Digital Doctor
Well-known member
Which blog software?
By your description, your blog doesn't sound very integrated into the site.
Are forum communities obsolete?
- Thread starter Sar
- Start date
By your description, your blog doesn't sound very integrated into the site.
Fred Sherman
Well-known member
I'm afraid anonymity and privacy are two different things and regulations of various governments will cause the former to disappear. I foresee a time when you will be required to register for and be authenticated using your real name for all internet services, but be able to adopt a personae by which other users will know you. Your real identity will not be outward facing, but will be available to any law enforcement or government agency that properly requests it within the scope of legal authority where the server resides.
I'm not advocating this, mind you, but I believe this Pandora's Box has already been opened. Governments will sell the public on these ideas to protect kids from cyberbullies, to protect minors from pedophiles, to protect us from unscrupulous businesses, etc. They may even be sincere at the time, but when they force us to collect data and then realize they have access to it, they'll come up with a host of creative reasons why they need it.
It really doesn't matter which government or party, the bottom line is you can't trust humans, any human, with too much power. In the information age, knowledge is power, and data is king.
Digital Doctor
Well-known member
To get into work, I require a pass that opens the door for me. Work knows when I enter the door, and when I leave.
I've joked that the next thing they'll want is to plant a GPS tracker in my body, so they can follow me better.
I joke about it ... like it's far fetched.
As I carry around my Cell Phone with it's GPS tracker, voluntarily.
I suppose you don't have to put GPS chips in their heads when they will voluntarily carry one everywhere they go.
As that twit Casey Anthony was googling "How to make choloroform" I am sure she thought her googling was anonymous. And when her mom said it was her doing, and the logs said her mom was at work .... they both realized how "tracked" we are.
[This post was submitted by IP address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx).
erich37
Well-known member
I was thinking whether it is beneficial to remove the FB-Login from my dating site. Not sure yet?
Did you just remove the facebook-login or also the "FB Recommend" buttons?
RastaLulz
Well-known member
I haven't read all of the posts, but here's my view.
I don't think that Facebook or Twitter are a threat, they are a service for short and simple communication. I think that the real threat is Wikipedia, WikiAnsers, Yahoo Answers, eHow, etc. Why? because they hold real content, unlike Facebook.
The number one reason a person comes to your forum is for your content, and that's what you have to build. Once you have that, then you have to worry about the social aspect, and keeping the community going. But as long as you hold the content that the users want, they will continue to come back. For the most part, you can't Google something, and find helpful information on Facebook, as the content is short and simple, and is normally done on private profiles, not accessible by search engines.
Although, I could see Facebook's discussion boards as threat to certain forums, because the other day I was looking at Chevrolet's fan page, and I noticed people would post there questions on the pages board, and wait for responses - but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's that big of a threat.
As to some of your points about Facebook login, etc. I think that these are vital ways of getting members on to your site, and building a community. If the guest has an easy way to become a part of the community, and voice their opinion, then (s)he wont think twice about registering. With that being said, you must also have a good community going to keep that user satisfied, and I believe that is the key, right after content.
I don't think that Facebook or Twitter are a threat, they are a service for short and simple communication. I think that the real threat is Wikipedia, WikiAnsers, Yahoo Answers, eHow, etc. Why? because they hold real content, unlike Facebook.
The number one reason a person comes to your forum is for your content, and that's what you have to build. Once you have that, then you have to worry about the social aspect, and keeping the community going. But as long as you hold the content that the users want, they will continue to come back. For the most part, you can't Google something, and find helpful information on Facebook, as the content is short and simple, and is normally done on private profiles, not accessible by search engines.
Although, I could see Facebook's discussion boards as threat to certain forums, because the other day I was looking at Chevrolet's fan page, and I noticed people would post there questions on the pages board, and wait for responses - but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's that big of a threat.
As to some of your points about Facebook login, etc. I think that these are vital ways of getting members on to your site, and building a community. If the guest has an easy way to become a part of the community, and voice their opinion, then (s)he wont think twice about registering. With that being said, you must also have a good community going to keep that user satisfied, and I believe that is the key, right after content.
TheLaw
Well-known member
The works. My main site is having everything removed this weekend. People often forget how convoluted it can be. It results in them screaming at us in support at 4am on holiday weekend that we MUST remove asap (as in like five minutes) the Facebook Like for the "eBay porno scam" thread that everyone can see.
erich37
Well-known member
not sure I understand.....
somebody recommended a thread from your forum towards fakebook and now your users are complaining why this thread is showing up at FB or what ?
Diana
Active member
It was an addon. Totoally integrated. Worked like a gem. Members could post to it from a forum thread and it would show up on the blog where people could comment. It had the forum navbar and also integrated with the styles and listed recent forum thread titles that you could access from the blog.
The problem was, none of the members entered by the blog (although they could have logged on from there and new members could register (completely integrated you see). But they went straight to the forum. Plus, the other blog I used, movabletype, where I linked to the forum and forum blog, no one was interested. They stayed on the blog.
Integration can only go so far. I've found blog users don't like forums and forum users don't like blogs. They'll use one or the other, they won't use both. It's all a matter of what people get used to.
