"Members Only" forum

[James_Dean]

For whatever it's worth...

I started working towards my private with my introductory flight in June of 2005. My first solo was on 12/11/2005 at GYY. I kept working towards it as time and money allowed, but financial considerations necessitated an almost exactly year-long hiatus between March of '06 and March of '07, and after that, increased work responsibilities didn't allow me to keep up the kind of training pace that I would've liked. But I kept at it (albeit slowly) and by the fall of 2007, I was getting close to being ready for the checkride when a basically perfect opportunity to indulge my second passion -- sailing -- dropped into my lap. I jumped on it, and that has consumed pretty much the entirety of the "hobby" portion of my budget since. Flying is still, however, my first passion, and as soon as circumstances allow, I intend to get back at it. I read the aviation threads here because it keeps my brain engaged in it -- and because there isn't a better aviation community out there.

Not that any of that makes any difference whatsoever to what I'm talking about.

Edit: Here's my online logbook if you're interested. I guess there are probably a few people who'd like to play the "I'm a pilot and you're not yet" superiority game, and that's their prerogative. But I certainly don't care one bit, and if anything, it's a pretty good indication that I'm right in what I've been talking about when they try to extend that to anything beyond flying.

Congratulations on your progress. I hope you continue on and finish your private. It does matter to me that people here at least want to be a part of aviation. Give me a heads up if you are ever in the area and we'll go flying.

Eggman

 

[Anthony]

Sigh.

The MC has debated what constitutes the right level of moderation without it becoming censorship. I think the only majority we had was to try and let the inmates run.....

Moderation: where you'll get nastygrams regardless of which decision you make.

I really couldn't tell you what the "proper" level of moderation is.... (that is, other than the obvious deletion of spam, criminal behavior, etc, etc.)

Sorry Bill. I know its a thankless, no win job. I appreciate your efforts and realize its probably the best that can be done given the rules, and circumstances.

I certainly am not proposing censorship of any kind beyond the existing ROC.

Again thanks.

 

[ScottM]

Can you please take this BS BACK into the spin zone?

Tim I respect your opinions but on this current topic I feel these posts are EXACTLY germane to this call for a members only forum.

What we are seeing is the poison of elitism that is attacking PoA and making it less of a place that people want to come to. I think this is good to air this issue for all to see. Not only do we have calls for a special members only room basd on post history and selection, now we are seeing what some members have decided what a proper member of PoA is to be. The way to read some of the above posts is that people who do not currently fly or do not hold at least a PP certificate are not worthy of posting and their opinions should hold less sway.

I think that a very unwelcoming position to hold, hardly a 'front porch' type of atitude. Considering that none of us on this board know it all, I am amazed that there are some that wish to prop up their position by restricting posting to those who are less expeienced. This is issue is not about what happens in the SZ at all. This has happened on all parts of the board. I recall Ted writing a few months ago that he self-censors some of his posts in the non-SZ portions of the board because the exacat same attitude is directed at him, even though he was trying to learn. Some of the elitists on this board like to bully people to make themselves feel superior. IMHO they show how little they do know. I find it interesting that the only people I have on ignore are ones that have this attitude and never post in SZ.

As I have said the call for a members only forum will only make this elitist attitude worse. There are other ways to keep posts form getting on Google. But we can see excellent examples of the cliquish and eltitist attitude right here in this thread and it stinks.

 

[ScottM]

Sigh.

The MC has debated what constitutes the right level of moderation without it becoming censorship. I think the only majority we had was to try and let the inmates run.....

Moderation: where you'll get nastygrams regardless of which decision you make.

I really couldn't tell you what the "proper" level of moderation is.... (that is, other than the obvious deletion of spam, criminal behavior, etc, etc.)

So far I think what you guys are doing in SZ is working. There is only one person there who seems like he wants to destroy the SZ and only returned to do exactly that and he is for the most part being ignored and laughed at via the PM system.

