50books_poc | Delicious and Locked Posts (Reply)

A question came up about how to handle locked posts on Delicious, and since I don't know all the reasons that someone might lock a post, I'm referring it to the community for discussion.

Currently, we're cross-referencing all posts about specific books or specific authors on Delicious, even the locked ones, but we're noting in the notes-field that the post is locked. Here is what you can discover about a locked post from the delicious entry:

That the post exists, and that it is locked.
The username of the member who made the post.
The titles of the books in the post.
The names of the authors in the post.
...and (if one is willing to sleuth a bit), the approximate date of the post (i.e., later than the post before it, earlier than the post after it).

Altogether, this is substantially more information than what LJ discloses about a locked post. (LJ will confirm that a locked post exists, but will not volunteer its presence; LJ will provide an approximate date to those willing to sleuth, but will not reveal the username of the community member who made the post, let alone provide any hints about the content of the post.) An additional factor to consider is that this is an open community: anyone can get themselves an LJ logon and join the community, and then see the content of a locked post. (I can see that fact cutting both ways: expectation of privacy is low, so it's okay to index; alternatively, locked posts are not very secure, so it's a problem to call attention to them.)

My question for you: does cross-referencing locked posts to Delicious create a problem for community members? Should we change what we're doing?

If you wish to participate in this discussion and maintain your privacy (this post is unlocked), you may comment anonymously and/or drop me a private message.