Private Profile option

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147877#Comment_119147877

I said at the time that that was ridiculous, it's information voluntarily entered by posters and often wasn't their real location, just something made-up or funny. And so another little part of what made Boards fun was taken away for no reason...

28064212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119144678#Comment_119144678

My two cents, as the developer of the mentioned add-in: IMO Boards are absolutely right not to suggest that mods rely on it. Some of the reasons for that are related to the extension itself: it's not designed for modding, it only works in a subset of browsers, it's not available on mobile.

Separately, there are practical reasons. Boards have no oversight of it: they have no idea if I'm stealing users' data, or have malicious code in it. To verify that I'm not, they'd have to assign a developer to oversee and monitor it, and at that point, they'd be better off using that developer to bring it in-house to begin with. Also, Boards have no guarantees of its longevity whatsoever. I could shut it down tomorrow, and they couldn't do a thing about it. Or I could just "go dark", and they'd have no support if anything on the platform broke it.

Returning profile visibility to what it was prior to the migration is absolutely the most sensible approach

Private profiles didn't stop people seeing post history. I think you could just put the name in the url, or use the search function and type in the username.

Deja Boo

The anonymity is a nice feature to dissuade those argumentative or accusatory posters from searching peoples entire post history (as they like to do) to shame, blame or use as an argumentative defence, or even retaliation.

I've never understood the need for an open list of every post you've ever made (from the beginning of time) being acccessible to any snoop, non-member, stranger, troll, lurker, spambot, agressor, (or those on your ignore list. for a reason) etc. What good does it do? Having the complete list invisible to the public seems more likely to initiate safe chat rather than leave a poster exposed and vulnerable to undesirable "attention" or negative consequences.

Niamh - the privacy was one of the few positives on vanilla (that and the 'choose your own' avatars is nice too, but I digress), and yes we may have had it work "openly" on the old boards.... But this is a new world - in this current, heightened, sensitive environment where any little thing you say, can (and will) be taken out of context and misinterpreted to suit any offenders agenda... I would think the lessening of privacy REALLY wouldn't be the smart way to go forward.... Well done Boards (not directed at Niamh), for adding yet another reason to be very careful what you say or keep relatively silent on boards, from here on out.

One question please.... Since Vanilla blurs the lines between private forums and open forums (the old boards kept them separate), will the open list of posts also include all historical private forum posts as well? If that is the case, you will surely have a mass exodus, with people (including me) asking for all their posts be erased (not just randomized) and their account info wiped out... Especially given the fact that some of those private forums relied on an element of trust, and having such private data openly shared (with anyone who happens onto your profile) would be a betrayal and violation of the trust we put in Boards, pre-vanilla.

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119152322#Comment_119152322

It already does. Private forum posts show on your profile if your profile isn't on private. I've seen it used to call people out on PI in recent weeks.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119151997#Comment_119151997

Majority of people aren't smart enough to think of this.

Deja Boo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119152351#Comment_119152351

All the more reason to be able to have the option to set profiles on private and have members post list visible only to themselves and the mods.

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119152399#Comment_119152399

Which is why I raised it on here, @Boards.ie: Niamh didn't seem to realise it was happening.

Boards.ie: Niamh

I understand the concerns about PI, RI and I'm still waiting on an answer about those posts being hidden on a user's profile so will reply on that when I can.

Any private forums were made into Groups when we moved to Vanilla in order to maintain their privacy settings so the idea being posted that provate forum posts are or are going to be visble to others is incorrect. Group posts are not visible on a user's profile except to other users who also have access to the same Group.

PI, RI etc. were never private forums. Sex & Sexuality (another one that was mentioned) used to be a subscriber access only forum. However it was very quiet and it was decided to close it and open a new S&S forum for any user to request access, not just subscribers. The first one was closed to preserve the privacy of any user who had previously posted there in the expectation that only subscribers would ever see the content. It is still a private access only Group now.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119151997#Comment_119151997

In fairness iirc, most posters who were genuine, ie not just looking to evade a ban, went on Private because the new site last year was displaying people's emails and old discussions with banking or other services.

I don't mind anyone seeing my posts and if this change makes it easier for mods to do their job, well fair enough.

But I do object to stalkers tracking previously private information and the site has a responsibility to ensure if they remove this privacy option, that it does not give free access to personal information to all and sundry.