 

[Greebo]

I really don't think we need to examine in depth what's going on in SZ, good or bad, here in this thread. SZ operates under its own rules. IF such a private forum for all members were created, it would be subject to the RoC and would not be any different from Hangar Talk or Flight Following, except non member wouldn't be able to see it.

So no, I think who's doing what or saying what to or about whom in SZ isn't germane to this at all.

 

[TMetzinger]

Tim I respect your opinions but on this current topic I feel these posts are EXACTLY germane to this call for a members only forum.

What we are seeing is the poison of elitism that is attacking PoA and making it less of a place that people want to come to. I think this is good to air this issue for all to see. Not only do we have calls for a special members only room basd on post history and selection, now we are seeing what some members have decided what a proper member of PoA is to be. The way to read some of the above posts is that people who do not currently fly or do not hold at least a PP certificate are not worthy of posting and their opinions should hold less sway.

I think that a very unwelcoming position to hold, hardly a 'front porch' type of atitude. Considering that none of us on this board know it all, I am amazed that there are some that wish to prop up their position by restricting posting to those who are less expeienced. This is issue is not about what happens in the SZ at all. This has happened on all parts of the board. I recall Ted writing a few months ago that he self-censors some of his posts in the non-SZ portions of the board because the exacat same attitude is directed at him, even though he was trying to learn. Some of the elitists on this board like to bully people to make themselves feel superior. IMHO they show how little they do know. I find it interesting that the only people I have on ignore are ones that have this attitude and never post in SZ.

As I have said the call for a members only forum will only make this elitist attitude worse. There are other ways to keep posts form getting on Google. But we can see excellent examples of the cliquish and eltitist attitude right here in this thread and it stinks.

Sorry, I think you're missing the point, possibly on purpose. The request was for one small section of this message board to be restricted to members only. If someone was asking for the entire board to be private, that would be more in line with what you claim to be worried about. Unless you somehow think that all the discussions will end up in the members-only forum, I don't see how your concerns are likely to come true.

 

[Anthony]

So no, I think who's doing what or saying what to or about whom in SZ isn't germane to this at all.

I wholeheartedly disagree. SZ is the most private forum on POA and therefore shows what a few will do to a perfectly good website. That's all I'm going to say about it.

 

[ReverendSlappy]

I really don't think we need to examine in depth what's going on in SZ, good or bad, here in this thread. SZ operates under its own rules. IF such a private forum for all members were created, it would be subject to the RoC and would not be any different from Hangar Talk or Flight Following, except non member wouldn't be able to see it.

So no, I think who's doing what or saying what to or about whom in SZ isn't germane to this at all.

Fair enough... I just happened to see some pretty wild claims being made about the SZ that simply don't match with what I've seen. Sorry for the distraction.

FWIW, I say just do the robots thing and be done with it.

 

[ScottM]

So no, I think who's doing what or saying what to or about whom in SZ isn't germane to this at all.

What is or is not happening in SZ is NOT germane, I agree with you. But the attitude of only people who have certain pilot qualifications are worthy of posting anywhere on PoA certianly is.

 

[gprellwitz]

FWIW, I say just do the robots thing and be done with it.

If it were possible to do the robot thing on a single forum I might agree with you. However, I think that it's more of an all-or-nothing thing with the way the VBulletin software is designed. If a forum is accessible to the public it will be available for spidering or not. If the choice is between turning off googling from all pages or having it on, then I vote to have it on (current state). If it is, as I understood it to be, creating a single forum that is visible only to members but is otherwise subject to the ROC, than I vote yea.

 

[jmaynard]

What is or is not happening in SZ is NOT germane, I agree with you. But the attitude of only people who have certain pilot qualifications are worthy of posting anywhere on PoA certianly is.

Scott, this is a shibboleth. Only one person has questioned the pilot certificate status of one particular very combative poster who's only active in the non-aviation forums on the system. There is, as far as I can tell, no general surge of opinion that someone needs to be a pilot or working toward it to post on PoA.

