Time for some changes?

Alright everyone really need your input here. When I started this site, I made most things accessible to the general public because I wanted to encourage participation and let a non member see what we have, what a great bunch of people you are :-D etc. I did have my reservations because I'm a privacy freak but I took a chance to be reviewed later.

These decisions are not set in stone. Now we have grown a little, do you think we should close parts of the site mainly forums? I can make this site as open or as private as I like meaning I can make everything only member accessible or portions. The questions of forums has come up because I've been asked this question lately. Also, I've always harboured the feeling some of us are not participating as much because they feel the forums are too open. Do give me your input, should we shouldn't we, what else should be closed and so on.

Well, I do think that when we write about certain sensitive issues like religion etc, perhaps these should be made private cos we really don't know who's looking at these forums.

I think that certain portion of the forum should be made private. Of course, other parts like immigration questions or general chit chats could be made public as we also want people who are non-members but looking for immigration resources to be able to find what they are looking for.

Oh, btw...I just notice that the members link is gone. Is it not accesible anymore?

 

Hooi Imm, good point. There is a bit of a problem with that however because while the system is rather flexible there are some limitations to it. In other words at this moment, there is no way for the poster or me & Nish (admin) to make selected threads private. The only way that can happen is if we create another private board that's accessible to members only and add them manually as we gain members.

There's supposed to be an update to the forums that *might* (I don't know yet) have that flexibility but at the moment no idea when that would be released :-(. I do agree though that immigration stuff we talk about should be open because... remember when we were in the dark :lol:

I took the members link down temporarily so that I could add a patch and forgot to re-enable it. Right after writing this I will enable members list again for members only. The reason that started was I was asked to make members list private. So now if you want to view anyone's profile you have to be registered member.

P/s: What happened to you? :-D I've been wondering lately since haven't been seeing you around... Chu Ghee also been MIA a while hope everything's ok with you all.

Lyn, I haven't been posting for a while but have been checking the boards regularly.

The reason is becos I'm feeling a bit disappointed with my new job. It's not what I expected it to be, it kind of pigeon hole me into an area without the opportunity to build on other skills. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do whether to look for a new position or to stay with this.

 :-D I'm back. I was away attending training for a week. Well, my summer will be packed with projects. Have a deadline August 31 to meet; network management changes, network services, upgrading pc labs, etc. I'll drop in every now and then.

 

Here is my 2 cents about forum privacy. Forum is meant for a group of people with common interest thus it should be open, but moderated for cases and removal of extremely offensive, obscene, questionable posting. Current implementation of restricting posting to members only is sufficient for forum posting control. Membership requirement of a legitimate email address should be sufficient for controlling bad members.

Sensitive issue should be carefully worded and posted for general public only for intellectual discussion. However, if one chooses to do so should be prepared for criticism because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but one always has the option of keeping it to oneself or sharing it with others.

My motto for getting thru daily chores:
- Keep things simple.
- Always be considerate of others.



 

I'm not sure, Lyn, but I think that most forums need to be for members only except perhaps immigration issues and receipes.

But others like dealing w/ family, kids, jobs, where a members just express his/her feelings or share any probelms or personal accomplishment - the good and the bad, I think they should be meant for members only. If someone out there are interested in these (besides the general immigrations and receipes) what keep them from registering and joining us?

Hi, Lynette, I hear your concerns about matters of privacy. While it would be a good idea to keep some forums private, that is not going to be foolproof either as you would never be able to know every member personally. In this day and age, I think people just need to use discretion while posting on any internet forums. We never know who would be looking at our comments and for what reasons. Don't forget what country/countries we come from and what sort of attention that might attract.

Thanks everyone for your input and points taken. Firstly lets just say when I say forum privacy, I'm talking about restricted access. Like Wai May says and I'm totally aware that I cannot control who is truly the person behind a member's nickname. That can never be certain even in real life, how can we be sure the people we know are really the people we know? I cannot prevent anyone from signing up and I don't want to... kinda anti social but I'm also on a members pruning quest. I.E. Non active members will be deleted. We could also have member registration by invitation only but again... a little anti-social IMHO.

As webmaster it's my 100% prerogative to restrict access, kick someone out or block someone who is negative for the group as a whole. On the other hand, I also cannot be responsible for everyone's post and I feel each member should be careful of their words when they post because this is after all the Internet and we are a community where we should be sensitive to everyone here. Not saying that we aren't. I think everyone here has been wonderful!

I'll probably be reviewing the topics and see if any should be converted to private forums or if I should set up a set of private forums. Keep ideas & thoughts coming if you have any.

Chu Ghee. Welcome back :-D. Please don't feel pressured to participate because you're not just been wondering about our regulars.

Hooi Imm, sorry about the job. If you need some support or help you know where to post :-). I'm sure you'll figure something out.

Lynette,

First of all, I wished to thank you for putting this issue up on the forum for discussion.  As we all know, as membership increases, more viewers will be looking at this site.  It may get harder to control any unfavorable events that may incur later.  It is good policy to take proactive approach to things, especially in privacy matters; risk management.  

Keep up the good work!  Appreciate it!

Chu Ghee and Hooi Imm, welcome back!

Sorry, I've been quiet on this topic..lol, need to think.  My viewpoint is that this site has grown enough to the point that we need to close off the general public to some of the forums.  I think if you are interested enough, you'll join.  We should leave forums dealing with Immigration issues open...as Lyn said, its how some of us found her previous site *yours truly included*.  

I've spoken to Lyn abt member pruning before.... there should be a grace period which is what we agreed on?  And reminders sent to participate.  A general roll call if you will.  Whoever doesn't post after grace period and reminders need to be removed.  Frankly, I think that we are a community and need to have our members communicating for it to work right.  You don't have to be a frequent poster if you don't like it but lurking and not contributing isn't good either....its not like we are a bunch of sharp tongued termagants (Chu Ghee you are excluded lol).