# Is WordReference hosted on Facebook?



## gardian

I just noticed (when clicking on the usual email notification thread link) that we connect to WordRef's website via Facebook.com's website.

If this means that Facebook is the host for WordRef, then I for one am alarmed.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkam...-privacy-issues-are-even-deeper-than-we-knew/

If Facebook is not our host (and I feel entitled to claim a share in this entity, WordRef, along with the many others who contribute here often) then I'd like to know why facebook.com is a party to our connections to the WordRef website.


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## JamesM

Hi Gardian, I'm responding as a longtime user with the information I know for sure.  Facebook is definitely *not* the host for WordReference.  I have no idea why you would be routed through Facebook when clicking on an email notification.  It certainly doesn't happen for me.

Can you explain a little more about what you see when you click on the link?


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## gardian

_Dear gardian,  JamesM has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Facebook Hosting Decision Unwise. - in the Comments and Suggestions forum of WordReference Forums.  This thread is located at: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2529260&goto=newpost  There may also be other replies, but you will not receive any more notifications until you visit the forum again.  All the best, WordReference Forums



_OK.
After clicking on the link to the thread, I see on my taskbar (down on the lower left side of the screen) a series of web addresses being gone through until it eventually gets into the wordreference.com site.

It happens fairly fast but some of the sites are 

scorecardresearch.com

forbes.com 

google-analytics.com

ak-facebook.com

Try it yourself.

Gardian.


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## JamesM

I only get a single address: (waiting for forum.wordreference.com...)  I'd say it's something on your computer.

What kind of device are you on?

Here is some information on scorecardresearch.com:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technolog...arch-tracking-trackers-cookies-web-monitoring

Do you have toolbars or extensions added to your browser?  That would be the first place I would look to see what has been added to my "browsing experience".


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## JamesM

Aha!  I finally thought of something.  I am always logged in when I'm on WordReference.  I tried logging out and coming back to this page and I now see the sites you're mentioning. I suspect they have to do with the advertising at the top of the page. It's possible that WordReference does use Google Ads for its advertising.  The Facebook reference is probably for the "Like" button at the top of the page.  However, the site is definitely not hosted on Facebook.

If you log in you won't see those messages (or the advertisements, which is a huge benefit of logging in, in my opinion.)


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## Egmont

This question is based on a misunderstanding about how the Web and browsers work. 

The pages that your browser shows it is accessing are not pages that it goes through to get to WRF. We do not connect to WRF via Facebook. They are pages from which your browser obtains something it needs in order to display the WRF page. In this case, it is getting the 16x16 pixel PNG graphic of the facebook "f" in white on a blue background, and/or the "Like" button, that it displays at the upper left of every page. Nothing more sinister is going on here. This does not mean that the page is hosted on Facebook.

Lots of Web pages that use links to Facebook get them from exactly the same place.

The other pages are also places from which WRF obtains something. As posted just above this, some of them are for ads that are only shown to guests.

The thread title is misleading. At a minimum, it could have been phrased as a question - "Is WRF now hosted on Facebook?" (which it is not), rather than an accusation in the form of a statement.


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## JamesM

(I've modified the thread title per your suggestion, Egmont.)


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## gardian

Okay.

I really want WR management to comment on this, not IT experts or idle members.

Let's say the ak-facebook.com run through is "just" related to the Facebook 'Like' link on WordRef pages.

Now, what happens if someone - moreover someone who has professional contacts via email, IM, etc with other WordRef translators/interpreters - 'likes' WordRef on Facebook ?

Is this all that innocuous ?

Not if a number of WordRef contributors start to do it.
Not,  knowing what Facebook data-miners are doing with this information.

I see no real advantage to WordRef to be liked on Facebook as far as publicity is concerned.
Serious - even very unserious - people needing translation assistance will soon find WordRef on a Google trawl, if not by word-of -mouth.

Today so many people find themselves on networks like LinkedIn or Facebook without their own knowledge.
A simple query to a Scandic country translator resulted in my being put on LinkedIn and I had to dispatch a lawyer's letter to fix it.
I can find over half my old college class - plus their career resumés, something I really have no right to know without their say-so - just by entering a few details on Google.
While some of them put their information on LinkedIn willingly, I have no doubt that many others would not have put their career history on it. I believe that their information was put on these social networking sites by people in the HR department of their employer. And I believe that they did not do this "work" for nothing.

I think that sites like WordRef are obliged to detail such marketing intentions as might affect members' privacy ahead of making any decision to implement them.
But short of obligation, surely it is just a matter of common courtesy to first clear it with everyone involved before this type of association is made.
After all, most of us come here to contribute and receive help with others on language matters.
We do not come here to have our life's details analysed and commoditised for sale.


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## Egmont

If you click the Like button, you will be asked to log into Facebook before you can proceed. If you close that page without logging in, or click Cancel, nothing will happen.

If you click the "sign up" link to the right of the Facebook icon, you will be taken to a page on which you can sign up for Facebook. If you do not complete that form by providing the required registration information, nothing will happen. 

In either case, nothing sinister is going on. Nothing will happen unless you take specific action to log into Facebook (if you're already a member) or sign up for it. Nobody is forced to Like WRF or register for Facebook unless they want to. I cannot imagine anyone doing either of these by mistake.

