POLL: Permissions Change: Member Locations Board

[Meadow Whisper (Natasha)]

Due to a recent incident, the access permissions for the Member Locations board have been changed.  Previously, the board was visible to all registered members, preventing guest access, but anyone who registered an account could immediately access it.  Normally, this isn't an issue, but we've recently had an incident where someone registered an account and contacted other members of the site privately, based on their location posts, with no posts or community participation, and no intent of being an active member of the site.

To ensure the safety of all of you, and to prevent this from happening in the future, the Member Locations board can now only be accessed once a post is made.  It doesn't actually have to count toward the user's post count, it can be an intro post, but a member must make a post before they may view the Member Locations board.  This should help protect posts there, without inconveniencing new members of the site who actually want to participate here.

[Daniel A. Skirtandzy]

Sounds like a good idea.

My one thought would be, will it be just one post with this? I'd think that if someone wanted to, they could easily post some quick bio, gain access, and do whatever. If it were something like 5-10, it would require someone to mingle on the site more. Just my 2¢...

[Sleek]

I think it should be more posts, so we get to know the person more before they see where we live.

[Mythic .w.]

I agree with the couple of posts here.

Maybe it could be one of the boards that unlock whenever a person gets out of the "New Member" status?

[Meadow Whisper (Natasha)]

Well, the main reason I didn't do that is because postcounts accumulate somewhat slowly here, and the Member Locations board is a big bonus for members who are legitimately active on the site.  For most new members, it takes close to a week to unlock the Spam board (which opens at 10 posts, the next level from New Member), and for some, it can take several weeks to get there.  That's a long time to open up such a useful section.

The idea here is to prevent creepy lurkers from finding out who's near them.  We screen every new member who joins, looking for obvious trouble signs, but it can take days to get around to it for some accounts.  In the meantime, even just an intro post is enough for the staff to make a rough judgement of a member's intentions and personality.

This is definitely open for discussion, and if the interest continues, we may make this a staff poll (which is usually how things are decided, FT functions as a parliamentary system) or a public policy poll (rare, but in this case, it'd be pretty useful).

[Saucy_Fox]

I honestly have to agree with the one post policy. Really, this should be a problem left to a user's common sense (though on a forum geared towards teenagers, I honestly didn't expect general internet-sense to be as common as it should be). Upping the post count requirement won't help. Yes, it does take -some- people a while to reach 10 posts, but for others it can take merely a day (I'm sure I myself could easily do it in a day if I wanted to).

Perhaps it should be clearly drawn out to users that it's a good idea to maintain some sense of anonymity. Now, I'm not saying that people shouldn't even let other people know their state, but knowing what information you give out is a good idea. I'm aware that I myself am vulnerable to somebody who wants to find my location, I certainly am not posting anonymously right now, but I know the risks, and based on the amount of information I'm certain I've made public, it seems small.

[Meadow Whisper (Natasha)]

A poll has been created, please vote in it!  Every site member is welcome to cast a vote, since this affects how other new members can read your posts in location-specific threads.

A final note:  The other reason I didn't already change it to require 10 counted posts is to prevent confusion; many new members want to find who's close to them, and the Member Locations board is often one of the first places a new member posts after creating an intro thread.  If it were invisible until a user reached a post count of ten, it's a reasonable assumption that a lot of new members would start their own location threads in the General board, causing confusion and increasing staff workload.  But, if a majority of poll voters want that to be the setting we use, we'll take it under advisement.

[Toranar]

A final note:  The other reason I didn't already change it to require 10 counted posts is to prevent confusion; many new members want to find who's close to them, and the Member Locations board is often one of the first places a new member posts after creating an intro thread.  If it were invisible until a user reached a post count of ten, it's a reasonable assumption that a lot of new members would start their own location threads in the General board, causing confusion and increasing staff workload.

If it'd be harder on you guys I'd be willing to help out. I sit on my computer all day anyways

But I'm inclined to go with like 5 posts, because you can make about that many just doing the spam games we have (destroy a wish and such), but 10 works too I guess.

Edit: Never mind... I'm an idiot. And need to pay more attention to details at 4 in the morning

Still for more like 5, but I guess just not doing spam games.

[Sly Shalashaska (Shinkawa)]

I say about 10 posts at least that way we know they are actually part of the community... Although I'm in another country I don't want just some random knowing where abouts.

[Cayne]

10 posts so they don't just make one useless post and then check it.

[copb.phoenix]

This is difficult. At any attachment, and I understand why.

If the concern for user safety is paramount, then make it the same as the spam board. That's actually where I've placed my vote because, well, in perfect fairness, he's not the least bit odd, but one of my closest friends from here was a lurker who I've never seen a post from. (Back when I was still a bit more inviting to be talked to, you know.)

The problem isn't these perfectly well intentioned people. The problem is the creeps, preds, and goodness knows what else would slip into the system. I hate saying that or admitting it. "However"...

"Think of the children" is exactly how a lot of liberties and freedom get taken away, and I'd hate to encourage any substantial restriction based entirely on that. I realize this site is a lot more narrow and sane to use that rationale inside of; however, it still disconcerts me that the same logic I abhor in a lot of places right now is the same one I'm using for any reason.

I think, that's really all of my opinion worth sharing.

[Saucy_Fox]

Welp, I know that now that there's a poll, the 10 post policy will obviously be chosen by the majority of users. When you let a people who don't entirely grasp a situation vote, they're obviously going to vote for whatever seems "most secure". Most probably aren't thinking that this is potentially (in my opinion, anyways) a waste of time.

The problem isn't the amount of posts before being able to see the Member Location board. It's the blatant stupidity of the users who let private information out and act shocked or even terrified when somebody is able to contact them.

[copb.phoenix]

The problem isn't the amount of posts before being able to see the Member Location board. It's the blatant stupidity of the users who let private information out and act shocked or even terrified when somebody is able to contact them.

Inexperience =/= stupidity.

Remember that this is Furry Teens. I would have a hard time demanding that a 13-year old magically understand why it is so important not to do this, and certainly, this isn't just about what people are giving out. Part of it is unsolicited and offensive contact being made.

Or even better yet, the fact that those boards exist so that we actually can contact each other? I mean, cripes, it'd be nice to find someone around 21 in my general area to hang out with that won't ask too many stupid questions about the fandom and would actually share some common interests.

Any of a dozen... Sometimes, I just, I don't even...

[Meadow Whisper (Natasha)]

Well, that's why we generally don't decide things by public vote, and we won't be blindly implementing the results of this poll.  The idea was to gauge how people felt about this issue, and the general sentiment seems to be a preference toward privacy, which is what I was hoping for.

Support for increasing the number of posts required to access the Member Locations board doesn't seem to be super-overwhelming, so we probably won't change it again unless we feel we have to.

[Mik]

I think it should be around 20-10 posts at least before they can view this board/topic. I suppose that would deter some people but it wouldn't really solve the problem. I think that if you really aren't comfortable with this kind of information being publically visible to anyone then you shouldn't post it in the first place.