Rules & Guests

[aaeiyn]

Feb 16, 2020 16:19:35 GMT -8 Joshua Farrell said:

aaeiyn, my biff isn't regarding privacy of members, it is regarding forum administrators who purposely hide everything, even the items that should be public. Rules regarding conduct on a forum, forum announcements that are meant to inform, and the like, should be public and not hidden.

I do agree with this, and my boards do offer this. I am very open about how my board is going to work. I have two accounts and use my secondary, as a shield, for extra privacy. And tend to use that, for posting important information.

Feb 16, 2020 16:19:35 GMT -8 Joshua Farrell said:

Members themselves have privacy settings for their profiles. Infact, they have global settings that they can turn on and off through their global accounts, on what they by default to be private, like birth dates as an example. The individual user can use settings to make their profiles private to certain groups of people.

I don't think they can turn off their Posts from being viewed from Guests, can they? As in, I make a Subforum public, and Members have posted in there. I am still new to Proboards. I don't mind Guests seeing Topic titles, but I just don't want them reading what my Members are saying because they're using real life images and/or their names are displayed, from their Profiles, there. IDK if I'm making sense...

Feb 16, 2020 16:19:35 GMT -8 Joshua Farrell said:

Now, don't confuse my insistence of what I prefer, as something that people must do. I get why Forum Administrators decide what boards they want people to be members of to see (I am a Professional Community Administrator, so I know a thing or two). The thing I don't get, is why everything must remain private, when the best way to get registrations in general, is to have certain things public that you want all new and future members to know about, when it comes to being on your forum.

Not so much taking your word as law, just helping to have a more open mind (on both our ends). You learn from me, and I learn from you.

Feb 16, 2020 16:19:35 GMT -8 Joshua Farrell said:

Forum Rules, for example, shouldn't be just a item that members agree to follow, it should be something that is public, so that people in general (guests, members or otherwise) know what to expect when they are on the forum. Along the same lines, if a forum is almost entirely private (or private in general), I also expect to be able to find information on WHY the forum is private, so I know what to expect, if I do decide to sign up, to see if I am truly interested.

Absolutely agree. And I do have that information readily available. And, like I said, the content is "private" moreso to respect the privacy, of my Members. If there's a way to view Topics without seeing the Members posting in there, as a Guest, I'm more than happy to oblige.

Feb 16, 2020 16:19:35 GMT -8 Joshua Farrell said:

I am not trying to put you down, but I want to clarify why I prefer to be able to see some basic stuff on a forum, in which those items actually do impact whether or not a guest will sign up.

For the most part, we seem to agree. Like I said, I am still new to Proboards and am learning how to be more productive with my boards. I'll never compromise the privacy of my Members, though.

That's all

[aaeiyn]

Feb 16, 2020 17:07:02 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

aaeiyn with all due respect, ProBoards does provide Forum rules for all to be respected in: Community Guidelines.
ProBoards also protects all member's privacy from guests – click on any visible shown forum user without being logged-in and their profile with personal details is never disclosed.

Again, there are additional Rules that I add onto on my Boards because they're not found on ProBoard's Guidelines. I understand actually clicking on the names of Members doesn't grant you access to their Profiles, on the Boards. However you can still see their usernames and Icons, if the Subforum allows Guests to view those Threads (and if Members posted in there). Likewise, with those names showing up (some Members may not even know about Invisible Mode) they do appear on the Stats, below the board. Unless there's a way to turn off the names appearing down there (while keeping the Post Count), that IDK about, yet 'cause I am new to these boards.

Feb 16, 2020 17:07:02 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

---

I shared my thoughts sought by NanDee by the way, not you.

With all due respect, I merely just added more to that subject matter. According to the Rules of ProBoard's, I did nothing wrong.

Feb 16, 2020 17:07:02 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

This is obvious since you do not advertise your forum on here

Well, I am new, that's why I'm here. To produce a better Board and broaden my mind, to new ideas.

[Retread]

Feb 16, 2020 5:20:07 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

ProBoards already have the Terms of Service, all users should respect and abide by.
Therefore, alike most other forum administrators, little point repeating this and boring anyone.

Interesting point of view, but I dare say it's not universally applicable.



While there can be some plain-language repetition of items already in the ProBoards ToS, Rules, Guidelines, and Standard Operating Procedures generally go beyond the ProBoards Tos.

And a well written set of Rules/Guidelines need not be 'boring'.

[Retread]

Feb 15, 2020 0:19:52 GMT -8 aaeiyn said:

I am incredibly guilty of TMI, but I don't want there to be any confusion, on where I stand. I do have my Rules and stuff broken down (kind of) in three separate Threads. I have a "Rules" thread, a "F.A.Q." thread and an "About/Privacy Policy" Thread. To which Guests can read, at their leisure. Without having to read all of it, under one giant thread.

Avoiding a singular "wall of text" is important. There are other things you can use to augment the concept of bite-sizing your rules, like lists, use of bold for headlines, other formatting, use of links, etc.

• Keeping headlines brief will convey the basic intent. Just one or two short sentences.
  
• List items are used to separate the different rules.
  
• Links can be used to take a user to a separate area where a rule is explained in detail.
  
• The separate area could be a later post in the same thread, or a different thread.
  
• Segregating the bullet points from the details allows the user to absorb the information at their own pace.
  

