Can Admins see what a Forum Member Views?

[?anna?]

Forum URL: gibbysplace.freeforums.net/forum


One of the forum admins said it was possible to follow where a member goes on a forum and claims to have done this. If this is possible without added software how is it done?

[mmhmm]

Anyone can see a poster's previous posts by going to that poster's Profile and clicking on Recent Posts. That would tell you where that poster has been posting. I have no idea if there's a plug-in that does this, but I know checking Recent Posts would give that information.

[Brian]

Hi, ?anna?.

You can see what a user has posted through the method mentioned in the previous post but you wouldn't be able to track the exact pages that they viewed on the forum.

[?anna?]

Jan 12, 2016 11:29:41 GMT -8 mmhmm said:

Anyone can see a poster's previous posts by going to that poster's Profile and clicking on Recent Posts. That would tell you where that poster has been posting. I have no idea if there's a plug-in that does this, but I know checking Recent Posts would give that information.

Of course most forums such as this one allow you to view the previous posts of a member, if you're a member too.

The talk here is about an admin ( and maybe staff function ) function which allows following what the member ( or possibly a visitor with IP identification only ) viewed. If for example I viewed someone's personal profile + 2 other threads here without posting could this "viewing only" be monitored by an admin or staff here?

[?anna?]

Jan 12, 2016 11:35:59 GMT -8 Brian said:

Hi, ?anna? .

You can see what a user has posted through the method mentioned in the previous post but you wouldn't be able to track the exact pages that they viewed on the forum.

So that means Admins are not capable of monitoring what someone, member or visitor, simply views?

Can we rule out special "CIA spyware" too?

[Brian]

That's correct. The closest available thing is the "# viewing" counts next to board names and the list of users viewing a particular board in the Board Information & Statistics below the thread list of each respective board.

[?anna?]

Jan 12, 2016 11:51:28 GMT -8 Brian said:

That's correct. The closest available thing is the "# viewing" counts next to board names and the list of users viewing a particular board in the Board Information & Statistics below the thread list of each respective board.

Are the identities revealed or kept secret?

I imagine a sharp eyed admin ( or even a member ) can follow what someone is viewing, if only that person is on the forum at the time and no one else.

[Michael]

Jan 12, 2016 11:59:49 GMT -8 ?anna? said:

Jan 12, 2016 11:51:28 GMT -8 Brian said:

That's correct. The closest available thing is the "# viewing" counts next to board names and the list of users viewing a particular board in the Board Information & Statistics below the thread list of each respective board.

Are the identities revealed or kept secret?

I imagine a sharp eyed admin ( or even a member ) can follow what someone is viewing, if only that person is on the forum at the time and no one else.

There is no way for an admin to determine exactly who it is but if you were the only member viewing things on the whole forum I suppose someone could watch what you're doing, however it wouldnt really be "instant" and as soon as you're off a board there isn't a way to tell. There also isn't any way to really see what threads you've viewed unless you have all the view count numbers memorized (and even then if you have your forum open it could be a bot that caused the view, not even the user you're "tracking").

[m2marsh]

Jan 12, 2016 12:12:50 GMT -8 Michael said:

Jan 12, 2016 11:59:49 GMT -8 ?anna? said:

Are the identities revealed or kept secret?

I imagine a sharp eyed admin ( or even a member ) can follow what someone is viewing, if only that person is on the forum at the time and no one else.

There is no way for an admin to determine exactly who it is but if you were the only member viewing things on the whole forum I suppose someone could watch what you're doing, however it wouldnt really be "instant" and as soon as you're off a board there isn't a way to tell. There also isn't any way to really see what threads you've viewed unless you have all the view count numbers memorized (and even then if you have your forum open it could be a bot that caused the view, not even the user you're "tracking").

That method does work at lower than just the whole forum. You can tell who is in each major board underneath the forum too.

[Michael]

Jan 12, 2016 12:41:51 GMT -8 m2marsh said:

Jan 12, 2016 12:12:50 GMT -8 Michael said:

There is no way for an admin to determine exactly who it is but if you were the only member viewing things on the whole forum I suppose someone could watch what you're doing, however it wouldnt really be "instant" and as soon as you're off a board there isn't a way to tell. There also isn't any way to really see what threads you've viewed unless you have all the view count numbers memorized (and even then if you have your forum open it could be a bot that caused the view, not even the user you're "tracking").

That method does work at lower than just the whole forum. You can tell who is in each major board underneath the forum too.

Oh I understand that, my whole forum comment was just about if there was only one member currently on the whole forum you could see what they were looking at on the board level. You can't tell who is in each board if there are multiple members on the forum at the same time, you can only guess.

[m2marsh]

Jan 12, 2016 12:53:28 GMT -8 Michael said:

Jan 12, 2016 12:41:51 GMT -8 m2marsh said:

That method does work at lower than just the whole forum. You can tell who is in each major board underneath the forum too.

Oh I understand that, my whole forum comment was just about if there was only one member currently on the whole forum you could see what they were looking at on the board level. You can't tell who is in each board if there are multiple members on the forum at the same time, you can only guess.

gotcha. So if there aren't very many people on the forum, you can sorta track where they are. So to the original poster, the admins can kind of track you that way, but it would be very difficult if there are very many people on the forum at the same time.

[Michael]

Jan 12, 2016 12:55:59 GMT -8 m2marsh said:

Jan 12, 2016 12:53:28 GMT -8 Michael said:

Oh I understand that, my whole forum comment was just about if there was only one member currently on the whole forum you could see what they were looking at on the board level. You can't tell who is in each board if there are multiple members on the forum at the same time, you can only guess.

gotcha. So if there aren't very many people on the forum, you can sorta track where they are. So to the original poster, the admins can kind of track you that way, but it would be very difficult if there are very many people on the forum at the same time.

Exactly. Most of the time it would be guesses at best. There is no way of absolutely knowing exactly what someone viewed or didn't with certainty unless they're the only person on the forum and you have a photographic memory! 

[Gibby]

Jan 12, 2016 13:02:02 GMT -8 Michael said:

Jan 12, 2016 12:55:59 GMT -8 m2marsh said:

gotcha. So if there aren't very many people on the forum, you can sorta track where they are. So to the original poster, the admins can kind of track you that way, but it would be very difficult if there are very many people on the forum at the same time.

Exactly. Most of the time it would be guesses at best. There is no way of absolutely knowing exactly what someone viewed or didn't with certainty unless they're the only person on the forum and you have a photographic memory! 

so basically anyone claiming they can track members movements on their forum with absolute certainty is telling porkie pies .

[T.C.]

Jan 13, 2016 11:36:49 GMT -8 Gibby said:

Jan 12, 2016 13:02:02 GMT -8 Michael said:

Exactly. Most of the time it would be guesses at best. There is no way of absolutely knowing exactly what someone viewed or didn't with certainty unless they're the only person on the forum and you have a photographic memory! 

so basically anyone claiming they can track members movements on their forum with absolute certainty is telling porkie pies 

They sure are. The only thing we can see is what board they are/were viewing.