If this is not done all that will be left posting on Boards will be one particular group of posters or bots,with no diversity of opinion.

Heighway61

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058248234/private-profile-option

"Admin & staff will continue to be the only ones able to see a user's email address and IP addresses as they always could."

Curious about this. What is/how does the relationship work between Boards, Admins and Users? Are the Admins considered Users (with elevated forum privileges) or are they considered to be part of Boards body corporate when it comes to the whole area of data privacy/access/control?Could there ever be a situation where an Admin could be held personally responsible in the event of a data breach? Or, is it a simple allowed delegation?

Deja Boo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119154488#Comment_119154488

Thanks for the clarification Niamh, appreciate your effort.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119154569#Comment_119154569

You make a good point but those trying to evade bans by setting up new accounts seem to be dealt with quickly enough, I'm not having a private profile makes to much of a difference, these users stick out like a sore thumb.

Boards.ie: Niamh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119155006#Comment_119155006

Admins are all volunteer users who have been on the site for a very long time and have been mods before becoming Admins. They are not employees so are not part of the company in that sense.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119179963#Comment_119179963

Which in itself is a big problem. Essentially just normal users with elevated permissions and access who Boards have no responsibility for (I'm guessing?) as they're not staff.

There's also an issue with the rather nepotistic "recruitment" policy for the mod and above roles but that's a different and long-standing issue.

Heighway61

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119179963#Comment_119179963

Was just wondering if you had yourselves covered, legally.

Strumms

I think all users should have access to the profile and easy access to posts of every user.

the reason I advocate that if say a poster has come to my attention and I’m seemingly beginning to think of them as a type of wind up merchant, oddball, troll or all the above… with access to their history of posting both style and content it’s a lot easier to identify it and them for certain…… can stick em on ignore and get on with it. They are marked.

there is no compelling reason really that I can see to have profiles private… none whatsoever.. it was a poor decision to enable the current situation because you are removing poster accountability to a certain degree.

you join… you make public posts.. the accessibility of a limited amount of info about your account should be accessible..like so…with all posts accessible too. Be a lot easier to whack people on ignore too.

everyone should be able to access info like..

Username Strumms

Joined February 2006

Visits 3,476

Last Active 10:24PM

Points 7,263

Posts 18,10

& all posts..

Shield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119180656#Comment_119180656

Welllllll…

Not exactly. I wasn’t exactly a popular choice of mod when I was asked over 15 years ago and still have people on here who intensely dislike me. If you got to see the moderator’s forum, your jaw would probably hit the floor. We don’t all exactly sit around sipping soy lattes together. In fact, in the past, moderators have had fist fights at meet ups due to irremediable differences of opinion. Others have ragequit their modship in tantrums that would impress a toddler. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea?

Deja Boo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182140#Comment_119182140

...if that is the level of maturity of those put in charge of our personal data and keeping the peace, it doesn't foster much confidence in the system, now does it?

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182171#Comment_119182171

Exactly the concern I was getting at.

The moderation and engagement issues across the site are then also partly the result of those issues too and the number of fora these people are responsible for (the length of some of the lists under some names are ridiculous).

But back to the core issue, it's a big concern that Boards has empowered such individuals with such access to other users data. It might have been OK back in the days when this was a small community run Quake forum, but not in an era of privacy concerns, data protection, social media bullying, and regulatory requirements, and where Boards itself has become a company with formal obligations in these areas.

My take would be, from the limited insight I see of the office workings as a normal user, is that like everything else, the owners have taken the cheap way out here rather than having actual staff in these roles that are accountable to the company and who the company are responsible for, but in doing so have exposed not just the company but their users to potentially serious problems as well.

Spear

Just so there's no doubt here, mods have no access to personal data, no IPs, no email addresses, no server logs, no PMs, nothing private or identifying like that.

And with 310'ish mods, there's bound to be a few flare-ups/tempers/disagreements, through sheer weight of numbers alone, just a with any large group of people.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182249#Comment_119182249

What about the "higher level" volunteers - cmods, admins etc? Does that hold true for those roles as well.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182276#Comment_119182276

It's the same for cmods. Admins could see more in the past, but I don't know what the specifics are now with Vanilla. Given Vanillas lack of functionality, I can only assume it's less.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182290#Comment_119182290

Then my point still holds - if indeed volunteer admins have that level of access.