You have choices in how to present your rules, but however you go, avoid making them look like you rule with an iron-fist.

[Derek‽]

Feb 16, 2020 16:54:34 GMT -8 aaeiyn said:

I don't think they can turn off their Posts from being viewed from Guests, can they? As in, I make a Subforum public, and Members have posted in there. I am still new to Proboards. I don't mind Guests seeing Topic titles, but I just don't want them reading what my Members are saying because they're using real life images and/or their names are displayed, from their Profiles, there. IDK if I'm making sense...

No, members don’t have the ability to restrict who can view their own posts.

To be perfectly honest, it isn’t your place to protect the privacy of your members to the degree you’re doing it. ProBoards protects what needs to be protected from guests and everything else is the responsibility of the users to be wisely judicious in what they choose to disclose publicly. In this case, “publicly” refers to their username, display name, avatar, signature, and whatever content they post in threads.

If your forum is private for a close-knit group, fine, feel free to close it off to the world. If, however, your forum is open to new members and you hope for it to grow, then your approach isn’t really doing much to protect anyone’s privacy, nor will it inspire many to join and participate if they can’t get an accurate feel for the community (no, board layout and descriptions are not a valid substitute for thread substance). You’ll really have to choose one over the other if you hope to be successful, I’m afraid.

[Retread]

Feb 17, 2020 12:28:01 GMT -8 Derek‽ said:

To be perfectly honest, it isn’t your place to protect the privacy of your members to the degree you’re doing it. ProBoards protects what needs to be protected from guests and everything else is the responsibility of the users to be wisely judicious in what they choose to disclose publicly. In this case, “publicly” refers to their username, display name, avatar, signature, and whatever content they post in threads.

Pretty much that. A recommendation regarding the individual's choice of how much to divulge in public, accompanying the rules, would make sense. But common sense already guides most people in this regard.

Also, depending on the way registration is handled, the owner of a forum may be creating the illusion of privacy. If registration is open to all and doesn't require staff approval, anyone can join and view the members-only boards.

Feb 17, 2020 12:28:01 GMT -8 Derek‽ said:

If your forum is private for a close-knit group, fine, feel free to close it off to the world. If, however, your forum is open to new members and you hope for it to grow, then your approach isn’t really doing much to protect anyone’s privacy, nor will it inspire many to join and participate if they can’t get an accurate feel for the community (no, board layout and descriptions are not a valid substitute for thread substance). You’ll really have to choose one over the other if you hope to be successful, I’m afraid.

That is a special-case use which has its place. But it's very different in nature than a public forum.

Even when registration is closed and membership is offered by invitation only, the owner is the only one making the decision regarding who is invited. Unless all members are presented with the information of who might be invited to join, and are allowed to veto any prospects, they don't have full control over who can view their content.

---

We really have gone off on quite a tangent from the Original Post, though.

I still agree very strongly with the ThreadStarter.  Hitting the new members with rules or requirements only after they've joined is discourteous.

[Retread]

Feb 18, 2020 7:04:18 GMT -8 Retread said:

I still agree very strongly with the ThreadStarter.  Hitting the new members with rules or requirements only after they've joined is discourteous.

Feb 18, 2020 18:12:58 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

^ But never as discourteous to approved members whom already had courage to be entirely honest in showing their prime A/S/L (Age or at least day & month/Sex/capital city or nearest city/town or county/province/state Location) basics?

Age:
ProBoards requires members to declare their date of birth. But that is set by default to hidden, which means not even the forum owner can see that unless the member elects to change their settings. This was necessary to comply with privacy laws.

Gender:
While this is a required field when creating a forum account, Other / Decline to State is a valid options. Further, each member has the option of setting their Gender Visibility to No. Which precludes everyone, including the forum owner from seeing their gender information.

Location:
ProBoards has no requirement for indicating location, in any way shape or form.

Courage:

You seem to favor using virtuous sounding words and statements such as Courage, True honesty stems from openness and transparency, etc. But where is the courage on the part of the forum owner?

Hiding behind flimsy excuses like:

Feb 16, 2020 5:20:07 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

ProBoards already have the Terms of Service, all users should respect and abide by.
Therefore, alike most other forum administrators, little point repeating this and boring anyone.

is the polar opposite of courage.

If you ambush your members with a welcome PM:

Feb 17, 2020 19:26:57 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

• All my newcomers are greeted with a welcome message and requires them to set their profile up properly within a month – else they are removed;

but fail to disclose that requirement publicly on the forum to guests, where is the "openness and transparency"?

It sounds as if you like to talk the talk regarding "True honesty" but don't actually walk the walk.

[wildmaven]

Feb 19, 2020 13:07:24 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

Nevertheless, is nice to know how easy it is to rattle your cage

Posting with the intent to rattle someone's cage really isn't appropriate forum behavior.

[onesmus]

You have to wait rules and you should have learned every thing about it

[aaeiyn]

Feb 18, 2020 7:04:18 GMT -8 Retread said:

We really have gone off on quite a tangent from the Original Post, though.

I still agree very strongly with the ThreadStarter.  Hitting the new members with rules or requirements only after they've joined is discourteous.

I most definitely agree. Private or Public Board, the Rules should be publicly displayed.

[onesmus]

I agree with the topic, maybe the admistrater has the reason for hiding the rules but for me it is better to read the rules before posting adicussion