The Personal Information Rule

Let's discuss what we all think it should be.

Saving the "best" for last huh?

What do YOU think, Tracie?

"Thrown out the window" for all the good it has done anyone.

How about "don't post it?"

"Enforced regardless of popularity" might be nice.

How about:
No full names; first names, initials OK
No info pertaining to location and/or occupation

Unless of course the person has already given that info here, like Dan (name) Marso (occupation)

And in my opinion, if it's already out in the internet (Facebook, et. al.) it's fair game.

This is a big deal, since everyone who posted here in the past and interacted with members did so based on the rule.

To change it mid game is wrong.

Forbin calling Tamar by her real name right here? Probably no consequences (not that I wish him banned!) Me calling JohnM by his real name? Banned for a few years (not that I cared a whole lot). The rule is good, since I wrote it but it needs a. to apply to everybody equally and b. a rewrite in no uncertain terms. The new wording is crap and can be interpreted at will.

How's this for a starter:

Don't be loose with other people's personal information. If you use such information on Wordforge your account will be locked without warning and the offending information will be edited out of your post. You will need to contact an ADMIN via email to discuss the terms and conditions of restoring your posting privileges.

For the purposes of this rule, "personal information" is defined as any of the following:
1. Information that reveals the real world identity of a Wordforge Poster that has not been previously shared on Wordforge by that poster.
a. Picture.
b. Real name.
c. Address.
d. Email address.
e. Screen names at other websites.
f. Place of employment.
2. Information revealed in a Blue Room thread that is not revealed in any other forum on Wordforge.

Under no circumstances will personal information be allowed to be used for purposes of trolling. Flagrant misuse of a poster's real name or picture will also be grounds for a ban.

Is there a new rule somewhere that I can read and review?

It's just the old rule.

"5. Don't be loose with other people's personal information (emails, real names, physical locations, etc). If you use such info on Wordforge, it's entirely the board owner's discretion as to what, if anything, happens to you. Want to stay out of the gray area, don't make use of anyone else's personal info. If you can't resist, don't cry if something unpleasant happens to you.

Also, reposting of communication between two persons in what would have otherwise been a private medium (PMs, instant messages, etc.) falls under the rule mentioned above."

http://wordforge.net/faq.php?faq=wordforge#faq_therules

That's not a good idea, IMO. Personal information--more broadly defined than mere identifying information--that's been revealed by posters pretty much has to be fair game for trolling, or you may as well ban trolling altogether. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with severely limiting trolling, but the whole point of trolling is to make use of personal information to get a rise out of someone. Why should a revealed name be treated any differently than political leanings? It's all personal. (I plan, btw and fwiw, to change my avatar by the end of the day absent some extreme asshattery by a certain poster).

If trolling is allowed then how is it misuse of voluntarily revealed identifying information to troll with it? I've revealed that I live in New York and I'm a Jets fan; I'd be sorely disappointed not to be trolled about those things. Why is a name or picture different? Just because some specific posters feel more trolled by their use is no reason to specify names and pictures for special treatment; other people care much less about their names or pictures being joked about than about their ideas being derisively dismissed. Special treatment is not in order.

Chuck it.

I think, if someone posts with their real name (Dan Leach, Nick, and Dayton for example) and I can use that to find everything about them, that should be fair game. For example, I thought Dkehler might be using his real name, so I googled it and found him - where he volunteered (or was it work? I forgot) and a few pictures. I think that's fair game.

Really, anything that's on the internet and that anyone with two brain cells can find should be fair game. Using an email address to find where someone works? Been there, done that, fair game.

Obvious exceptions are blue room stuff and private facebook profiles.

We all know what personal information is. Don't post it, and don't try to sidestep or bend the rule against it.

This would work if people were not determined to act like children.

I've generally been satisfied with the RL info rule as it was. No posting of personal info unless it was posted by them in a public forum. What's posted in the Blue Room stays in the Blue Room.

That said, I'm not comfortable with the current situation where posters have been using AVs of John Castle. I do think it is trolling in non-trolling forums unless you absolutely don't leave the Red Room and how many of us do that?

You may have posted your photo yourself, but ultimately it is your image and you own it. I'm not comfortable with that situation, but I can't decide exactly where or even if a line should be drawn on it. Maybe it's just a matter of personal ethics.

Indeed.

Castleskin is a psychotic idiot of biblical proportions, but the people trolling him are getting away with fucking murder. You can never convince me that it would have been allowed if it had been someone more 'popular'.

I think most people understand any BBS, or any internet group one can join, terms are subject to change at any time.

I completely agree.

I've gotten PMs from Mods a couple of times for a whole lot less to remove something from my AV or sig, or it would be removed for me. I think this was one of them.

Perhaps, but to suddenly change from a board where personal info is protected to a board where personal info is wide open is a radical departure for board rules and contrary to the original agreement.

Back when I had a 'kills' listed as part of my signature, I was told I had to turn it off when outside the Red Room.

We've come a long ways, haven't we?

I don't like a policy that rewards cyberstalking, or that has inherent grey areas.

Why is a private facebook profile any more obvious an exception than one that someone did not put the right privacy settings on? Or something that requires more sophistication or effort to find?

If you're a builder and signed up to wordforge with a @RaoulHomes.net email address, for example, if I saw it that'd be fair game. If I tried finding your facebook and found it locked, there ends the trail. There's nothing for me to get from it since it's locked away. I'd have to break into that profile to get anything from it, and I think that's the difference. That profile is not readily available, but your email is.

However, if you're a dumbass who leaves info here that leads me to an open, public profile where I can see what you had for dinner for the past 8 years... that's your fault, it's in the open and you told the world. It's up for grabs, IMO.

my opinion: anything not posted on wordforge should be off-limits, as well as anything posted in the blue room.

Hate to agree with ya, but, yep.

I said it in a help desk thread, if some asswipe was playing cyber-dartboard with one of precious little Vlad's pieces of art, their skin would be tanning on Tamar's clothesline.

Here's what I came up with.

OK, so let's say you are smarter/better/luckier and are able to find that there is a web site that is RaoulHomes.net, calls it up, even talks to some employees there. Is that information fair game?

Or you are able somehow to figure out my IP address.

Or you take a crumb of what I said at some point in the years I've been posting here and follow the trail to find out something about me.

Or I just am unclear about how to properly set my privacy settings on FB.

Or you can find a mutual electronic friend or set up a fake e-mail account to figure out what I've been doing.

All that is fair game?

I really don't think the test of what information is fair game should rely on someone being more clever/dedicated/crazy to figure things out, nor on someone not taking more than usual precautions.

I think it's easier to just have a bright-line rule of nothing outside WF should be brought in that is not explicitly volunteered by the person.

In my view, there is/should be a reasonable expectation of privacy here. What I tell people in one forum, even online, doesn't mean that I'm telling it to everyone in every forum. Or at least, that is my preference for the sort of community I would like WF to be. I do not want to feel that if someone were to go postal, they would be allowed to play havoc with either my real life or use my real life to play havoc with my life here.

The Blue Room goes without saying.