I think it's time we had a bit of a rethink on our privacy measures.
As it stands, things are pretty unclear. New members can't even see certain parts of the board until they've made 10 posts, but that information isn't presented to them when they sign up – or if it is, it isn't clear enough, because we regularly hear cases of them being confused about it. The latest example is a couple of people we met at Mind the Pom who would like to stay in touch with us but can't see our Meetups & Conventions sub-forum. Then there are things like not being able to post links and images, which makes sense as an anti-spam tool but, again, isn't made particularly clear to new members.
First things first: if there's any way we can allow recently-joined members araneahighwind and sephicells to bypass that restriction, I'd appreciate it. I can vouch for their identities having both met them in person and interacted with them on Twitter (including about this very issue).
Second: I'd like to hear what people think about the current restrictions in general. I think it's a shame that we're working hard to attract new members while at the same time hiding content from them. At present everything in General except General Gaming and Entertainment is being hidden. Why, exactly? I'm sure there was a discussion about it at some point but I can't find it because our search feature isn't great. I know there are some concerns about stalkers but to be honest, a determined stalker isn't going to be put off by having to make ten posts, and the best way to deter more opportunistic "stalkers" is to be selective about what information you post in public. Ultimately, barring a couple of sub-forums like the Donator's Domain, this is a public forum.
If it were up to me I'd make everything except the aforementioned and perhaps News, Politics, Religion, & Debate public, but I'm probably in the minority there, so I'm hoping we can come up with a compromise that is both better and a lot more clear than what we have now. Thanks.
As it stands, things are pretty unclear. New members can't even see certain parts of the board until they've made 10 posts, but that information isn't presented to them when they sign up – or if it is, it isn't clear enough, because we regularly hear cases of them being confused about it. The latest example is a couple of people we met at Mind the Pom who would like to stay in touch with us but can't see our Meetups & Conventions sub-forum. Then there are things like not being able to post links and images, which makes sense as an anti-spam tool but, again, isn't made particularly clear to new members.
First things first: if there's any way we can allow recently-joined members araneahighwind and sephicells to bypass that restriction, I'd appreciate it. I can vouch for their identities having both met them in person and interacted with them on Twitter (including about this very issue).
Second: I'd like to hear what people think about the current restrictions in general. I think it's a shame that we're working hard to attract new members while at the same time hiding content from them. At present everything in General except General Gaming and Entertainment is being hidden. Why, exactly? I'm sure there was a discussion about it at some point but I can't find it because our search feature isn't great. I know there are some concerns about stalkers but to be honest, a determined stalker isn't going to be put off by having to make ten posts, and the best way to deter more opportunistic "stalkers" is to be selective about what information you post in public. Ultimately, barring a couple of sub-forums like the Donator's Domain, this is a public forum.
If it were up to me I'd make everything except the aforementioned and perhaps News, Politics, Religion, & Debate public, but I'm probably in the minority there, so I'm hoping we can come up with a compromise that is both better and a lot more clear than what we have now. Thanks.