"Members Only" forum

[Greebo]

Again, can vBulliten be configured to allow posts or forums to be hidden until a min post count is achieved?

Yes. A registered user becomes a "validated" user upon reaching 5 posts. Forum permissions are assigned at the group level, so we can give registered users no permissions to a specific forum while giving validated users the standard permissions.

Just as equally, a forum can be made visible only to registered users and above.

 

[jesse]

Yeah, actually, it is.

Password protect the forum but allow anyone to see and key in the password. Put the password in the description of the forum.

The search bots won't be able to. Any human with an IQ > 70 will.

Of course, that IQ assumption is elitist.

Or just tell Google not to index it with headers..although it might take some hacking around to implement that on a per forum basis.

 

[Greebo]

Or just tell Google not to index it with headers..although it might take some hacking around to implement that on a per forum basis.

And it isn't only Google out there searching. I trust Google to respect robots.txt I don't trust all of the others.

 

[ReverendSlappy]

And it isn't only Google out there searching. I trust Google to respect robots.txt I don't trust all of the others.

Makes sense. But then again, "What? There are search engines other than Google? "

 

[jesse]

And it isn't only Google out there searching. I trust Google to respect robots.txt I don't trust all of the others.

True..although it is different then robots.txt--you can either set that file which gets checked by the search engine or you can specify it via a HTTP header which is also honored by any legit engine.

We really aren't having problems with people using goofy search engines to damage a member--it is always Google.

In the end though--I think--that no one here is going to decide much of anything. (Hint Hint, MC)

 

[flyingcheesehead]

MC,

What is the status of this issue? The actions of a certain government agency concern me enough that if we don't have a private forum by June 1st (not a coincidence) I am going to start deleting posts. I'd rather be able to freely discuss with my friends here.

Thanks,

 

[Anthony]

MC,

What is the status of this issue? The actions of a certain government agency concern me enough that if we don't have a private forum by June 1st (not a coincidence) I am going to start deleting posts. I'd rather be able to freely discuss with my friends here.

Thanks,

Kent. If the DHS wants to find them, they will find them. Think modern day version of the SS, Gestapo, KGB, Stasi, etc. Get the picture?

And when we go to the aiport, they'll say "Papiere Bitte."

 

[sba55]

Kent. If the DHS wants to find them, they will find them. Think modern day version of the SS, Gestapo, KGB, Stasi, etc. Get the picture?

And when we go to the aiport, they'll say "Papiere Bitte."

I agree that a private forum is incredibly easy to get into, but you're over-estimating DHS. They have a serious recruting problem. I know that none of the talented IT people I know would want to work for such a laughable employer at such a laughable salary.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Kent. If the DHS wants to find them, they will find them. Think modern day version of the SS, Gestapo, KGB, Stasi, etc. Get the picture?

And when we go to the aiport, they'll say "Papiere Bitte."

Anthony,

This isn't about whether they can get them. It's about the ease of getting them. Right now, all they'd have to do is Google.

If this forum were implemented, they'd have to register, post 5 times without setting off any BS detectors, and go looking. Since they're not likely to even know the private forum exists until they join the community, they're not gonna go looking. And that's enough privacy for me.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

post 5 times without setting off any BS detectors,

That rules out a lot of people here already.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

MC,

What is the status of this issue? The actions of a certain government agency concern me enough that if we don't have a private forum by June 1st (not a coincidence) I am going to start deleting posts. I'd rather be able to freely discuss with my friends here.

Thanks,

It's too late. The government has already saved your posts for the appropriate review if required. They probably capture your posts on the way to the POA server so a private area won't keep them from reading it. They won't leave something like this to the TSA or dept of homeland security.

Now where's the tin-foil hat smilie?

 

[ScottM]

A simple solution is that you do not post anything you do not want DHS or the FAA to read. This has the beauty of not requiring any set number of posts, nor does it require any extra work by the MC. The feature is called 'check yourself before you wreck yourself'. If you are saying that there are things posted here that you do not want others to read why the heck did you post them in the first place?

I dunno, asking the MC to be responsible and protect yourself from your own bad judgment just does not seem like a job that they should be doing.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

A simple solution is that you do not post anything you do not want DHS or the FAA to read. This has the beauty of not requiring any set number of posts, nor does it require any extra work by the MC. The feature is called 'check yourself before you wreck yourself'. If you are saying that there are things posted here that you do not want others to read why the heck did you post them in the first place?

I dunno, asking the MC to be responsible and protect yourself from your own bad judgment just does not seem like a job that they should be doing.

Scott, for the 56,801,327th time - I like to talk to my friends. I would like to occasionally do so without talking to the whole world. Is that really so difficult for you to understand?

 

[jesse]

Well Kent -- there is always the purple board -- entire thing has the requested feature. Good people too.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Well Kent -- there is always the purple board -- entire thing has the requested feature. Good people too.

Meh. I really have no desire to join another aviation board. Sure they're good people, but they're *different* good people.

 

[ScottM]

Scott, for the 56,801,327th time - I like to talk to my friends. I would like to occasionally do so without talking to the whole world. Is that really so difficult for you to understand?

What is difficult to understand is your ever changing reasons for this forum.

MC,

What is the status of this issue? The actions of a certain government agency concern me enough that if we don't have a private forum by June 1st (not a coincidence) I am going to start deleting posts. I'd rather be able to freely discuss with my friends here.

Thanks,

That sounds more like you are concerned about someone reading a posting of yours that may get you into trouble with a 'certain government agency'. Best way to avoid that is to not post things that you would not want read.

Even your first post in this thread, which by the way is the thread's post #1 states that your desire is to stop you from getting into trouble with what you post.

I agree. I got in trouble for something I posted here several months ago, and since then I haven't really posted any flight stories, as with everything public I'd have to classify that as a bad habit to get into.

A members only forum would be GREAT.

It has been suggested to make the forums less public and to make many of them non-Google searchable. But you balked at that idea, stating that you want people to find these forums. Those are two contradictory goals. Instead you keep clinging to this parallel private forum idea that requires some sort of 'status' within PoA to gain access to.

If the consensus is to make all of PoA private except Medical Matters and Lessons Learned, I could live with that. But I see no need for a private Hanagar Talk and a public Hangar Talk. That seems confusing and would lead to lots of duplication of content. In the end it would provide no protection to any of the information and would just make the boards less readable and create a small clique within a clique.

 

[poadeleted20]

Scott, for the 56,801,327th time - I like to talk to my friends. I would like to occasionally do so without talking to the whole world.

That's what PM's are for. Don't post anything here or on any other web discussion site (including Purple -- anyone can register) that you don't want read by anyone you didn't choose to have read it.

Also, as mentioned by Jesse above, this thread has gotten so huge that it is no longer useful to communicate your feelings to the MC. Therefore, I'm closing it. If folks are still concerned about the issue, please start a new thread here in Site Feedback and Support so we don't have to go back through over three hundred posts to figure out what you want, and how many of you want it.

Thank you.