Fundamentally, I don't see it as elitist to have one place where someone need only register for the system - a quick, free, painless operation - to see the posts. I do think it would provide greater opportunities for discussion that might be self-censored otherwise. That's not elitist, but rather the opposite.

 

[ScottM]

Sorry, I think you're missing the point, possibly on purpose. .

No I am not "missing it" on purpose. I get it, people want a special place for themselves away from the other newer members or less known members. We already have the defacto requirement to be considered a real PoA member once you have attened a Gaston's flyin. We do not need to set up anymore barriers.

Let me repeat again what I am saying, there are already too many cliques and special groups on this board that create an air of unwelcomeness. One can easily see why other boards were created by people who did not feel as welcome to be here as they did to just form their own place.

If not having the board searchable by Google is the goal, there are better ways to do that than to have a private VIP lounge for elite members of POA.

 

[jmaynard]

No I am not "missing it" on purpose. I get it, people want a special place for themselves away from the other newer members or less known members.

This is missing the point. I'm not going to speculate on whether it's deliberate or not. People want a place where the entire civilized world won't see comments that might be taken the wrong way by non-aviators. Nobody's pushing any sort of a minimum post requirement or anything else; it was proposed, and immediately shot down.

We already have the defacto requirement to be considered a real PoA member once you have attened a Gaston's flyin. We do not need to set up anymore barriers.

I guess I'm not a "real PoA member", then; I didn't even know about Gaston's until a month after the last one, and couldn't have made it this past year in any event: I had a date to go pick up an airplane.

Let me repeat agian what I am saying, there are already too many cliques and special groups on this board that create an air of unwelcomness. One can easliy see why otherboards were created by people who did not feel as welcome to be here as they did to just form their own place.

Any large group will form cliques. That's human nature. However, a members-only forum that would include every member would not be a clique of less than the entire membership - which is the exact opposite of what you're arguing.

 

[gprellwitz]

Scott, why not do away with the requirement to be a member to post outside of the two anonymous fora? Having a sense of community generally involves at least introducing oneself, rather than just listening in.
I don't think the intent or the effect are to make it elitist. Perhaps we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
I too know a number of people who hold off posting here. Sometimes it's because they don't want their posted experiences to be picked over and dissected and subjected to the "what you did could be construed as illegal if the FAA comes after you" posts. Sometimes, I think it's because people wouldn't want their posts to be captured and spread either out of context or as a result of a Google search or for similar reasons.

Now one substantive problem with this sort of a mechanism is that it is the original poster who decides whether the thread is going to be in the "protected" area or the public ares. Any responses would be subject to whichever rules the OP chose. So if s/he chose the public area, responses would have the exact same issue that they have today.

The only way I could see to get around that would be to have a flag on every message allowing the poster to determine whether it would be visible to non-registered users. And that would still leave the problem of quoting messages.

 

[ScottM]

Scott, this is a shibboleth. Only one person has questioned the pilot certificate status of one particular very combative poster who's only active in the non-aviation forums on the system. There is, as far as I can tell, no general surge of opinion that someone needs to be a pilot or working toward it to post on PoA.

There has been more than this one post, there have been others in different threads. You yourself have even been attacked over your sport pilot cert as being 'less worthy'.

Fundamentally, I don't see it as elitist to have one place where someone need only register for the system - a quick, free, painless operation - to see the posts. I do think it would provide greater opportunities for discussion that might be self-censored otherwise. That's not elitist, but rather the opposite.

We already have one place to register, that is the main part of the site. What is being asked for a is a semi-private VIP room. This is to avoid search engines. The better solution and less elitist is to just make the whole of PoA not search-bot capable. BTW the same people who are now wanting the private room were the ones that stated the Purple Board was being eltitst for closing themselves off from public viewing and the search engines.

 

[ScottM]

This is missing the point. I'm not going to speculate on whether it's deliberate or not. People want a place where the entire civilized world won't see comments that might be taken the wrong way by non-aviators. Nobody's pushing any sort of a minimum post requirement or anything else; it was proposed, and immediately shot down.

