Our story goes something like this: some guy was on some layoff related website reading what people were posting and replying, then he started to notice posts (including his) were getting removed, which made him think it was unjustified but couldn't do much then!
One day he tried to reply to some retiree who had left a sweet message (advice), and boom! A big red rectangle with a message saying 'Blacklisted IP', he had no idea why he was blacklisted nor what he could do to fix the problem!
Few days later and numerous searches revealed that randomly and inexplicably deleted messages, as well as blacklisted IP addresses, were more common than originally thought.
Fast forward a week or so later, this guy was talking on the phone with an old co-worker and this topic came up, and the idea to do something about it was born!
The objective was to build an alternative platform that can enable them, as well as others, to speak freely without being under the mercy of moderators who delete posts and block users for the slightest reasons.
We firmly believe in transparency, and we advocate for it.
Anyone has the right to speak freely and express how they feel, without getting banned. We understand banning spammers and repeat offenders, but why ban users who are simply asking questions or ranting.
We trust most users are genuine, and their intentions are anything but malicious, therefore, a platform that is not as restrictive, can be very useful; plus we like to complain, so it is a win-win situation for everyone ;)
We believe that a self moderating platform with minimal intervention is a better alternative to a micro-managed platform, after all, micro-management is a major workplace problem that brings many of us to these work and layoff related sites, just to encounter it in the very same platforms we are using to speak up against it.
Since day one, our objective was to offer someting of value, by enabling our users to interact and help each other.
To offer an unbiased platform for users to discuss work and lay off related matters
To limit intervention and moderation
To offer value add through enrichment and synergy
To allow for a better immersion and experience between users
To respect the privacy of our users, and the information/data they entrust us with.
We don't like to brag, but in this case, we think we should ;)
We do not track your browsing habits
We do not log your IP Address (albeit, we log a hashed (scrambled) version of it, to prevent duplicates, and potential abuse to the system)
We do not share any information about you, with third party tracking services or otherwise.
We do not use any external embedded contents
We do not save tracking information (cookies) in your computer.
We are transparent. If you are unclear about something, get in touch with us, and we will be more than happy to clarify.
We are driven by making a positive change, not profit.
We care, because we are on the same boat, we share the same fate, and because we genuinely care (OMG! a circular reference :| ).
We take privacy very seriously, therefore, the data collected on this site is very minimal.
This website is designed to be minimally invasive to our users privacy.
Here is the data we collect and how we use it:
IP Address: hashed only. Meaning, we do not collect your IP address, but a scrambled version of it, think of it as a one way encryption, we can generate that same hash from your IP address but we can not get your IP address from the hash. This hash is used to prevent duplicate voting and flagging, etc.
Cookies: none - We went the extra length here to do away with cookies. We love cookies so much, we don't want to share them with anyone else :|
AJAX: used internally (within LayOff.site only), and currenly only for CAPTCHA verification requests.
IFRAMES: none
Embedded scripts: internal only, none external.
Embedded fonts: internal only, none external.
Trackers: none
Third party trackers: none
Visitors Logs: Our system is configured to log visitors IP addresses, this is to guard against unauthorized access, brute force, and denial of service attacks, also to help with web analytics. These logs are independant from the website, and may in no way be linked or cross referenced to users interactions (posts/comments) on the website.
Software: We only use established, top quality, highly reputable, open source software, so that we can have better control of our data, and ensure that our users' privacy is not compromised, through backdoors, or otherwise.
LayOff.site is one of the few websites where you can browse and interact, with some of the highest regards to privacy.
We value our privacy, and we understand why you would feel the same about yours :)
P.S:
Please be advised that more extreme measures can be taken in the future, should there be an abuse to the system.
We trust that the majority of our users will keep conversations civil and within the scope and original intent of this website.
While we are proponents of freedom of speech and inclusion, we reserve the right to remove posts/comments which fall under (but not limited to) any of the followings:
Hate
Racism
Violence
Libeling
Bullying / Name Calling
Harrassment
Confidential and personal information
Offending posts/comments with low ratings and/or high number of flags, will be automatically hidden then ultimately removed, however, under certain circumstances, we may have to manually remove them before the system does!
Verified official requests for take downs will be honored, granted the offending posts do violate our terms of use.
VPN: VPN Use is not prohibited, but we see no good reason for using VPN on our website, as we do not block, nor track our users.
Note: If the use of VPN will faciliate the abuse of the service, we may have to start blocking VPNs.