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Important Changes at Empty Closets - Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Empty Closets Help and Feedback' started by Paul_UK, Jun 17, 2008.

  1. Blitzkrieg

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    I think the changes are a good step toward providing safety towards EC members, it's nerve racking that predators have gone from the streets to the computers. Naturally just as we have police on the streets we should have some form of protection the younger members who are just here to seek advice and meet people with similar interests. I'd much rather be a part of a site where it took time to become established than one where just anyone could come online with intentions to deceive others. Thanks Mods for taking the time to make changes for everyones safety. :slight_smile:
     
  2. charlie12

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    I support all these changes, 100%. It's a shame that one person has to ruin things for everyone else and that the mods have to take legal action. It's just more work for the mods, but I am so glad the mods are taking legal action in this and that they are making all these changes for everyones safety here at EC.
     
  3. darkestknight

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    Seriously, I don't mind about these changes. Links to Facebooks and all of those social networking sites should be not stated inside the user details - it'll be quite dangerous in terms of security, and many people are below age 18 are inside this place as well.

    I don't mind having my PM's all being scanned as long as they keep it secret and not leaked out to the forum too.

    It's for everyone's greater good. I admit that I like that place so much, I don't mind making this place safer for everyone too!: D
     
  4. interstella

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    When will these changes come into place?
     
  5. CrimsonThunder

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    Lawl. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
  6. Helen

    Helen Guest

    I agree with LOVEjames, a few posts back. I don't have any issue with the PM logging, because I would imagine that it's mainly for reporting reasons, as James stated.

    It is a real shame that somebody had to go and spoil things, but if it means that we'll all be safer, then I'm not complaining. ^_^
     
  7. joeyconnick

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    Just to clear something up: the mods are not taking legal action. They're taking precautionary actions (advised by lawyers) to avoid legal actions, really.
     
  8. Paul_UK

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    In answer to a few of the points raised:

    As Martin has said, the criteria for established member status is still being finalised, and actually going through the member list is helping us to shape that. Whether there is a minimum post limit for applying is also being considered. There does need to be enough posts on the forum for us to form a reasonable opinion, so a figure of 10 or 20 isn't going to work, however it may not need to be as high as 100. If the posts to get to any threshold are trivial ones in Fun and Games they obviously won't give us much to work on. Quality, not quantity! :wink:

    With the PM logging, we obviously will not be looking at them all. We will be looking at them if we suspect something untoward is happening, and we will probably to spot checks of say 50 or 100 recent PMs (maybe displayed without sender and recipient names) sometimes. We will not be revealing any information in them outside the mod team.

    In some ways this is similar to how we review the chatroom logs. We don't read it all (that would be way too tedious), but we do scan for inappropriate stuff, and we do look at problematic discussions in detail.

    None of your existing PMs will be lost when the logging system is introduced. All that will happen is that all PMs sent from that date will also be copied to the logs. I will probably add a message onto the PM sending page saying that they are logged and may be see read by site staff.

    With regard to timescales, that is not fixed yet. We should have a better idea in a few days, as I will be looking at the technical changes needed (using a copy of the site on a test server) this weekend. Once we know what is needed (whether custom code needs to be written etc) we will have a better idea. If the technical changes can be achieved with existing settings and add-ons then we could be looking at the end of June or early July. I will update the announcement thread when we know more. :thumbsup:
     
  9. Beebo

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    I think we should be able to delete a comment someone has posted on our webpage. What do you think?
     
  10. SamAlex728

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    we can
    check the box next to it, scroll down, make sure the drop-down box is on delete, and hit ok
     
  11. Paul_UK

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    I think you can also set your preferences so that you approve comments before they appear, but I'm not sure about that.
     
  12. moonlight

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    I think that these are very reasonable changes, and anything that will keep the members of the forum safe works for me.
    I just hope that people wont start spamming in order to get a higher post number in order to get Established Member status.
     
  13. TriBi

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    ^ I think I can safely say that having a certain number of posts WILL NOT guarantee anyone Established Member status. We are merely talking about a benchmark that will likely be applied to anyone, about whom we have no other knowledge, before we would generally consider them.

    Just reaching a certain number of posts doesn't mean anything - people will be assessed based on what information we have.
     
  14. Quitex

    Quitex Guest

    I must say, first of all, sorry to be absent for a while, and I am so pissed that people abused of this forum. Such a great place to be. :frowning2:
    I have mixed feelings towards this. Meh.
    Sorry If I am cold or anything. I just... feel weird. I guess it is a good thing for our security so I will heartily support.
     
  15. Paul_UK

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    Several people have PMd me about aspects of this. I have been busy with working on the details so I have not been able to reply to many of these yet. I have asked other mods to reply to some of them, and the others I will hopefully get to soon. Please don't feel you are being ignored, we are just very busy at the moment.

    If you have a question or comment about all this which you don't want to post here, please use the Ask The Mods section (where only you and the mod team can see your posts) rather than sending PMs. That will allow whichever member of the team is available or is working on that aspect to respond to you.
     
  16. Jim1454

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    I'm really happy that much of the reaction here has been positive. I think the changes strike a very reasonable balance.

    And with respect to PMs limiting the benefit of this site to 'Newbies'... I rarely used the PM fuctionality when I first joined. I still don't use it all that much. I found that just reading the public forums helped me tremendously when I was coming to terms with my orientation.

    I know everyone is different. But I don't think this limits the helpfulness of EC much at all.

    I'd also like to thank Paul and the other mods for their efforts around these changes. I've been busy at work and at home and haven't been as available to contribute. I continue to be VERY touched and amazed at the dedication that exists - all on a volunteer basis - to the management of this site. THANKS GUYS!!!
     
  17. Paul_UK

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    They are now here and here. :thumbsup:
     
  18. snapcat

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    Paul, I think you all have done an outstanding job. I think the changes you have put in place set a high benchmark for other websites to aspire to. Well done!
     
  19. panda

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    One of the most important things is that the Newbie to EC still gets all the personal attention that's possible. That still seems to work with the new format.

    Thanks to Paul for so much extra work ,and all the other Mods for their time and input.:kiss:
     
  20. Hidden Angel

    Hidden Angel Guest

    This kind off frustrates me since I haven't made enough posts to be an established member but I see there is a need for it and see the point.