Again Jay there is already a min-post count to have access to features on PoA. That is fact not somethign that was shot down.

I guess I'm not a "real PoA member", then; I didn't even know about Gaston's until a month after the last one, and couldn't have made it this past year in any event: I had a date to go pick up an airplane.

I have not been to Gaston's either. I am not a real member either. My money is not even good enough for this site and was refused by the founder.

Any large group will form cliques. That's human nature. However, a members-only forum that would include every member would not be a clique of less than the entire membership - which is the exact opposite of what you're arguing.

I agree about forming cliques but this VIP room will not include every member only those who elect to go in there. So it becomes a semi-private hangar talk. Those that do not go in will loose the ability to talk about some subjects, that is not a very welcoming type of web board. So why make the cliquishness worse?

 

[ScottM]

Scott, why not do away with the requirement to be a member to post outside of the two anonymous fora? Having a sense of community generally involves at least introducing oneself, rather than just listening in.
I don't think the intent or the effect are to make it elitist. Perhaps we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
I too know a number of people who hold off posting here. Sometimes it's because they don't want their posted experiences to be picked over and dissected and subjected to the "what you did could be construed as illegal if the FAA comes after you" posts. Sometimes, I think it's because people wouldn't want their posts to be captured and spread either out of context or as a result of a Google search or for similar reasons.

Now one substantive problem with this sort of a mechanism is that it is the original poster who decides whether the thread is going to be in the "protected" area or the public ares. Any responses would be subject to whichever rules the OP chose. So if s/he chose the public area, responses would have the exact same issue that they have today.

The only way I could see to get around that would be to have a flag on every message allowing the poster to determine whether it would be visible to non-registered users. And that would still leave the problem of quoting messages.

The easiest and best way to accomplish that is not create an off the grid sub forum, but to take the whole board off of the grid like the Purple Board did. Otherwise you run the risk of having to have a separate semi-private forum for each and every public one. Then you have to ask yourself what is the purpose of either if they ar eboth incomplete.

I have no issue with the off the grid web board, I think the VIP room is an awful idea.

 

[nddons]

I too know a number of people who hold off posting here. Sometimes it's because they don't want their posted experiences to be picked over and dissected and subjected to the "what you did could be construed as illegal if the FAA comes after you" posts.

Grant, for the record, I have found little if any of that attitude on this board, particularly as compared to the AOPA board. I've asked some aviation-related questions that might have received a collective "idiot" (in Napoleon Dynamite fashion) on AOPA that people here answered thoughtfully and without ridicule whatsoever. At least that's been my experience, and that's why I participate on this board.

 

[gprellwitz]

The easiest and best way to accomplish that is not create an off the grid sub forum, but to take the whole board off of the grid like the Purple Board did. Otherwise you run the risk of having to have a separate semi-private forum for each and every public one. Then you have to ask yourself what is the purpose of either if they ar eboth incomplete.

I have no issue with the off the grid web board, I think the VIP room is an awful idea.

I'm exactly opposite. I'd prefer to have the site as a whole searchable, but have a forum that requires you to be a registered member. But, as I posted above, I think there are some issues that may make that less useful than I originally envisioned.

 

[SkyHog]

We already have one place to register, that is the main part of the site. What is being asked for a is a semi-private VIP room. This is to avoid search engines. The better solution and less elitist is to just make the whole of PoA not search-bot capable. BTW the same people who are now wanting the private room were the ones that stated the Purple Board was being eltitst for closing themselves off from public viewing and the search engines.

I'm mostly against the private forum too, but Scott, I don't understand why you're having such difficulty grasping this concept:

Its not a VIP room. Its a place where people can post without the public seeing it, period. You have to be registered to view the forum. There's no post count, there's no elitism, the rest of the site is fine and public and everything.

