SE Forum Visibility (split from Crash on M8 last night...)

[robin]

I would hate to give people a false sense of security by implementing a security system that would be very weak indeed. So the only logical option is a 100% public forum with no pretense of privacy.

Cheers,
Robin

[kenny]

See what I mean about nobody reading my posts...

The other classic case is the guy on Pistonheads who ended up in the nick when he lost control of his Honda type r, and badly injured a biker. Quotes from the Honda forum were read out in court, and beforehand had been written about in the papers.

Because of it he was perceived to be a "boy racer" and hooligan in his car, and all this probably had a lot to do with his sentence.

We must all remember that Scottish Elises is a very public forum. ANYBODY can read it, plod, reporters and all, and it is not too difficult to link online names to real names and cars etc.

It's worth pointing out that the comments read out in court and printed in the press following 10 Pence Short's crash were taken from a forum that no part of is visible unregistered, didn't stop them.

The comments were downloaded by the Crown Prosecution Service, not the press and were later printed after read out in court. I am a moderator on the CTR forum and so I know a bit about the whole thing. There is pretty much nothing we could have done (if we tried to) to stop the CPS from looking at the forum.

[gambler]

Even if the forum was locked and had a very tight vetting procedure it would not be difficult to get into se. Im not expert on this subject but I believe a very simple piece of software will just keep trying different usernames and passwords till it gains access. Im sure any journalist with a big enough interest would have no problem in doing this themselves or getting someone to do it for them. I know a couple of guys who do this to gain access to certain pay to access sites They say its very easy.

If s.e had been a closed forum i would not have joined up.It was after meeting more s.e members at track days than sidc members that i decided to have a look. I had a look about the site and saw there were several non lotus members and i decided to join up. I have had a lot of fun, gained plenty of knowledge and some good friends as a result of the s.e. forum and events. And hopefully i have had the odd valuable contribution. Had it been a closed forum, i would have missed out.

I think just a bit of common sense is required when you are publishing anything in the public domain.

[meatball]

As others have pointed out....there may be journalists on here already....or worse! Locking it seves no purpose IMHO.

[Edin430]

I can't believe it's still getting talked about to be honest

Slightly different but haven't we already talked about splitting the forum up into LC and NLC? That didn't happen either...

Jeez I mean its not rocket science - if you have half a brain you will know you may need to register for a forum if you want to see it all. Definitely think that locking it would give a false sense of security, but if that's what people want then who I am to judge!

And on judging - Scott - I'm sure I was included in that mention and I did judge to start off because of the forum you came from, nothing to do with you car (a 206 diesel with aftermarket wheels is far far far from a boy racer/chav car - that and I've had a zeemax bmw mini with lambo doors, teles, the lot ffs, I couldn't have got much more chav if I tried ) or you as a person. My big brother was a die hard member on Edinburgh Cruise and that got him in a lot of trouble that I wasn't too happy with, so my concern about those kind of forum members is general not personal. Glad you've passed it and glad your in the Lotus now

I didn't read the article about this guy but papers ALWAYS make stuff up and/or take things out of context ALL THE TIME.. EVERYONE knows this. If you really are that concerned about what people might read then don't be a half wit and post anything that could come back to bite you.

That's my 2p added to the jar - now can we go back to more important things like why Jamie's brake pads don't match the colour of his car??? (jk mate... obviously)

[thinfourth]

Keep the forum as it is as we are a pretty open group as we are and closing it we would end up being like seloc which we don't need. Just recently we had whatshisname join who had the chavved up pug and now has the nice S1 elise. If we were a closed forum then he would still be driving a chav pug.

Another reason to stay as an open forum is then how would people discover dodgey daves hidden talent

http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... alent+dave

[robin]

LOL - love the very tenuous link to bump Dave's thread - long overdue

Cheers,
Robin

[Clarkie]

How about incorporating a disclaimer such as Ali's copied below;

''All characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Any references to laptimes, speed or driving on the public highway are purely for dramatic effect''

Would a disclaimer be legally binding on a public forum?

[alicrozier]

I hope so.

[Clarkie]

I hope so.

Sorry mate forgot your intellectual property rights I'm sure the mods will pay well

[offshorematt]

Sorry to keep adding to this one, but as it seems to be turning into the poll in itself, I thought I'd contribute...

Personally I don't think any further security is required. As has been said previously, this is a public forum and nobody should ever forget that. If people are worried about comments being taken out of context, then they should just bear that in mind when they read them back before they hit submit, no? Also, I think there is a second side to all this - as a forum I think we have clearly demonstrated very good self-moderation. I can recall several threads over the last couple of years that have grown arms and legs as people have been quick to get onboard and condemn the occasional boast of anti-social behaviour. This combined with the SE Charter thread etc demonstrates more positives about us as a group than it does negatives IMHO. This too would be lost if the site went private.

On another note, for those who worry about Google stealing your life, don't worry, there's no avoiding it...they've already stolen it. I can't remember if I posted this at the time but a couple of years back I sent Gareth an email relaying some advice I'd got from Rich H. As I'm sure most know, Gmail's 'claim to fame' is smart linking, so your on-screen spam is at least partially relevant. Well despite the email being about K Series parts or something and only mentioning Rich's name the once, the links were all to do with Leuchers Air Base... Welcome to the matrix

[Stewart]

Quick scan through this thread and there are very few in favour of a lock down - me included. I haven't read as far to see if there is a poll up yet or not but no doubt that will give us an indication.

The one thing I was thinking of is if it would be possible for all threads to automatically expire and drop off after say 8 weeks of inactivity? We could probably live without having to trawl historical posts, I know I could. The only exception to this would be the Technical section. May not be practical or worthwhile, but just a thought.

[Edin430]

Quick scan through this thread and there are very few in favour of a lock down - me included. I haven't read as far to see if there is a poll up yet or not but no doubt that will give us an indication.

The one thing I was thinking of is if it would be possible for all threads to automatically expire and drop off after say 8 weeks of inactivity? We could probably live without having to trawl historical posts, I know I could. The only exception to this would be the Technical section. May not be practical or worthwhile, but just a thought.

Good idea...!

To add to that - drop off but just get archived somewhere so you can still search them - and then limit the search option to members only... Sounds good to me!

[thinfourth]

The one thing I was thinking of is if it would be possible for all threads to automatically expire and drop off after say 8 weeks of inactivity? We could probably live without having to trawl historical posts, I know I could. The only exception to this would be the Technical section. May not be practical or worthwhile, but just a thought.

Crap idea

If only it stops us dragging up some embarrassing threads

leave it as it is

[kenny]

Crap idea, I still dig out old threads and reply to keep information current and in one thread rather than start multitudinous threads on the same subject.

And how would we bump the special talent thread if it was archived?