brook- on the right-hand side, click on 2010. That should bring you to where the messages are/should be if you have them. Then, arrow over the upper right hand corner of the box and you get a drop-down menu. Click on "hide from timeline."

[color of my heart]

i just hid all of them. i had them from 2007-2010. i had to go to each individual year on my sidebar and hide them.

so ridiculous of fb to do this. and then deny it.

[Sherri Tierney]

Mine were definitely PM's as well. Thankfully nothing that shouldn't be seen by prying eyes but still. I hid everything. I double checked and some I could match up with my Inbox messages. Scary.

[Melissa Bennett]

There were some of my PM's on my wall. In fact it was one from just 2 weeks ago. I can't believe they did that and won't admit to it.

[MommaTrish]

Yup definitely messages. There were some that I remember and weren't exactly, shall we say - nice. lol

[neenee]

I didn't have anything thank goodness.

[lovely1m]

See, I went and looked at mine and nothing was there and I had a lot of conversations that would have been bad to have show up.

[Jen22]

Most of mine were wall posts, but there was one on there from a friend who's son was molested, and she was telling me about it. No doubt in my mind that she would have PM'd me with that one since she wasn't telling people. So it looks like it's a mix of PMs and old wall posts. Oi Vey!

[chloe]

I had private messages and pictures from private albums showing up on my timeline, too. And like yours, Jen, some of those were very private topics so definitely not something my friends would have posted on my wall at the time, even by mistake.

Now my question is: do I see those because it's my timeline (and hence I have complete access to everything) but would other people not see it, or can every friend (my profile is friends only) see them too?

[Jen22]

Originally Posted by chloe

Now my question is: do I see those because it's my timeline (and hence I have complete access to everything) but would other people not see it, or can every friend (my profile is friends only) see them too?

I have a feeling it could be seen. When I went to "view individual posts" - it was labeled as a comment on my timeline, not a message. So I suppose, whatever you have your wall posts set up (privacy-wise) then that's who will see it. I went and removed a couple posts (I don't mind having the normal stuff there, but the few that were private, I removed them from my wall).

[SeattleSheri]

Yeah, definitely some PMs on mine too. Luckily I don't post much so it was easy to hide them the few I had and mostly everything I wrote was pretty benign. Thanks for the heads up! I heard about this a few days ago, but my internet was so slow the other day that it wasn't loading my old timeline posts, so I'm glad I saw this as a reminder!

[NeverendingJen]

eep! I've been out of the loop and had no idea about this, so I just went and looked and I had hundreds of old PM's showing..not cool!

[jessica31876]

you can see your profile as any one of your friends would or the public would by going to your profile and I believe clicking on the liittle arrow on the right and click on view as and enter their name or view as public. Just for those wondering what other people can see

[rachaelsscraps]

Huh...
So I wonder if it would help to go into your inbox and delete all old private messages... or maybe if you delete them, then they would show up when they didn't before?
I have lots of old family drama in my inbox I'd better check on, lol!

[Tronesia]

I kept wondering about this, but never saw any. I was too lazy to keep looking....lol! If someone sees something they shouldn't I am sure I will hear about it.

[4noisyboys]

I can only see my pm's though...and not others. Like pm's I had with my sis are showing up on mine, but not hers. She is SOOO not fb savvy, so I'm sure she would've had no idea how to delete them. I don't think others can see mine.