Boards.ie and Privacy

Rb

Beruthiel wrote: »

Talking about friends lists.
How did you hide yours?
Yes,
I went into your profile to see how you had it set up.

I can see his friends list...?

Sparky

There is a brief vB bug that needs the page to be refreshed again.

justsomebloke

Beruthiel wrote: »

Talking about friends lists.
How did you hide yours?
Yes,
I went into your profile to see how you had it set up.

I just checked his there and it is coming up*







*I have noticed before that there is a bug with this and that sometimes you wil only get a page with minimal information as oppose seeing everything properly

Beruthiel

Rb wrote: »

I can see his friends list...?

How odd.
It's there now.

Rb

Beruthiel wrote: »

How odd.
It's there now.

Yeah, as Spankeh said it's a Vbulletin bug. Sometimes a profile will load with barely anything showing, just on the "About Me" page, sometimes visitor messaging disappears etc etc.

Wouldn't see that happening on Bebo I tells ya...:p

Steve

Some great points, Seamus.

The whole visitor messaging thing was great when it started, it was a novelty and we all played with it for a while. It's just not boards though.
If you view a profile with active messaging, all you can see is one side of a 'chat' and thats also a bit ghey.

It also increases the 'clique' element that admittedly does exist here and new members will start feeling left out if they don't get messages or profile visits - making people feel this way is also not what boards is supposed to be.

I'm using invisible mode purely because I normally look up a users (who I don't recognise) recent posts before replying to them to get an idea of what they're like (in serious non AH fora).

The other issue I can see is the messages - say 2 years later will still be sitting on your profile like a faded 'yore ma' tatoo. At what point can you delete them without insulting the message poster?

I would have no issue with the whole thing being scrapped - PM's are fine for chat.

Rb

stevec wrote: »

Some great points, Seamus.

The whole visitor messaging thing was great when it started, it was a novelty and we all played with it for a while. It's just not boards though.
If you view a profile with active messaging, all you can see is one side of a 'chat' and thats also a bit ghey.

It also increases the 'clique' element that admittedly does exist here and new members will start feeling left out if they don't get messages or profile visits - making people feel this way is also not what boards is supposed to be.

I'm using invisible mode purely because I normally look up a users (who I don't recognise) recent posts before replying to them to get an idea of what they're like (in serious non AH fora).

The other issue I can see is the messages - say 2 years later will still be sitting on your profile like a faded 'yore ma' tatoo. At what point can you delete them without insulting the message poster?

I would have no issue with the whole thing being scrapped - PM's are fine for chat.

This all from the man who has "Stalk Me!" and a link to his Boards profile in his sig...?

Sparky

Rb wrote: »

This all from the man who has "Stalk Me!" and a link to his Boards profile in his sig...?

Lol well spotted RB

Steve

Rb wrote: »

This all from the man who has "Stalk Me!" and a link to his Boards profile in his sig...?

Oh the ironing...:eek:

Just saying it like it is Rb, if there's a system to be whored then people will whore it.

DeVore

These points were discussed amongst the admins long before we put this stuff live. I failed to raise any telling points against Teh-Big-Brane-Of-Social-Networking aka Cloud and we took the approach that since no new data was going to be exposed that wasnt before, we should try these things out and see.

I too have my ... um, not "concerns", perhaps "misgivings" about the new features but I cant nail it down. I think we are going to give it some more time and then decide about various new features.

You have to remember that the change is twice as much for us as all of the adminning back end (and its freakin' huge) changes too and we have no more idea about the details of these features then ye do in some instances!
Once we were sure it wasnt going to expose any data that wasnt already public, we were happy to take a "suck it and see" approach.

Short Answer: I hear ya's, lets give it a while to bed down and then we'll review the situation.

Addendum: I think its long past due we had a "how to get the most from boards" document which new (and old!) users can be pointed to because I have a strong suspicion that many people are only using a fraction of the options they would find useful etc.

DeV.

BlitzKrieg

its like a mini lisbon for boards.


CHANGE BAD!

BOARDS NOT BROKEN NO NEED TO CHANGE!


etc etc etc

Jumpy

I am noticing a distinctive trend to post personal details of people that have posted majorly muppety stuff.
For example - that troll who stated he cheated on the leaving cert, there was also a fellow who posted a picture of his desk which people started posting personal stuff from the info on his email client in the background.
I know this isnt the specific topic of this thread, but its almost quite disturbing the enjoyment people get from posting peoples personal stuff online.

Toto Wolfcastle

If you don't want people 'tracking' your movements then just use invisible mode. I rarely check who's visited my profile. It's not a huge deal.

I like the visitor messages though. They've been good to me, and can be quicker and easier than PMs.

IRLConor

Rb wrote: »

I'd have to disagree, it's entirely possible to be anonymous on a site like Boards. Thus far, nothing I've posted can be linked back to who I am offline and through Boards, there's no way that someone can get my full name, address, phone numbers etc. I've been careful enough to ensure of this.

It's definitely possible to be anonymous on Boards*.

