Members Only?

[indie]

Should the INTP Central forums be viewable by members only?

I was just reading Helios's thread: "Kinda Slow, a Little Paranoid" and wondering if it was even remotely feasible to make the INTP Central forum posts private. . . and more importantly, if it would be something we'd even want/care about. BTW, here (http://forums.intpcentral.com/showpost.php?p=81245&postcount=33) are my thoughts about it from this (http://forums.intpcentral.com/showthread.php?t=3236&page=1&pp=10) thread, to avoid redundancy. Just thought it should be posted as a "suggestion" rather than a "rant and rave." More information, please.

*EDIT: the poll says "forums" but I meant "forum" Err. . . never mind.

:)

[melancholeric]

I'm all for it. Maybe not the whole board, but say, the local + rants and raves ( maybe mature section too ). Not the whole board because lurkers would want to see what this place is like before registering. We want more members, right?

We may want to talk about some things without having the whole world know about it.

[ Seeing my life story appear on google results ( quite a few times, actually ) when I entered a phrase from one song made me feel just a tad bit uncomfortable.... Of course, it was my choice to post it. ]

[flan2dave]

Seems like a good idea, wouldn't cause any inconveniences as far as I can tell (unless you log off regularly and like to be able to browse private sections without logging in). You could say somewhere in the forum rules that all the forums can only be accessed once you register.

[Bugeater]

I'm all for it.

[Solo]

I have nothing against the lurkers. Maybe they want to read instead of posting. I know I read more than I post.

[Star]

Prophetic voice: It'd be the death of this place, mark my words.

[jimkopelli]

Leave it open. If you're posting stuff you're ashamed of posting, what difference does it make if only a few people see it or the whole internet? Futhermore, if you're ashamed of posting something, why are you even posting it?

[Lee]

Why would not everone in the world not want to bask in our words of wisdom, I say bring forth the outsiders and allow them to taste the sweet nector of our thoughts... or something like that anyway.

[Heather Harrison]

When I find a new forum, I like to lurk a bit and see what the culture is like. This one made me very comfortable very quickly, but I might not have found that out if the board was entirely private.

I do agree, however, with the suggestion that some boards be made private. Those that deal with especially private and/or adult-oriented topics should probably be members-only.

Heather

[Claverhouse]

How do you know this place doesn't already have one ? :ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:

Invitation only.


Claverhouse :ph34r:

[Solo]

How do you know this place doesn't already have one ? :ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:

Invitation only.


Claverhouse :ph34r:

I knew you guys were hiding something from me.

[Vagabond]

So you just feel safer when only 1000 strangers read your posts, but no more... makes sense. I am against.

[jimkopelli]

How do you know this place doesn't already have one ? :ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:

Invitation only.


Claverhouse :ph34r:
I know of the secret... but I am not party to it.http://forums.intpcentral.com/images/smilies/ninja.gif

(ask your friendly neighborhood moderator...)

[Trolsk]

Members only links could be an idea. Also the member section.

[CoHo]

I like it open, I find not being able to view the posts on a forum a bit pretentious as I like to see what the meat is before I hand out my email address.

That and I don’t see the difference between a lurker and a registered lurker.

[misutii]

i wouldn't want the whole forum private, but 2 or so private forums would be cool

[Helios]

http://intpcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=81328#post81328

[Claverhouse]

OK, but to prove sincerity, only members with over 5000 posts will be admitted.



Claverhouse :ph34r:

[Solo]

OK, but to prove sincerity, only members with over 5000 posts will be admitted.



Claverhouse :ph34r:

And who would that be?

[Helios]

Well I think for better or wosrse we have inspired action, look:


Guest 0450am Registering













yeah I am still keeping an eye on 'em

[Boneca]

Hm, yeah. I know it doesn't really matter because anyone can register, but I also feel a bit uncomfortable with the fact that anyone can google my user name and get up my posts. (Unfortunately, I use the same user name in some other places - my fault, I suppose.)

[garak]

I strongly dislike the idea.

Who cares about people seeing certain posts? Do other people not have sensitive sides too? Does hiding things really accomplish anything good?

[Sam172]

All private :D

[Swift]

Perhaps only the arcade and adult section.

[tragula]

I think that INTP has a tendency to secrecy. But aren't we "supposed" to share our ideas with the world?

Of course there is an upside and a downside to both approaches.

I think people just need to be a little careful if they are concerned about their privacy.

I think people should be wary about posting any art or poetry or stuff that they feel proprietary about.

As to ideas. Well sure there could be people in here swiping them like screen-writers or entrepreneurs, etc. Personally I think that would be sort of a good thing. Let's face it. Ideas are cheap.

