• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Future of the Forum

xinit said:
So I won't get an unsolicited email? That's not my point. My point is that the JREF would be party to that spam by selling (or giving away) a mailing list, which is a privacy issue as well. I'm concerned not about something in my mailbox, but in the legal liability that might affect the JREF and the people who use and run the forums.
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I've officially stopped giving two ****s about JREF's legal liability.
 
Jeff Wagg said:
Xinit, those are real concerns. My hope is that a single mass e-mail can be sent while the software is still on the JREF server. After that, mail will be opt-in. We have some difficult circumstances though, so we're only promising to do the best we can.
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vBulletin supports this.
 
xinit said:
I worry that transferring the bulk of the data in an opt-out fashion, and sending a bulk email on behalf of an organization other than the JREF might be problematic, and open the JREF up to civil suits.
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I would invite anyone who thinks their posted content is so valuable to start looking for a lawyer now. Good luck finding one.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
I would invite anyone who thinks their posted content is so valuable to start looking for a lawyer now. Good luck finding one.
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I was planning on turning all of my posts into a book, which would have made me a fortune. But if those posts are taken from this public forum and put onto a broadly similar one on a different server, they will all become worthless to me.
 
xinit said:
So I won't get an unsolicited email? That's not my point. My point is that the JREF would be party to that spam by selling (or giving away) a mailing list, which is a privacy issue as well. I'm concerned not about something in my mailbox, but in the legal liability that might affect the JREF and the people who use and run the forums.
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Let 'them' worry about that.
 
Jeff Wagg said:
Xinit, those are real concerns. My hope is that a single mass e-mail can be sent while the software is still on the JREF server. After that, mail will be opt-in. We have some difficult circumstances though, so we're only promising to do the best we can.
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I think the cleanest way (short of burning it all down) is to force a TOS update HERE while it's on randi.org. Email everyone from this side that the TOS is changing Sept 1 (for example) and they will need to login to approve before then, or all hope is lost and their account will cease to be.

Setup the new site in parallel with limited forum areas until that new go-live date. At that point, migrate those people who have logged in and agreed to the revised TOS updates that grant the new organization rights in the place of the JREF.

I'd assume that granting the third party the ability to email them and to receive a copy of their content. Again, IANAL, but certainly the new org has one of those?

Then, on the change-over date, you send an email to the opt-in members from the new servers, detailing how users can now sign in with their existing passwords or force a password change. A mechanism to allow a user to copy over their own content in bulk would be handy, but likely something of a nightmare to design, especially with quoted blocks of text, etc. It's a bit of a mess.
 
I'm against the idea of username changes under the opt-in/opt-out plans. There are those that can do niether and I for one don't want to see the contributions of people like Mr Skinny or Curnir handed over to Generic_User_123
 
banquetbear said:
...is this some sort of a joke thread?

The place to discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a lively way is being handed over to a guy who defends Amway and thinks terrorists flew the missing Malaysia Flight out to East Turkmenistan to use as a bomb?

And he got the gig because he happened to notice a relatively obscure thread in a section of the forums that I don't even think I've visited before, where the previous thread was created last month? During a time when many posters couldn't log into the site?

And the administrator of the forum didn't even know this was coming?

I've got two words in my head. Unprofessional and Trainwreck.

To the Admins and the Moderators: I've disagreed with you as often as I've agreed with you, but you guys have my respects. Sorry this got dumped on you like this: you all deserve much better.
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Wow, it's a banquetbear post! That is almost as rare as a Randi post (I've posted within a few posts of a Randi post not once, but at least twice! No one can claim that. :D)

Welcome to the forum banquetbear. (I snipped the part that makes that funny. :()
 
Chaos said:
Maybe old age is playing havoc with my memory, but I rather clearly remember JREF - not sure who it was or under which circumstances - deny that the forum community had any meaningful part in making the TAMs happen or turning them (or JREF) into what they became.
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Well one way to put the lie to that claim (if it is either) would be to have a forum community sponsored TAM boycott. :) I have a feeling they would be in for a huge surprise!

If this announcement had been made 2 months ago that is... Because one way to head off a possible boycott would be to make the announcement very soon after a TAM. Coincidence? Send me to CT! :D
 
OK, here is one thing being said that I disagree with (I've only read up to page 10 so I apologize if this has been discussed).

There is no reason we cannot still call ourselves the JREF. I'm quite sure there are plenty of fan sites on the internet. I seriously doubt that a PFIF (Pink Floyd Internet Forum) is officially sponsored by Pink Floyd!!

We could be:

"James Randi Educational Forum" and still maintain the initials JREF. JREF.com (or .org) might even be available!

It would make the regulars still feel more at home. It would also make it easier to recognize what we represent for new people.

Even if the actual JREF disagrees, it is no where near the dishonorable way they have treated the forum in the past few days. They should not be offended in the slightest by us wanting to still be a JREF. (Of course, they are likely more scared of lawsuits and/or work than "offended".)
 
Just an FYI for the community, somebody with admin rights to the forum (not me, I don't have them) is apparently playing games with other admins and mods rights. No idea of motive or purpose, we're locking it down to prevent damage.
 
icerat said:
Just an FYI for the community, somebody with admin rights to the forum (not me, I don't have them) is apparently playing games with other admins and mods rights. No idea of motive or purpose, we're locking it down to prevent damage.
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It's not me.
 
Which "we" is that, anyone who knows what they are doing - sorry for being so blunt but this seems just another screw-up by the JREF folk not communicating to the people they need to. The JREF Staff account has posted states that the demotions are not a result of a hack, but didn't think to even mention to the affected admins that they were to be be demoted to moderator status before they demoted them. Or even afterwards so they did not panic?
 
OnlyTellsTruths said:
OK, here is one thing being said that I disagree with (I've only read up to page 10 so I apologize if this has been discussed).

There is no reason we cannot still call ourselves the JREF. I'm quite sure there are plenty of fan sites on the internet. I seriously doubt that a PFIF (Pink Floyd Internet Forum) is officially sponsored by Pink Floyd!!

We could be:

"James Randi Educational Forum" and still maintain the initials JREF. JREF.com (or .org) might even be available!

It would make the regulars still feel more at home. It would also make it easier to recognize what we represent for new people.

Even if the actual JREF disagrees, it is no where near the dishonorable way they have treated the forum in the past few days. They should not be offended in the slightest by us wanting to still be a JREF. (Of course, they are likely more scared of lawsuits and/or work than "offended".)
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Being associated with an organization that has specifically requested to be dis-associated doesn't really seem like the cleanest way to move forward.
 
The_Fire said:
ETA: And deleting everythign but login and password from the personal profiles would probably be best. I dont know the new software, but is it possible to add some sort of checkbox for "I'm staying a member" with out to much hassle? That way, after say a grace period of a month or so, the inactive accounts could be purged completely.
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I don't think you can delete the email address. Not sure about vBulletin, but I know that in phpBB, it is not possible to do so.

Also, if you do somehow delete it, there will be no way for a user to recover a lost password as the forum software needs to email the reset password to the user. So, everything other than

username
password
email address

would be safe to delete.
 
Darat said:
Which "we" is that, anyone who knows what they are doing - sorry for being so blunt but this seems just another screw-up by the JREF folk not communicating to the people they need to. The JREF Staff account has posted states that the demotions are not a result of a hack, but didn't think to even mention to the affected admins that they were to be be demoted to moderator status before they demoted them. Or even afterwards so they did not panic?
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Well, both JREF staff and several admins have emailed me to ask if I know what's going on. You know more than me.
 
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