I decided not to be since it would be very hard for me to avoid being identified eventually without curtailing the amount I could talk about. The number of target shooters in Ireland isn't big enough that I can't hide in the noise. I haven't gone the whole hog though, the contact details you can get for me are pretty much limited to electronic ones.

* If you're careful enough and also don't give anyone a reason to hand the Admins a court order to turn over personally identifying information.

Rb

Jumpy wrote: »

I am noticing a distinctive trend to post personal details of people that have posted majorly muppety stuff.
For example - that troll who stated he cheated on the leaving cert, there was also a fellow who posted a picture of his desk which people started posting personal stuff from the info on his email client in the background.
I know this isnt the specific topic of this thread, but its almost quite disturbing the enjoyment people get from posting peoples personal stuff online.

They, like Mantime, DBC etc. deserve whatever they get. If they put their personal details online and then come here and start acting the muppet or trying to píss people off, whatever happens them as a result is their own fault.

Earthhorse

Sparks wrote: »

There are also some bits of information which are of serious use to moderators, but no use at all to ordinary posters. What a poster is now doing, for example. Handy for a mod if that user is off on a tirade against "De Man" and you may need to edit/ban/whatever, but no use at all for ordinary users.

You've always been able to view a user's current activity (maybe not if they're in invisible mode), that's nothing new.

seamus wrote: »

My argument is that if you want to play with the personal profile stuff, then you can choose to. If you don't, then you don't have to do anything. Yes, you can switch it off, but it should be opt-in, not opt-out.

Opt in, opt out, how much difference does that make? It's a click of a button.

seamus wrote: »

Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that there's no need for boards to try and copy the functionality that dedicated social networking sites have been developing and winning with for the past few years.

Hope you don't think I'm being pedantic but surely it's vBulletin that's aping the features available on social networking sites and boards are just rolling it out. Seeing as it costs nothing (well, maybe not nothing in terms of backend work) to rollout and people can opt out of stuff they don't like I don't see an issue.

The one area I think you have a point is in making people aware of changes that are coming and how to disable them. Personally, I thought it was pretty obvious how to switch these things off but it's clear from some posts in here that this wasn't true for everyone. Problem with starting a thread on new features is for every post explaining how they work or answering a question you'll have ten "Ooh, we're getting new features!" posts.

stevec wrote: »

If you view a profile with active messaging, all you can see is one side of a 'chat' and thats also a bit ghey.

If you click the View Conversation button beside any message it shows you the view conversation thread.

stevec wrote: »

It also increases the 'clique' element that admittedly does exist here and new members will start feeling left out if they don't get messages or profile visits - making people feel this way is also not what boards is supposed to be.

I disagree.

One user visited my profile and left a message complimenting me on my website, something I'd forgotten was still in my profile. That was nice to hear and I don't think anyone would bother PMing over something like that. That's what's cool about the visitor messages, they're a lot more casual than PMs which feel too formal to me for just chatting with someone.

If anything I think the new features allow people more expression and are more likely to see them find their niche on boards.

Honestly, I think the only issue here is people are a little uncomfortable with how to use some of the new stuff.

DeVore

I agree with RB there, also I would very much like to point out that the personal stuff posted about Salman etc DID NOT COME FROM BOARDS.IE ADMINS etc. He was tracked down by a couple of people, none of whom had access to, or were given information about him. He left a trail a mile wide all on his own apparently.

We *were* contacted by authorities investigating it and I'm saying no further on that but we most certainly wouldnt give information out these days without a court order/discovery notice etc. There was a time when I would drop someone's surname into a rebuking post to let them know I know who they are but I dont do that any more.

The MCD thing didnt kick of about the content of the review specifically, it has come about because we refused to "identify" the OP of the review without a court order. Not saying anything more about that either so please dont follow up about it.

DeV.

Jumpy

Rb wrote: »

They, like Mantime, DBC etc. deserve whatever they get. If they put their personal details online and then come here and start acting the muppet or trying to píss people off, whatever happens them as a result is their own fault.

Agreed on the examples provided Rb. But the Coolest Desk in teh World poster was harmless no?

Jumpy

DeVore wrote: »

I agree with RB there, also I would very much like to point out that the personal stuff posted about Salman etc DID NOT COME FROM BOARDS.IE ADMINS etc. He was tracked down by a couple of people, none of whom had access to, or were given information about him. He left a trail a mile wide all on his own apparently.

We *were* contacted by authorities investigating it and I'm saying no further on that but we most certainly wouldnt give information out these days without a court order/discovery notice etc. There was a time when I would drop someone's surname into a rebuking post to let them know I know who they are but I dont do that any more.

The MCD thing didnt kick of about the content of the review specifically, it has come about because we refused to "identify" the OP of the review without a court order. Not saying anything more about that either so please dont follow up about it.

DeV.

I wasnt suggesting that just to be clear.:pac:

Rb

Jumpy wrote: »

Agreed on the examples provided Rb. But the Coolest Desk in teh World poster was harmless no?

Well, I didn't see that thread myself. Was it a case that he left his email client open with the details there and people merely copied them into the thread from the picture, or did they use the details and dig up more on him? If it's the former, well, in effect he really posted the details himself, if you get me?