Now if it's really the spooks who are spying on us... Well then they've probably got our phones tapped and cameras hidden in our refrigerators already! :-)

[Mariel]

Is it possible to create the option for individual users to make their posts visible to members only?

[Lee]

Is it possible to create the option for individual users to make their posts visible to members only?That would be extremely confusing for non-members reading a conversation, best stick to private messaging if that is what you want.

[Lee]

What we should be able to do is colour code threads by thier seriousness when they are started, this way we could filter depending on what mood we were in and it could stop people moaning about the quality of threads and interesting discussion.

[Clara]

Lee - you're joking, right ?

I agree with Vagabond and garak : if you don't *know* that you are, really and truly, posting in a public place... and that this would be just as true if there were "members only" fora...
Then the creation of members only fora would be a disservice to you, encouraging you in your belief in illusions. :P

The open quality of this place is what drew me to join. Ask shum about her experience in applying to join an ENFP group. ( shum, I'm glad you stuck with us, instead. ;) )

edit : Okay. Throwing subtlety overboard. Geoff has posted, on the next page, something that maybe not everyone has considered ( nevermind whether or not ya'll will ever become parents... please, read his post with a mental "wide view" lens. <_< )

[Mariel]

Just a thought for those who feel uncomfortable with the possibility of their more personal posts coming up on search engines. Non-members could join if they wanted to read the whole thread. However, I agree with Vagabond that it wouldn't accomplish much in the way of privacy as this forum has a thousand lurking "members".

[Lee]

Lee - you're joking, right ? *waiting to hear, because that's not entirely rhetorical* ( I would be very grateful if everyone could just remember which forum they're posting in... because I'm starting to get really cranky over that.I can't see it doing any harm, I have seen various silly threads and various people complaining about them, usually because they are not in the mood for that kind of discussion, if they could simply press a filter button that seperated serious, ordinary and frivilous threads then there would be no problems. They should simply not go to forums and threads that have that content but this does not seem to work, so another solution might be helpful.

If there was this functionality and it was fairly simple to implement (if?) then I can't see it being a problem, although from my perspective I agree, it is not necassary, but then again either is the arcade.

note: I use the main webpage and new posts option regulary and often do not even ackknowledge what forum I am in.

["InsertNameHere"]

I only joined this site because I was able to test out the forums before registering. As long as my personal info is not shared with anyone, I don't give a damn

[indie]

I don't know if anyone read the link posted under the poll, but the "privacy" issue referred to was not whether people get to read the forum and decide whether or not to join, but that Google indexes every single post. That's all. :) There are a lot of communities that have the boards/part of the boards viewable by members only and not by Google.

Anyway, I was merely being curious about how your (members') consciousness of the public-nature of this site affects your willingness to post certain things. Like, about whether you would feel more comfortable posting something about "INTP feelings on abortion" if you knew that you weren't standing up on a metaphorical podium and speaking into a microphone that was broadcasting all over the world.

[Geoff]

I don't know if anyone read the link posted under the poll, but the "privacy" issue referred to was not whether people get to read the forum and decide whether or not to join, but that Google indexes every single post. That's all. :) There are a lot of communities that have the boards/part of the boards viewable by members only and not by Google.

Anyway, I was merely being curious about how your (members') consciousness of the public-nature of this site affects your willingness to post certain things. Like, about whether you would feel more comfortable posting something about "INTP feelings on abortion" if you knew that you weren't standing up on a metaphorical podium and speaking into a microphone that was broadcasting all over the world.

I think the referencing, and the fact that that referencing will persist for years worries me. I have been able to find stuff I posted to a discussion a site in 1990 (!). If 15 years can go by and it is still there, how will members here feel if some of their are more, hmm, interesting comments are later read by the children they do not yet have.

Sure, some may not care at all. But I would like to see the site well publicised but not every post google searchable.

-Geoff

[garak]

IIRC, most times I've found INTP Central via google, it was a forum post. No google indexing = harder to find us.

[indie]

Well, if we want INTP Central to appear high on the list when the letters "INTP" are googled (as they would be by newbie INTPers), all we need to do is post a link the site on our own sites. Lots of us have sites, and as far as I know, the # of links to a particular site is how Google determines page rank.

[garak]

Google isn't quite that simple or predictable, though. It likes content, and forums have lots of it. The main page doesn't have too much.

[Claverhouse]

If you don't want Google seeing your pages, you can disable it ( or any other entity ) in the robots.txt.

But I can't conceive why ( except for one powerful presence... ) you would want to. People obviously get here through Google etc. And even if you stop all the search engines from listing stuff here, it will still be visible to the sinister agencies and hackers; and still be found on Wayback; and still be around in cyberspace as long as cyberspace exists. And if any part is converted into radio waves will be travelling ever onward to the furthest regions of the universe forever.



Claverhouse :ph34r: