Members email, and IP

[NSX05]

Nov 5, 2012 10:59:35 GMT -8 Ryan Roos said:

The only difference is you can't see the actual emails or IP addresses as they are private information.

So what you're telling me, is that all the previous versions of ProBoards have knowingly provided "private information" to staff members and you've only just decided at this point to remove that function. That isn't adding more functionality, that's taking it away.

[Ryan Roos]

Nov 5, 2012 12:07:52 GMT -8 NSX05 said:

Nov 5, 2012 10:59:35 GMT -8 Ryan Roos said:

The only difference is you can't see the actual emails or IP addresses as they are private information.

So what you're telling me, is that all the previous versions of ProBoards have knowingly provided "private information" to staff members and you've only just decided at this point to remove that function. That isn't adding more functionality, that's taking it away.

No. Laws regarding privacy are currently changing. In places like Europe things are becoming much stricter. And it looks like the US isn't too far behind.

Things change over time. We're keeping ahead of the curve. We're being proactive in protecting members who view those things as private. If the laws then change to match those opinions we'll already be compliant.

It's really just good practice to respect the privacy of people, regardless of the laws. That's what we're doing.

Edit: And we have added much in the way of security. And there are more options (more functionality) for IP addresses that don't exist in v4. Look at Shrikes screenshots, like I said in my last post.

[laundrylady]

I am going to miss the email access. I used it to send members birthday and holiday cards.

[Ryan Roos]

Nov 5, 2012 12:32:08 GMT -8 laundrylady said:

I am going to miss the email access. I used it to send members birthday and holiday cards.

Technically against the TOS, unless they gave you their emails for that purpose outside of ProBoards. You aren't supposed to gather personal information, including emails, for personal use. Just letting you know.

[Martyn Dale]

Nov 5, 2012 12:32:08 GMT -8 laundrylady said:

I am going to miss the email access. I used it to send members birthday and holiday cards.

Technically you should not even be doing that with how things are going. The members did not opt in for those emailings, the only opted in for forum emails (which can still be sent via mass emails)

That is the direction the privacy laws are taking us. It may seem overkill to most, but unfortunately we cannot decide which laws we like the look of and which we do not


Dylan: Its one thing to nicely debate a feature or decision, but there is no need to be provocative like that.

[Shorty]

Nov 5, 2012 12:32:08 GMT -8 laundrylady said:

I am going to miss the email access. I used it to send members birthday and holiday cards.

You can still do this. In the members section of the admin panel there is a place where you can email specific members,specific groups, staff, or all members.

Attachments:

[Ryan Roos]

Shorty is correct. In v5 we provide a way to contact members by email, without seeing their email.

[Kami]

Would it be against TOS, then, to ask members to willfully provide email addresses in a custom profile field, then? Obviously if people opt-out there's nothing I can do, but I use email addresses to keep track of events, and so on.

The IP address thing is frustrating. While I understand that it's beyond your control and that people can access via proxy anyway, it's caught a few cheaters in our game over the years to know that an IP address is being used repeatedly.

[Shorty]

You can search posts via IP. It will show all posts made with that particular IP.

[Ryan Roos]

Again shorty is correct. You can search posts by IP. Which is easier than looking at IPs. You can easily see multiple accounts by IP in v5. We've given you lots of tools.

[moonbeam]

Ryan, you still haven't answered about whether or not stopforumspam was going to be integrated somehow. I am certain I'd read that it was going to be, but that was months ago.

If so, how will that work?

[VS Admin]

We are already integrated with StopForumSpam. We query their databases constantly to block known spammers.

[Smokeygrey]

Good! That's reassuring!

Thanks, Patrick.

[moonbeam]

So, if someone who has been found on stopforumspam tries to register, what happens? How does your blocking prevent someone from attempting to create an account on my forum? Do you ban all of their info/global id before they even get to me?

Sorry if that seems like a dumb question.. But I automatically deny all accounts from places like China, Japan, India, Czechoslovakia, etc., even if they're NOT found on stopforumspam. I will no longer have the ability to see their origin though so I will end up with more spammers, I think. Or, are 3 octects enough to accurately determine origin? I'll have to check against some of my denied accounts..

[Shrike]

Nov 5, 2012 14:00:34 GMT -8 VS Admin said:

We are already integrated with StopForumSpam. We query their databases constantly to block known spammers.

How would we report a new spammer now though seeing as we don't have the whole IP to report. Will there be an option for this when banning or something along those lines?