Out of interest, which forum was it posted in?

randylonghorn

Rb wrote: »

The visibile visitor logs seem somewhat pointless and I've certainly seen a few names on mine which have made me think "wtf were they looking for?"

Very often I don't think people are looking for anything specific, RB. A post catches their attention, and they click on the profile to see what it tells them about the poster. I found it a bit off-putting at first to see nicks I had never seen before show up, but now I just ignore it.

Rb wrote: »

I don't really think it impedes on peoples privacy though, as afterall it is completely up to the user what information they want to display (about themselves).

DeVore wrote: »

We took the approach that since no new data was going to be exposed that wasnt before, we should try these things out and see.

I think this is the important point, tbh. Once it's up to the user how much information to put up, then I don't have a problem with it.

Earthhorse wrote: »

One user visited my profile and left a message complimenting me on my website, something I'd forgotten was still in my profile. That was nice to hear and I don't think anyone would bother PMing over something like that. That's what's cool about the visitor messages, they're a lot more casual than PMs which feel too formal to me for just chatting with someone.

Yes, actually. My initial reaction was negative ... I'm not on Bebo or Faceache or any of those sites, and I really didn't like the idea of a Bebo-fied Boards. But I find that the new features are not in your face, and I actually agree with Earthhorse re: the above ... there are times when a comment on a thread is off-topic, and a PM feels formal, almost intrusive, if you don't know the person very well.

Beruthiel wrote: »

Talking about friends lists.
How did you hide yours?
Yes, I went into your profile to see how you had it set up.

And Spankeh's views have just shot through the roof as everyone went to see what Ber meant, before they read the rest of the thread ...

DeVore wrote: »

Addendum: I think its long past due we had a "how to get the most from boards" document which new (and old!) users can be pointed to because I have a strong suspicion that many people are only using a fraction of the options they would find useful etc.

+ 100

Even among people who are around a while, there are technophobes like me who don't assimilate changes / new stuff by osmosis as some seem to do. Luckily, I have a fellow boardsie / RL friend who will answer my squawks for help (even if he calls me a feckin' gobshoite under his breath!) but not everyone does. And it would be brilliant for new people ... or at least for those who take the time to read it, which admittedly will probably only be the minority!

Hobbes

Rb wrote: »

I'd have to disagree, it's entirely possible to be anonymous on a site like Boards.

Sadly it isn't true. The more you post, the more of a profile you make of yourself and the easier it gets to get information on you directly and indirectly.

Thus far, nothing I've posted can be linked back to who I am offline

Oooh a challange.

and through Boards, there's no way that someone can get my full name, address, phone numbers etc. I've been careful enough to ensure of this.

check out [wiki]Nas[/wiki].

Zaph

CuLT wrote: »

If you're set to invisible, you don't show up in the profile of whomever you're looking at (unless you're an administrator or smod, in which case you can see everyone regardless, just as with forumviewing).

It's funny, but since the introduction of the new changes it seems to me that there are a lot more people using invisible mode than there were before, judging by the Currently Active Users boxes at the bottom of the screen.

Pherekydes

That's a great post, Seamus. Well thought out. It is amusing to play with the new stuff, but much of what may have been alarming was already there, like when you have your own profile open and you see "Current Activity: Viewing User Profile". That info is available for all to see.

Boards is evolving. It is becoming a defacto networking site. Like it or not.

justsomebloke

Zaph wrote: »

It's funny, but since the introduction of the new changes it seems to me that there are a lot more people using invisible mode than there were before, judging by the Currently Active Users boxes at the bottom of the screen.

I have to agree with this, a lot of people have gone invisible who weren't before and so it is actually harder to stalk people as you can no longer see their activity which you were before

Steve

jsb wrote: »

I have to agree with this, a lot of people have gone invisible who weren't before and so it is actually harder to stalk people as you can no longer see their activity which you were before

As I said earlier, I look at profiles get an idea what a member is like before replying to them - I don't want to be accused of stalking so I'm invisible, as are you. If 'they' turned off the stalker list then I'd be visible.

Simplicity

Rb wrote: »

Indeed but as I said above, this information is only available if they make it available and therefore, they only have themselves to blame. .

Rb wrote: »

Al: Great photos! Love how this one makes me look like I've mega long arms and am actually groping Pythia (while I'm actually not!)

Those virgin glasses are hilarious but Christ, look quite the state thanks to the heat down there

http://www.alhigginsphotography.com/Shoots/boardsbeers/content/IMG_8936_1_large.html

Rb

Lol you're such a freak

I've been invisible since way before it was "cool" btw.

Simplicity

Rb wrote: »

Lol you're such a freak

I've been invisible since way before it was "cool" btw.

I Only joined last week!

http://omg.wthax.org/rb_virgin.jpg

Pherekydes

stevec wrote: »

As I said earlier, I look at profiles get an idea what a member is like before replying to them...

You can do this by clicking on the username and then selecting "find more posts by x" from the dropdown.