The purple board is jokish because there's no reason to subscribe to a forum where you can't even read the posts beforehand. This would be a small percentage of the posts. ESPECIALLY if its done properly and is set more like a "Never again" type forum where pilots only use it for things the public doesn't need to know: Insider information about accidents, possibly information about possible regulation violations, etc. Things that those who don't want to register don't need to see.

The rest of the site would be public, and if there were more than 3% of the total posts in that forum, I'd say it missed its point, but I'll bet that doesn't happen..

 

[ScottM]

I'm exactly opposite. I'd prefer to have the site as a whole searchable, but have a forum that requires you to be a registered member. But, as I posted above, I think there are some issues that may make that less useful than I originally envisioned.

We already have to register to get on the site to post except for the Medical and lesson learned room. So we already have what you are calling for. I can live with the status quo as well.

What several people are asking for is that once you go through the whole issue of registration, getting your 5 posts so you can have the extra privileges, then there is a walled garden, a VIP room that you may then have access to. Why do we need so many hoops before we can even talk to each other? Will some want you to prove you have a certain pilot certificate or a certain amount of hour too? Where will it end?

 

[Everskyward]

Its not a VIP room. Its a place where people can post without the public seeing it, period. You have to be registered to view the forum. There's no post count, there's no elitism, the rest of the site is fine and public and everything.

The thing is, the way Kent described it in the first place it did sound like a VIP room.

Using the front porch metaphor - We're still going to invite anyone who walks by to join us on the front porch for a beer and listen to our yarns about flying, and we're going to leave the music on full blast so that we can attract folks who might just be in the area. But, we would have a front door and a living room that's not accessible to the random dude who walked up for the first time today, so that we can talk about things that we don't yet trust random dude knowing. When random dude has been hanging with us on the porch for a while and we've gotten to know and trust him, we'll let him in the front door as well.

The idea that you need to trust someone first, then let them in sounds cliquish to me. Maybe the whole idea has changed since that post a few pages ago but that's how it struck me at first.

The purple board is jokish because there's no reason to subscribe to a forum where you can't even read the posts beforehand. This would be a small percentage of the posts. ESPECIALLY if its done properly and is set more like a "Never again" type forum where pilots only use it for things the public doesn't need to know: Insider information about accidents, possibly information about possible regulation violations, etc. Things that those who don't want to register don't need to see.

People are still going to need to be careful about what they post. After all, this is the internet. Someone could easily take what you post and paste it into a more public site. I belong to a forum that is not only members only, but they need to be vetted and there is a fee, and people still know enough not to post too much detail.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

People want a place where the entire civilized world won't see comments that might be taken the wrong way by non-aviators. Nobody's pushing any sort of a minimum post requirement or anything else; it was proposed, and immediately shot down.

Thinking on this - does this really accomplish what you want? Ok, the private room doesn't show up at the top of the list on Google, but...

Once someone references the fact that a particular topic is being discussed under the cone of silence any "non-aviator" could take 30 seconds to register and see it anyhow. And, were I a media person looking for "dirt" - what would be the first thing I would do once I found POA? A private room would just make it easier for me since I would have less "stuff" to filter out.

I'm thinking the "upstairs room" would just give one a false sense of security.

The former Mayor of Detroit thought his text messages to his girlfriend were "private"...

 

[kevin47881]

I have no issue with the off the grid web board, I think the VIP room is an awful idea.

Hmm, I hadn't picked up on that sentiment.

 

[ScottM]

Hmm, I hadn't picked up on that sentiment.

Well you never claimed to be quick Kevin!!

I'll have to be more forward in my posts then won't I??

 

[Trapper John]

Thinking on this - does this really accomplish what you want? Ok, the private room doesn't show up at the top of the list on Google, but...

Once someone references the fact that a particular topic is being discussed under the cone of silence any "non-aviator" could take 30 seconds to register and see it anyhow. And, were I a media person looking for "dirt" - what would be the first thing I would do once I found POA? A private room would just make it easier for me since I would have less "stuff" to filter out.

IMO, the notion that anyone from the media would be the least bit interested in what anyone here has to say is comical.


