The Personal Information Rule

Tired of doing it all yourself?

I would add user handles except as shared on a voluntary basis. We get into controversial subject matter here that people may not wish to have associated with their other online activities. Put more simply, people might not want employers finding this place and judging them on the behavior of the lot of us.

I would suggest that we don't discuss each others' online activities elsewhere, period. If you didn't do it here, I won't talk about it here.

Agreed. Even what I typed up was getting to be too long.

Yeah I don't think anyone considers user handles and posts as personal information (unless the contents of the posts were revealing personal information about themselves). Stuff like Facebook, Livejournal (people still use that right??), LinkedIn, etc. would of course be protected personal information. Of course, it could be a tricky area if a member used their real name as their user handle at another board but not at WF.

Warning for discussing a PM in open forum.

Or is that rule now subjective too?

Considering many of us came from TrekBBS and discuss it on occasion, I would not be in favor of a rule like that. I think we can draw a clear distinction between social/professional networking sites being protected but internet forums being fair game (so long as it's not revealing personal info posted on another board).

He didn't post the contents. Summing up in a basic way has never been against the rules.

He just wants to be protected from the consequences of his own actions.

The other thing is that trekbbs, troll kingdom, and sorry to say it, stardestroyer.net are part of wordforge's DNA. I think it's reasonable to discuss users from those boards.

And it would mean having to give up the smiley.

Indy.

He was suffering from a debillitating illness and was using the interwebz to blow off steam, and because of that was a major dickhead at times. I think he passed from said illness, though I don't know for sure. He dropped off the boards and never came back.

A lot of the big posters are so because they don't have other outlets. Sometimes its social anxiety, sometimes its illness. Daystrom was the same - he had lots of mental issues so he was basically a shut in. It tended to show up in his posting style, which is why so many people hated him.

Heck, I probably stayed in online communities because I got cancer and couldn't really get out much for 3-4 years before I beat it.

Oh, and then there was Mastermind. He was a smart guy with an incredibly unfortunate physical appearance. He made friends with a girl, fell for her, invented a online persona who was another girl and tried to convince her that Mastermind was a swell guy that she should date. Needless to say she found out and cut off all contact with him.

Overall most online interactions are positive and I personally have made some friends. Hell I started writing stories online with one girl and ended up marrying her two years later.

I'm just a bit tired of the internet warriorz aspect of it, which is why I was happy to see rep go.

Yes, some of you people piss me off, but thats a transitory thing and often my issue, not yours.

Not everyone here is someone I'd be a friend with IRL, but lots of them are, and I'd like to see more of that.

Never. But it's always best to have access to information from a multiplicity of sources. You don't want n00bs to be as ignorant as FOXNews viewers.

My understanding is the policy of WF is "if you can find it on the Internet, it's fair game."

I would say that is far too expansive, as I've said earlier. At most, I would say information posted on a couple specific websites like TrekBBS and Troll Kingdom, where a poster knows or should know that WF members would reasonably have access to it.

Not to be overly legalistic, but the way this technically reads protects only information posted by a user in the Blue Room or at another web site.

If one were to adopt some version of this, I would flip the first and second sentence. I would slightly rephrase them as follows:

"Personal information of Wordforge users generally is not to be discussed in public areas of Wordforge outside the Blue Room without the user's permission. Posting personal information in the Blue Room is protected and does not in and of itself give users permission to discuss that information."

The rest of that sort of proposed policy seems fine.

I've already faced those consequences. My personal interest is in keeping actions of the past in the past. Everyone's. You won't find me at PhraseAnvil 5 years from now talking crap about gul and El Chup from way back at Wordforge in 2012, or you and Storm from TK in '03.

Yes, so long as the contents of what you find is not personal information. For instance, if someone was a member of a model train forum and posted where they lived for a fellow model train enthusiast get together, that should absolutely be protected personal information. But anything else that isn't personal information posted at that forum should be fair game (i.e. if they had a thread about politics in which that person said they agreed with Hitler's policies). We shouldn't encourage such internet detective work, though, and it should be frowned upon. And honestly, anything posted on social networking sites should be protected.

Yeah I wasn't happy with my phrasing, I was just writing it quickly. That's a better way of phrasing it, but the last sentence is a little confusing. To me, it sounds like we can't discuss something posted in the Blue Room within the same Blue Room thread.

I have no idea what PhraseAnvil is, but if I posted there, and lots of people there also posted here? Then yeah, you could talk about it.

I agree that I would rather see more of a friendly hangout atmosphere. The "INTERNET WARRIOR RARRGH" aspect of Wordforge can be entertaining in moderation (especially if it's clever), but we do honestly have way too much of it. It has calmed down, but not as much as I'd like.

We are of the same mindset, I believe.

But unless I'm missing something, Tamar is of the mindset, "You put it on the Internet anywhere outside the Blue Room or a PM, it is and should be fair game for someone to find and troll you with. At least, as long as it can be found through basic Googling. Anything on FB. Anything on Linked In. Anything on any web site ever. We know there are some people who might try to do this so there's no point in trying to create a rule preventing them from doing this."

She can correct me if I'm wrong.

That could be remedied simply enough:

"Personal information posted in the Blue Room is protected. People may post personal information and respond to Blue Room posts containing personal information without giving permission to use that personal information outside the Blue Room."

That is my impression too. I'm hoping no one else agrees with the sentiment that everything outside of WF is fair game.

That works.

Just an example name of whatever future board might come down the line.

It might be that I could -- but I won't. You may do things here as "gul" that are fun for now but that you might not appreciate being dogged over until the heat-death of the universe, particularly at other places where your interests or even your posting style might have evolved beyond what they are in 2012 on WF. Not only would I respect that, I feel like it's simply common sense.

If you ever wonder why I still act like visionrazor, it's because damned if I can't get away from visionrazor. If I'm still going to wear the mantle, whether I want to or not, what point is there in changing the way I post? I've been trying to leave that behind -- let me.

There seemingly were a few people who agreed that if it's on the Internet (with those minor exceptions) it's fair game, including $corp, TKO and maybe someone else I'm forgetting ATM.

But the real power is Tamar, to steal a phrase from TOS.

Even if she is the only one who believes that pretty much everything online is fair game, then that is going to effectively be the policy unless or until Lanzmann contradicts her.

And even if he does, she can set the tone for enforcing the policy such that essentially anything online remains fair game.

Exactly.

http://www.well.com/~art/

Here is a first possible draft:

Thoughts?

That seems to be fair and clear.

It's never been like that.

Seriously what the hell drugs do some of you do that you think this stuff?

If that was the policy of Wordforge this place would have burned down long ago.

You have a short memory. It was exactly like that as soon as Tamar became a member of staff. It's only been gradually - and partially - contained as a result of repeated outcries from the membership, at which point she simply went underground, supplying certain posters with info from the Tamarchives via PM so they could conduct subtle campaigns on her behalf.

Every single rule regarding personal information enacted on this board has been the result of curtailing Tamar's shenanigans in the past.

Or did you think were based on nothing?

Warned for being a douchebag.

Which is NOT subjective.

Warning for outing a fellow douchebag.

Which is NOT subjective.

Yeah it's all one big conspiracy......

No, just a tiny little power trip.

My suggestions: