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Future of the Forum

steenkh said:
How did you determine that? I was at the first TAM London, but only located one other forumite, mainly because nobody was advertising that they were forumites. I was disappointed that there was not a corner for forumites to gather.

But you are probably right: forumites did not seem to be a majority at TAM London, and I asked quite a lot of people if they were from the forum.
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I was there, with my Forum Avatar (of the time) as well as my badge. I too was disappointed not to encounter many others but I'm not a pubby person so didn't do much extracurricular socialising.

/adds to number-of-people-posting-in-this-thread count
 
temporalillusion said:
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).



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.
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But the huge difference is that JREF *was* responsible for it. It does not matter if a mod stole it, or the hosting company, in the very end JREF was responsible. But if they give it to somebody else ? At some point it isn't anymore.
 
Belz... said:
Is it fair for me to ask 'why not' ?
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Because I only give my personal information to company I pay stuff to and cannot avoid giving duds, or for some reason JREF I trusted.

Every other forums or entity get (and has gotten) simply random dud info. The new forum would be the same. I am borderline (or maybe fully) paranoid when it comes to give my info to some random dude in the US. Because the lack of good privacy law in the US. it turns out I was not paranoide enough looking at what's happening with the JREF forum.

Well never mind I changed some of the info, removing others , and cross fingers.
 
Aepervius said:
But the huge difference is that JREF *was* responsible for it. It does not matter if a mod stole it, or the hosting company, in the very end JREF was responsible. But if they give it to somebody else ? At some point it isn't anymore.
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Ok, and someone else (individual or organization or something) would become responsible at that point. If you trust JREF enough to protect your information sufficiently to give it to them, then trusting them to not retain that information when you change it and to not transfer that information to someone you don't consent to is the same isn't it?

If that's not it I guess I'm missing the significance the JREF being responsible, why that is a huge difference. Or even what responsible means in this context?

Taking reasonable precautions? I'd argue icerat would take far better precautions given the attention the forum server has received from the JREF.

Someone responsible to sue if something bad does happen?
 
Aepervius said:
I am borderline (or maybe fully) paranoid when it comes to give my info to some random dude in the US.
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I don't think it's unreasonable at all to be at least very cautious about that kind of thing. But even large, established organizations that probably spend multiples of the entire JREF's budget on security by itself still get hacked, so from that point of view I think trust in JREF (or LinkedIn or Sony or Adobe or whoever) is a moot point.

The best thing an individual can do is to take actions to minimize the risk. Use different email addresses for different purposes, make sure passwords are strong and different for every site, use two factor authentication for critical things like email, etc.

Aepervius said:
it turns out I was not paranoide enough looking at what's happening with the JREF forum.
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I'm not sure that's fair because to this point nothing has actually happened. And there's been a lot of discussion about how that will be important and how that can be accomplished while still allowing people who do wish to move over to do so, so the same intent as the JREF seems to be there.
 
temporalillusion said:
Ok, and someone else (individual or organization or something) would become responsible at that point. If you trust JREF enough to protect your information sufficiently to give it to them, then trusting them to not retain that information when you change it and to not transfer that information to someone you don't consent to is the same isn't it?

If that's not it I guess I'm missing the significance the JREF being responsible, why that is a huge difference. Or even what responsible means in this context?

Taking reasonable precautions? I'd argue icerat would take far better precautions given the attention the forum server has received from the JREF.

Someone responsible to sue if something bad does happen?
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I have to agree with this, icerat seems like a better custodian than JREF, they can't even be bothered with doing backups.
 
temporalillusion said:
I don't think it's unreasonable at all to be at least very cautious about that kind of thing. But even large, established organizations that probably spend multiples of the entire JREF's budget on security by itself still get hacked, so from that point of view I think trust in JREF (or LinkedIn or Sony or Adobe or whoever) is a moot point.

The best thing an individual can do is to take actions to minimize the risk. Use different email addresses for different purposes, make sure passwords are strong and different for every site, use two factor authentication for critical things like email, etc.



I'm not sure that's fair because to this point nothing has actually happened. And there's been a lot of discussion about how that will be important and how that can be accomplished while still allowing people who do wish to move over to do so, so the same intent as the JREF seems to be there.
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Icerat is a random nobody (sorry icerat) that I do not know. JREF is a legal entity. If none of you in this thread can#t see the difference, well I can't help you.
 
Aepervius said:
Icerat is a random nobody (sorry icerat) that I do not know. JREF is a legal entity. If none of you in this thread can#t see the difference, well I can't help you.
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And there are discussions about various alternatives...to have the forums transferred to Jeff Wagg's company; to register a non-profit organization with selected members of this forum in charge; and other such options. In all such discussions, Icerat's role is in a purely technical and support capacity...not as owner of the forum.

If you can't be bothered to actually read what is being discussed, then we can't help you.
 
Just wanted to pop in and say thanks to whoever has been working on the technical issues, this forum hasn't run this fast or smoothly in ages.
 
Aepervius said:
Icerat is a random nobody (sorry icerat) that I do not know. JREF is a legal entity. If none of you in this thread can#t see the difference, well I can't help you.
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Oh for crying out loud. If you don't like it, then don't participate in the new forum. Please stop whining about those who are spending their own personal time, energy and money to help save some version of the forum. The rest of us deeply appreciate what these volunteers are doing and would rather have it this way than to have the forum completely disappear.
 
ProBonoShill said:
Just wanted to pop in and say thanks to whoever has been working on the technical issues, this forum hasn't run this fast or smoothly in ages.
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Yes, who else has noticed the problems with slow page loading have been almost absent since this began?
 
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Wolfman said:
And there are discussions about various alternatives...to have the forums transferred to Jeff Wagg's company; to register a non-profit organization with selected members of this forum in charge; and other such options. In all such discussions, Icerat's role is in a purely technical and support capacity...not as owner of the forum.

If you can't be bothered to actually read what is being discussed, then we can't help you.
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Icerat has said that "the buck stops with me". That at least implies interim ownership.
 
Ampulla of Vater said:
Oh for crying out loud. If you don't like it, then don't participate in the new forum. Please stop whining about those who are spending their own personal time, energy and money to help save some version of the forum. The rest of us deeply appreciate what these volunteers are doing and would rather have it this way than to have the forum completely disappear.
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You know that "don't let the door hit your arse" posts are less than useful? And who are you to speak for "the rest of us"?
 
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