Trapper John

 

[ScottM]

IMO, the notion that anyone from the media would be the least bit interested in what anyone here has to say is comical.


Trapper John

I would have thought so too, but apparently PoA was quoted in a story on UFOs. So I think it a real concern.

I also have experienced an unusual pick up. I was meeting with the Vice-Minister of Telecommunication in the People's Republic of China a few years ago. Over dinner he says to me, "I hear you are a pilot, I served in the air force..." and we proceeded to talk airplanes. The only place he would have picked that up is that someone on his staff was doing background research on me prior to the meeting and picked up something from here or one of the other aviation boards I am on.

 

[SkyHog]

IMO, the notion that anyone from the media would be the least bit interested in what anyone here has to say is comical.


Trapper John

You give the media too much credit. A fictitious PoA post, and the media story behind it:

LOL! You know how the media always gets things right...well, you know, airplanes are just falling out of the sky left and right. Most people can't even understand the airport nearby existed before their house was built, so they have no right to complain anyway.

Maybe the FAA should just ban all private airplanes. At least that way we know they're safe. Jeesh.

"Well, you know, airplanes are just falling out of the sky left and right," commented JoeBlowPilot on a public message board where pilots around the country discuss the latest aviation accidents. "Maybe the FAA should just ban all private airplanes. At least that way we know they're safe."

Of course, the post to us would appear to be benign and humorous....

 

[Trapper John]

You give the media too much credit. A fictitious PoA post, and the media story behind it:



"Well, you know, airplanes are just falling out of the sky left and right," commented JoeBlowPilot on a public message board where pilots around the country discuss the latest aviation accidents. "Maybe the FAA should just ban all private airplanes. At least that way we know they're safe."

Of course, the post to us would appear to be benign and humorous....

Yeah, like some reporter wanting to earn an Edward R. Murrow award is going to quote an anonymous poster on a web board.

Help, the paranoids are after me!


Trapper John

 

[mantakos]

IMO, the notion that anyone from the media would be the least bit interested in what anyone here has to say is comical.

I've seen articles that reference message board postings before, including identifying the quotes with the ridiculous handles people use (e.g. "Internet poster 'SexyGramma34' said..."). This isn't so much about "expert" testimony as it is about "here's what people are saying".

Journalistic research is increasingly consisting of "googling".
-harry

 

[SkyHog]

Yeah, like some reporter wanting to earn an Edward R. Murrow award is going to quote an anonymous poster on a web board.

Help, the paranoids are after me!


Trapper John

You assume reports have a shred of decency left to them, and are out for some purpose other than getting more readers....

And, btw, I have been been quoted, from PoA, in the media. So its not silly, it happens.

 

[Trapper John]

I would have thought so too, but apparently PoA was quoted in a story on UFOs. So I think it a real concern.

A dramamentary. When I see PoA quoted in Time or on CBS news, I might get concerned.

I also have experienced an unusual pick up. I was meeting with the Vice-Minister of Telecommunication in the People's Republic of China a few years ago. Over dinner he says to me, "I hear you are a pilot, I served in the air force..." and we proceeded to talk airplanes. The only place he would have picked that up is that someone on his staff was doing background research on me prior to the meeting and picked up something from here or one of the other aviation boards I am on.

There's nothing in your company's marketing bio about you being a pilot?


Trapper John

 

[SkyHog]

A dramamentary. When I see PoA quoted in Time or on CBS news, I might get concerned.



There's nothing in your company's marketing bio about you being a pilot?


Trapper John

FWIW, I also got into some trouble at T-Mobile for comments made on PoA. I assumed someone had told them about the comments, but they were insistent that it was found and reported internally.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

IMO, the notion that anyone from the media would be the least bit interested in what anyone here has to say is comical.

Well, then, that makes this whole thread pointless since it started, as I recall, because of a concern that someone here may have had some specific personal knowledge about a particular incident...