Diana
Active member
Anonymity and privacy are the same, no matter how you cut it. Just because the government wants to invade privacy by removing anonymity and dupe the public into thinking it's for their own good doesn't change the nature of the thing.
It is precisely because there is danger in too much power, and because knowledge is power, and data is king, as you so eloquently put it, that this should be opposed, rigorously.
I'm certainly going to do everything I possibly can to protect my community members from the government invading their privacy.
Diana
Active member
Not so much twitter, but Facebook is a threat because it requires people to register with their real name.
Fred Sherman
Well-known member
Lets reverse this a moment.
You run a dating site (though I've never understood why anyone would want to) and one of your users is raped by another of your users. Depending on your state a country, you may face criminal charges. You almost certainly will face a civil suit. You have no real way to protect yourself because your goal of complete anonymity was a contributing factor.
There has to be a balance somewhere. People need to be held accountable for their own actions and not hide behind a cloak of anonymity. At the same time, they shouldn't be tracked, monitored, profiled, data warehoused, target marketed, have their privacy violated or their identity put at risk.
I don't have all the answers. I rarely have any. But I do know, as with all human interaction, the extremes are always wrong.
You run a dating site (though I've never understood why anyone would want to) and one of your users is raped by another of your users. Depending on your state a country, you may face criminal charges. You almost certainly will face a civil suit. You have no real way to protect yourself because your goal of complete anonymity was a contributing factor.
There has to be a balance somewhere. People need to be held accountable for their own actions and not hide behind a cloak of anonymity. At the same time, they shouldn't be tracked, monitored, profiled, data warehoused, target marketed, have their privacy violated or their identity put at risk.
I don't have all the answers. I rarely have any. But I do know, as with all human interaction, the extremes are always wrong.
Digital Doctor
Well-known member
Diana
Active member
No, it was an addon from vbulletin.org. And it was in 2001.
Diana
Active member
Well, the person wouldn't be raped online. So I think whatever people decide to do offline is at their own risk. I seriously doubt anyone running a forum would be held criminally or civily liable for the bad judgment of their members and what they do offline. I have never visited a dating site but I would imagine they have a disclaimer to that effect.
dieketzer
Well-known member
it was probably vbHome then. iirc it was the best at the time.
TheLaw
Well-known member
More often than most realize, an action taken in connection with a social network like Facebook will publicize the fact that you've taken that action elsewhere, e.g. "John liked the thread '10 tips on how to please a woman' at the Impotence Forum." They might have thought that it's just a way of saying "thumbs up" anonymously but if that shows up on John's profile or someone can hover and see who liked the post, imagine the ridicule John may get back in the old neighborhood. Lots of permissions to set, too much of a hassle, best to ensure you're covered.
Fred Sherman
Well-known member
Can't hide behind a disclaimer...
http://www.jdoasis.com/woman-sues-dating-service-over-sexual-assault
Civil suits are much easier to file.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/te...cost-me-millions-filmmaker-20090715-dl4t.html
Human nature means people will always look to blame someone else for their misfortune. If personal responsibility was typical, McDonalds wouldn't have been sued because coffee is hot. So they look for the person who created the situation, a person with a real name. If you run a forum full of anonymous users, the last identifiable person in the chain is you.
As for "bad judgement", what is the purpose of a "dating site"? Could you reasonable argue in court that such a site isn't intended to bring people together in the real, non-digital world? Doesn't the name suggest enabling interpersonal contact?
The reality of forums is that you have to protect yourself from your users and their families as well. What if your site was a Euthanasia site? Heaven knows we are more humane to our terminally injured animals than to our terminally ill friends and relatives. But run a site like that and you can expect all sorts of criminal and civil suits. No amount of disclaimers will protect you from the family of a recently deceased user because they were never bound by it.
I think there are certain types of forums, the ones that go beyond just sharing opinions and benign information, ones that either overtly or covertly support some type of real world action, where the forum owners have to engage is a "threat assessment" and act accordingly. You can't regard the government as a threat and blindly ignore that the users, who we often protect too much, m,ay be just as big a threat.
And sometimes you just accept it. I ran a political discussion site for many years. Every user identity was completely protected and I was audited by the IRS every year for 8 years in a row.
There are no hard, fast rules other than this: first, protect yourself.
dieketzer
Well-known member
that is so totally not what that case was about.
but this is probably the wrong venue for that discussion.
Yes, you're right - the 'hot coffee' case is often held up as an example of the legal system gone mad, but in actual fact there was a legitimate complaint to be made - the scalded woman was right to sue, and the right verdict was reached.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants
Digital Doctor
Well-known member
What surprises me was that somone actually ordered coffee from McDonald's in 1994.
It was too hot and tasted horrible !
It came in white styrofoam cups and looked and tasted like dirty water.
It seemed they tried to save on Coffee grinds by reusing the grinds a second time ... and that I always got the "second pot".
Virtually undrinkable !
It was too hot and tasted horrible !
It came in white styrofoam cups and looked and tasted like dirty water.
It seemed they tried to save on Coffee grinds by reusing the grinds a second time ... and that I always got the "second pot".
Virtually undrinkable !