As for "I see no real advantage to WordRef to be liked on Facebook" - that's a matter of opinion. It's not your call, or mine. If the folks who run WRF see an advantage, they're well within their rights to put a Like button on threads. Nobody is forced to click it, and the login page prevents bad things from happening if someone clicks it by mistake.

I'm an information systems professional. I know there's a lot of privacy abuse and unethical behavior on the Web. (I'd put someone registering another person for a social network without their knowledge and consent in the latter category.) I have personally been a victim of identity theft. In this case, however, there are no monsters hiding under the rock. If you lift up the rock and look under it, all you'll find is the underside of the rock.


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## gardian

Well, we have to bear in mind that many peop-le either don't know or don't care about the dangers of social media sites.So they will click on the facebook F and then log on their FB account and then 'like' WF.And I question the website owners being within their rights to suggest-direct members towards the Facebook site.This WordRef site is not supposed to be about money.
If it really is, then I see few people really wanting to carry on with it.
We know so little about the owner, bar the self-written stuff on his profile.
I wish he'd come clean on what his real plans for this website are._

I really want WR management to comment on this, not IT experts or idle members._


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## Cagey

Anyone who is interested in these issues should look at the About and Privacy Policy links that at the bottom of this page: http://www.wordreference.com/.


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## Glasguensis

gardian said:


> And I question the website owners being within their rights to suggest-direct members towards the Facebook site.


Linking to other web pages (whether on the same server or a different one) is a fundamental feature of the worldwide web - arguably the defining feature. Clearly website owners are completely within their rights to post links to other websites. 


gardian said:


> This WordRef site is not supposed to be about money.


Mike's stated objective is to keep the reference site free to users : that doesn't mean that no money is involved. Hosting a reference site as extensive as this one is not free. Having said that, the facebook link is a means to advertise *this *site, not about money-making.


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## Egmont

If someone wants to get rich by scamming others on the Internet, impersonating the son of an African minister who died leaving $30 million, and who needs help getting his father's money out of the country, is probably a more effective way to do it than running a free site that helps people get answers to their language questions.


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## dreamlike

gardian said:


> I just noticed (when clicking on the usual email notification thread link) that *we connect to WordRef's website via Facebook.com's website.
> *




Could you please shed some light as to what do you mean by the part in bold? When I click on my usual email notification I'm routed directly to WR, no facebook involved, unless there's something I'm missing.


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## Egmont

dreamlike said:


> Could you please shed some light as to what do you mean by the part in bold? When I click on my usual email notification I'm routed directly to WR, no facebook involved, unless there's something I'm missing.


*JamesM* asked this question in post #2. *gardian* answered it in post #3. You'll have to read through this thread to catch up with the discussion.


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## JamesM

> _I really want WR management to comment on this, not IT experts or idle members._



I have to say that's a bit offensive, gardian.  We are not "idle members".  I have been a member for many years and a moderator for the last several years.

As it says in the FAQ:


> If anybody other than Mike can answer your question,
> ask your question in the Comments and Suggestions forum (if you can and know how).
> Many of the other forum members probably have had the same problem and will know better than Mike does.



When you post here, you are asking the community a question.  If you are only interested in a direct response from Mike Kellogg, the owner, please use the Contact Us form to send a message to Mike.


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## mkellogg

gardian said:


> I really want WR management to comment on this


Hi Gardian,

The only connection with have with Facebook right now is as the others suggested: the Like button that you see on threads.  You may have noticed the Like buttons around the web. They are everywhere.  WordReference is doing no more than every other site out there.

A few notes:
 - We don't use Facebook information for advertising, but we would like to! Nor do we currently use any information in your forum profile.
 - WordReference is not a cheap operation to run.  I think being shown ads is not a high price to pay for such a service.
 - If you are concerned about Facebook tracking you, I suggest deleting your FB cookies and never logging into your FB account from the same web browser.
 - Personally, I would rather see ads that are relevant to who I am and my interests.  Currently, when watching the news on TV, I see ads for adult diapers and I have no need for them.  I would happily link my FB account to my TV if it were an option so I could see ads about foreign travel instead!

Mike


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## gardian

Nice of you to stop by the ranch once in a while, maybe even deal with some of the cowhands' problems.

I suppose my main question is why members' opinions on this Facebook link haven't even been asked for.
Sure we're users.
But not just only users.
Many of us are also the very contributors whose efforts make these translations possible.
And hence the attraction of this website to the wider public.

Is it really unreasonable that members be consulted on matters that may well affect them, their privacy and their working convenience ?


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## dreamlike

Don't you think you're making too big a deal of this, Gardian? How does the 'like button', which you can very well just not use, affect your right to privacy?
 I take it that you don't even have a facebook account, given how critical you are of this invention...

And yes, I'm a mere idle (not so much ) user of this forum, but there is this thing called freedom of speech.


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## mkellogg

Gardian, I always stop by here to answer questions. You just had the bad luck to ask just before the weekend and I've been overly busy this week!

I have no problem with questions like this and am glad to answer them.   Please understand that, though the site is supported by ads, I am the type of person who is on your side on many privacy issues.


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## wildan1

mkellogg said:


> I have no problem with questions like this and am glad to answer them.   Please understand that, though the site is supported by ads, I am the type of person who is on your side on many privacy issues.


Where's the button here for me to say I _like_ this answer, Mike?


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