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Future of the Forum

Aepervius said:
Maybe, but in the end I do not care much for the post being republished , otherwise I would not post them in the first place.

But the email address, and other data, were not meant to be given to another party. And that's the point of contention for me. I was, at least until last week, using my real name as email address. I did it because I trusted the JREF & was donating. I changed a day ago, but there is no way for me to tell if it is is still not saved somewhere in the forum DB (as in "original email address used for registration" or soem other fields). Otherwise I would have used the crap email addy I am normally using for everybody else.

ETA: heck everything I remove or change I cannot be sure if it is really removed.
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With icerat's proposal it has been made clear many time already that the private information, name, country and state in the USA would only be transferred with a user's consent.
 
Darat said:
With icerat's proposal it has been made clear many time already that the private information, name, country and state in the USA would only be transferred with a user's consent.
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Then you better sticky it somewhere else because I do not recall any post stating they would bloat out or remove my email address from the DB if it contained my real name.
 
Out of curiosity, how many members here would calmly go back to the status quo should Sharon appear this afternoon and say "nevermind, the JREF has decided to keep the forums for now"?
 
Aepervius said:
I did it because I trusted the JREF & was donating. I changed a day ago, but there is no way for me to tell if it is is still not saved somewhere in the forum DB (as in "original email address used for registration" or soem other fields). Otherwise I would have used the crap email addy I am normally using for everybody else.
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From a software point of view there's no "original email" address field in the database for vBulletin that I am aware of.

Depending on how it is configured the forum software may send out new user registration emails, in which case your original email address would be in that email if it's stored in an email box somewhere.

You're not only trusting the JREF, you're trusting the server that the JREF is using, you're trusting the company where the server is located (which means you're trusting all the admins that have access that way), you're trusting the internet providers for the hosting company, plus you're trusting all the people who have access to any of hardware between you and the JREF server, since all those people would, in theory, have access to any information sent to the JREF server (including your actual password).

Aepervius said:
ETA: heck everything I remove or change I cannot be sure if it is really removed.
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That's true of everything you don't do completely by yourself.

It's like security for your house, there's no such thing as real security. If someone really wants into my house, they'll get in. Do I care if they steal my dishes? Not really. But if I have something I want to secure more I have a bolt down safe or store it offsite.

Same with the forum, if someone with enough resources really wants to get the info they'll get it; god tier security requires god tier money. Any site can only take the appropriate level of precautions given the risk and budget.

If someone gets my real name from the forum, meh. If my real name was so important to me that losing control of it would do real serious harm to me then I would not trust it to the level of security a forum like this could provide.
 
Francesca R said:
What after all the bridges I've torched and the mud I've slung?

Me.
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Emily's Cat said:
Me 2

ETA: Members: 32,453, Active Members: 2,062
Members actually participating in this thread... maybe about 100?

I'm gonna say that 90% of your members would happily go back to business as usual.
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:) Not me. Then again, I've taken a ~1yr hiatus from the forums here a couple of times. I'm clearly not that wedded to them.

But, many of the concerns I've seen bandied about in this thread are the same or worse under the current aegis. A parent organization that does not value the forums, may jettison them at any moment, may decree huge swaths of topics unacceptable at a moments notice, may choose to ban members capriciously, etc... I see a move to new management a very good opportunity to shore up some of the foundations, as it were.
 
I've taken breaks of several months. For no reason. Only one time I stayed away on purpose which was May-Dec 2010 and for a reason about how the forum was run for a while but that is irrelevant now.

But at times I am rather hooked as well.
 
temporalillusion said:
203, you can find out if you click the post count for the thread, it gives a breakdown of each user who posted ordered by how many times they posted.
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I know how to get the breakdown of posters and how many times they've posted but how do you get the total number of posters?
 
madurobob said:
Out of curiosity, how many members here would calmly go back to the status quo should Sharon appear this afternoon and say "nevermind, the JREF has decided to keep the forums for now"?
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Sure, I'll raise my hand, but for the forum, not the JREF. They are dead to me.
 
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Aepervius said:
Maybe, but in the end I do not care much for the post being republished , otherwise I would not post them in the first place.

But the email address, and other data, were not meant to be given to another party. And that's the point of contention for me. I was, at least until last week, using my real name as email address. I did it because I trusted the JREF & was donating. I changed a day ago, but there is no way for me to tell if it is is still not saved somewhere in the forum DB (as in "original email address used for registration" or soem other fields). Otherwise I would have used the crap email addy I am normally using for everybody else.

ETA: heck everything I remove or change I cannot be sure if it is really removed.
Click to expand...

Jeez pal!!! How many times do Darat, Locknar, icerat et al have to repeat, over, and over and over and over again that private data involving real names and locations will not be transferred without specific approval from each user. There must be 30+ posts in this thread that make this clear. You can only nurse the same grievance for so long before you start to come across as paranoid.

If you don't trust that JREF will not ensure that the privacy of data will be respected, then I question why you would even trust them with that information at all?

As for email addresses, well, if you don't transfer a real email address, then the email address box in your profile will be blank or will contain a dud email, so you will be unable to get notifications of PMs, and you won't be able to recover your password if you forget it. Risky, but your choice in the end.
 
steenkh said:
He is also working with Darat and Jeff who seems to have the confidence of the forumites, so just what is the problem here?
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I know that most people who have read this thread know that I have a feeling that people newly in power tend to try and find things to fix. They tend to start wanting to over do it. Over fix. Fix things that are not broken. On top of the power angle you have the Law of the Instrument angle:

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."
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I hope very much that Darat is asked to stay on after the transition, and that Darat accepts. If Darat has a vote in software changes I would not feel as unsure if each one was actually needed.
 
smartcooky said:
As for email addresses, well, if you don't transfer a real email address, then the email address box in your profile will be blank or will contain a dud email, so you will be unable to get notifications of PMs, and you won't be able to recover your password if you forget it. Risky, but your choice in the end.
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As was posted upthread a ways, just use one of your throw away email addresses (don't pretend you don't have them), visit your profile here in the forums, and change your email address to one of those. Only that email address gets passed on to the new server. Ta-da! Its that easy.
 
madurobob said:
:) ...I see a move to new management a very good opportunity to shore up some of the foundations, as it were.
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sounds like a more productive step, one I'd be willing to join,...but that probably needs to wait until we see what we actually get before we start working too hard on improvements (there may be plans and visions that take precedent over our druthers).
 
madurobob said:
Out of curiosity, how many members here would calmly go back to the status quo should Sharon appear this afternoon and say "nevermind, the JREF has decided to keep the forums for now"?
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Interesting question. I would. ETA But I would also suggest that TPTB, in this case, our admin/mod team consult icerat and others to prepare a contingency plan for JREF'S next round of "we decided to drop the forum."

Also, I am another person in favor of not relaxing the rules, especially the rules on ad hominem attacks and profanity.
 
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