 

[Greebo]

We already have to register to get on the site except for the Medical and lesson learned room. So we already have what you are calling for. I can live with the status quo as well.

No, that isn't what they're asking for.

They want a forum that is invisible to anyone who isn't registered. That's all. Log out, and it vanishes. Log in, there it is. No post counts needed.

Medical Matters and Lesson's Learned are public and google searched - you can only be anonymous there by logging out.

 

[jesse]

Tim I respect your opinions but on this current topic I feel these posts are EXACTLY germane to this call for a members only forum.

What we are seeing is the poison of elitism that is attacking PoA and making it less of a place that people want to come to. I think this is good to air this issue for all to see. Not only do we have calls for a special members only room basd on post history and selection, now we are seeing what some members have decided what a proper member of PoA is to be. The way to read some of the above posts is that people who do not currently fly or do not hold at least a PP certificate are not worthy of posting and their opinions should hold less sway.

I think that a very unwelcoming position to hold, hardly a 'front porch' type of atitude. Considering that none of us on this board know it all, I am amazed that there are some that wish to prop up their position by restricting posting to those who are less expeienced. This is issue is not about what happens in the SZ at all. This has happened on all parts of the board. I recall Ted writing a few months ago that he self-censors some of his posts in the non-SZ portions of the board because the exacat same attitude is directed at him, even though he was trying to learn. Some of the elitists on this board like to bully people to make themselves feel superior. IMHO they show how little they do know. I find it interesting that the only people I have on ignore are ones that have this attitude and never post in SZ.

As I have said the call for a members only forum will only make this elitist attitude worse. There are other ways to keep posts form getting on Google. But we can see excellent examples of the cliquish and eltitist attitude right here in this thread and it stinks.

Honestly Scott--the big issue--is just freaking Google. Several of our members have been bitten because they wrote about a flight that got on Google and then the wrong person found it and they've gotten some **** for it.

There are many people who simply cannot write about their cool flights because it'll get blasted on Google. It isn't that the owner or the company really even cares as much as they don't want such stuff all over Google for everyone to see. This is where a private area would be of benefit.

 

[jesse]

IMO, the notion that anyone from the media would be the least bit interested in what anyone here has to say is comical.


Trapper John

Actually--you'd be very surprised--there have been a number of incidents where a company representative or who knows who has found something on our site that has caused pain for a member. This isn't a one time incident--it has happened *SEVERAL* times.

I can tell you that there is stuff, or there has been stuff, on this forum that would get a great deal of media attention if the right person were to find it. Thankfully people usually recognize or edit this stuff beforehand.

 

[Trapper John]

Actually--you'd be very surprised--there have been a number of incidents where a company representative or who knows who has found something on our site that has caused pain for a member. This isn't a one time incident--it has happened *SEVERAL* times.

I can tell you that there is stuff, or there has been stuff, on this forum that would get a great deal of media attention if the right person were to find it. Thankfully people usually recognize or edit this stuff beforehand.

I stand corrected!


Trapper John

 

[ReverendSlappy]

IMO, I think the kind of "privacy" some folks are alluding to (i.e. keeping reporters or investigators or anybody else with an interest in knowing what's written on a web board) is a bridge too far... Anybody who's determined to find a post on a web board is going to find it unless there are some incredibly draconian steps taken. And I don't think anybody really wants that.

If, on the other hand, the goal is to limit the kind of exposure that search engines provide massive amounts of, a "Logged In Users Only" forum makes sense if the robots route is insufficient or less than optimal.

 

[ScottM]

Honestly Scott--the big issue--is just freaking Google.

Which is why *I* mentioned that the Google issue was the issue in almost everyone of my notes. Honestly Jesse I think a few people are making this into some big deal. It started with, oh I dunno, someone calling for a 1000 post minimum before they would be allowed into the VIP room. Who was that again??? I think it was the person who called "new people annoying".

Is that to be the text on the PoA welcome mat?

Those of us familiar with your wit know you were likely clowning around with that statement, but people who may never have met you can take it an different way altogether.