Phone number for membership

I had communicated this issue of mine to Binoy earlier, But today my curiosity got the better of me, and well, here I am.

As a commercial site, I understand the rationale for requiring the contact info of new members, but for just joining the community, I find the need for providing a phone number a bit puzzling. I'm a member of various other online forums, and not a single one has asked me for contact details beyond an email adress. I value my privacy and anonymity on the internet, and would like to convey my displeasure at having to give up my contact info.

I understand that you have a privacy policy in place, and appreciate it, but for those who want to join carwale just for the community - I think it is among the best automobile communities in india currently - may find it a stumbling block.

Some folks might think that a contact number is of no value, but trust me, it is - thats why you have so many contests where you "fill up your name and phone numberr and you *might* win some trivial prize" abound.  An induvidual's contact details are worth something , at least to others, and one should learn to value it as well - at least I am that paranoid.

I hope the admins take this in the right spirit - thanks.

Banwari will be able to reply more appropriately.

I would only say that the contact numbers are not disclosed/displayed anywhere & are strictly confidential.  Those may be used only in absolute & rare necessity (by the Administrators & Moderators) to contact the member/s concerned.

Welcome to CW Forums.  Please do keep writing/participating

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

From my experience you need not worry about giving contact details for joining Carwale. It is not diverted to third parties. Neither will you receive tele marketing calls from Carwale every day.

In the last one year I received only 2 calls from Carwale, that too when I listed my old car for sale in Carwale. Other wise no email or ring ups from their side.

Also I think it is a good practice to take phone number mandatory as it can be used as a tool for distinguishing fake users joining here for vested interests.

You can live in your car, but you can't drive your house.

Dear Greenhorn,

I appreciate that you brought it up. I completely understand your concern. But trust me there is no hidden intent of spamming or selling your details to third party. In fact asking for mobile no for forum activity is completely non-intended and coincidental. Our member registration page for the forum and site is same. We have lots of services that require member contact details. So our default registration form asks for contact details. Until a few months ago, CarWale forum used to accept anonymous posts but a few ill incidents forced us to make it a registration-based community. It was done in a hurry, so the same registration form (which asks contact no) is used for forum as well.

Apart from fake identity issue, I also believe that giving contact no actually helps members only. There are hundreds of incidences wherein customers leave comments/feedback asking for some urgent stuff and forget to give contact details, since we had their contact no, we could call and help them out. In forum, we moderators get help in terms of something really important.

Anyways, good point. I will try removing the phone field or making it optional at least.

Thanks.

CarWale Android App is launched. Download by searching for CarWale in Android Market on your phone or using this link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.carwale

I personally feel we should continue with the phone number.  There are no detriments ever reported/experienced.  Members have instead benefited (in case of need).

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

Actually, after joining, I found that i could delete the phone number from my profile/contact details, and did so. At the time of registration, I thought the phone number was involved in account verification or something like that. I guess not. If it is not stored elsewhere , then the way it works now is acceptable.

Well, it didn't permit me to do so - asked for at least one number.

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

I too got a red validation -asking me to provide at least one phone number, but my contact details got saved anyway. In addition, I typed just a hyphen , and it was accepted as a phone number. I'm using firefox on Linux btw

Oh... I didn't try that.

Banwari, IF providing phone no. is mandatory (as is now), it should not accept as it did in the case of Greenhorn.

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

Well, I tried just for the heck of it, n it accepted an asterick.....

"KINDNESS IS THE LANGUAGE, WHICH DEAF CAN HEAR AND BLIND CAN READ"