I take your point re Vanilla and the effect I've read it's had on mod tools etc, but that just goes to my larger point too. Corner-cutting leading in part to problems running this site in an appropriate manner.

Pussyhands

Having it on does mean that no other users or mods can see your profile page with your list of posts and of threads started by you. Mods are unable to view your history of infractions or warnings (if you have any).

Why do mods need to view your history of infractions or warnings?

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182505#Comment_119182505

Presumably so that they can judge if a potential offence/report is a habitual thing or a one-off when deciding how to deal with it.

smuggler.ie

Was not aware that previous "convictions" are reflected anywhere on users profile (i mean publicly exposed part of it). Is it?

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119183068#Comment_119183068

They're not and never were. The closest thing is if someone went manually trying to count up the cards on a posts that received one, assuming the post was left public. But that's not an option under Vanilla now.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119183385#Comment_119183385

I'm confused. If mods need profiles to be public to view warnings history, how does it now allow general users to view them also?

And if mods can view them while general users can't, that must mean there must be some kind of security group mods are assigned, in Vanilla...why not just edit that security group to allow them to view history for private profiles too?

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119183453#Comment_119183453

Vanilla uses a very simplistic all or nothing system to set a profile public or not. There's no granularity, so while the past warnings can be seen by mods only, but once the profile is set to private, the entire thing is private for everyone.

Captain Barnacles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058248234/private-profile-option

So whats your opinion on Google empoyees that also work as boards mods accessing private files in users gmail/drive accounts ?

Quite serious yes ?

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119187700#Comment_119187700

wtf???

MakersMark

Do you think that unique user numbers will drop when you make this change?

I think they probably will.

Beasty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119187750#Comment_119187750

A re-reg troll - just ignore them. Only trying to stir things around here

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119187700#Comment_119187700

I know Beasty has said this is a re-reg troll but I think @Boards.ie: Niamh needs to address it.

Beasty

To be clear, only Admins can access any personal info, and I am certainly not an employee of Google

The poster was very clearly wanting to stir things. After posting that they sent me a message telling me what a massive list of accounts they continue to run on this site. I am one of the few people that can do some checks and yes a few accounts have now been banned on the back of that. If there was any truth in what they said in that post then there would have been moderators lining up to ban those accounts

Leg End Reject

I wasn't at all implying you were snooping @Beasty.

Merely suggesting Niamh addressed it as lot of us have lost faith in Boards since the move to Vanilla after the reappearance of deleted PMs, the absence of a privacy notice, data protection concerns as the server is in Canada, visible emails debacle etc.

Overheal

Users should be able to few their mod actions too.

Shield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119201089#Comment_119201089

Agreed. Didn’t know you couldn’t on Vanilla.

Chips Lovell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182213#Comment_119182213

I think if you made all admins and mods employees, the site wouldn't be financially viable. If you're uncomfortable with them being volunteers, don't use the site. Problem solved.

Heighway61

Don't think you can preclude yourself from the law because you can't afford to obey the law.

If not a part of Boards, are Admins a defacto third party? Has the relationship been formalised since GDPR?

If I did a foi request, would I be able to see anything a mod has said about me?

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119204412#Comment_119204412

No, because FOI only applies to public bodies.

I'm gonna suggest that it should not be a warning / ban offence for calling some account out for being a troll. The report function is beyond broken. Trolls are all over this site.

Edit - thanks for whoever booted that Sam lad.

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119238785#Comment_119238785

Read the thread, it was raised on Day 1

Hotblack Desiato

Is this like removing automatic saving of drafts? They say the change will be made and then nothing happens.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119241015#Comment_119241015

This is very true. There are certain posters that only seem to exist to post contrarian views, belittle or bait others, and do so repeatedly across varying topics to the point that it becomes obvious and predictable.

Yet they go completely ignored by the mods who will sanction others for far less, often because they seem to disagree with the content more than anything.

My own take is that it's akin to radio talk shows having callers on who make outlandish or off the wall comments that then prompts others to call in and argue with them.

Given the state of this site these days it's probably a deliberate effort to try and retain the reduced traffic that remains.

RobertShaw8

Hi I can't post in different forums farming included

JP Liz V1

I miss my old pms

Shield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119257626#Comment_119257626

Hi. Try it now? There seems to be a lag between new users verifying their accounts and being able to post.