Feedback For The Forum To Make It Safer

[r0ckyreed]

I wanted to share some thoughts to improve the forum given the recent number of new users being trolls.

Why can’t we make the forum private meaning that people cannot view things we say on this forum without first creating an account and if a user gets banned, they can no longer view the forum. 
 

I think this would protect forum users from having banned people from using information against Actualized forum members. In addition, I think it would help make forum users feel safe (for instance, fearing their boss or partner might view their posts).

This is just my thoughts on the matter. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with somebody who isn’t an approved forum member to have access to my posts and journals. Think of people in abusive relationships who post in their journals. What is stopping their perpetrator from viewing their post?

I think we need to have some safe guards against trolls and mentally insane people. They shouldn’t be able to have the ability and privilege to view our posts without being approved.

Edited Thursday at 11:51 AM by r0ckyreed

[Aaron p]

I suppose keeping it public is advantageous in the sense that it's open and honest. It's transparent. Not to mention the fact that the forum members are likely to dwindle if it's made private. Seeing other people posting is what could encourage more to join in. It also shows openly that there are real people really doing the work and helps them with stuff. 

[Joyboy]

I agree with your concerns about privacy and safety on the forum. These are really important points, especially given the sensitive nature of many discussions and personal sharing that happens in journals, I'm not worry about other posts in other sections. So we could consider:

• Anonymous posting options - Allow users to post journal entries without their username being visible, it will show something like "Anonymous member 195" etc.
• Member-only visibility - Journals only viewable by registered forum members.

[r0ckyreed]

You guys are missing my point. I’m not saying that each of our posts is private to each other. I’m saying that in order to view the forum, you would to have a registered approved account just like how you have to have one to make posts. Nothing would be different. The only difference is that we won’t have some bad characters who can causally view the forum and all of our posts without an account. We have thousands of unregistered users who casually view this forum each day. How do you know one of those thousands isn’t your boss or someone who is stalking you?

Edited Thursday at 02:11 PM by r0ckyreed

[Basman]

The forum is a resource. If you make it private for users only then you are depriving the internet of potentially useful information as well as this forum of potential new users. You argument is to essentially to cut all traffic.

If your posts are so sensitive, then you shouldn't be posting it on a public forum in the first place, is my first instinct. Certain discussion could perhaps be made users only but you generally should treat this as public space.