FormulaBoinc Forum

Hi all

I've made a temporary change as far as guest access to the forum is concerned. see below.

regards
Tim

Fair enough UBT - Timbo

Hi all

As a result of a certain (supposedly human) person going by the name of "FB-DEAD", sending an abusive PM, I am limiting guest access to this forum.

Clearly, they were using the guest privileges to view the posts I made concerning the problems associated with Sprint #13 and they decided to be a coward and stay anonymous (instead of using their real name) and then search out my profile on a BOINC project and use the projects PM system to send their bilious message.

This sort of abuse will NOT be tolerated.

So, for the time being, you will need to login to read/write postings on the forum.

This may inconvenience you (for which I apologise) but you can always login automatically by allowing your browser to remember your forum username and password.

And if the coward wants to come forward with their real name, it would be much appreciated.

regards
Tim

Hi all

From an admin perspective, it is so good to see so many members signing in...as clearly many would just visit as guests to catch up on recent posts from other members (as well as whatever info I can share with you all).

So, again apologies for having to "enable" this procedure, but if trolls and cowards are going to use the posts here so that they have "ammunition" which they can then use to make personal attacks (via other websites) to any other FB member (as well as myself, which is what precipitated this hopefully temporary change), then it is only reasonable to try and prevent them accessing the forum.

I hope any inconvenience caused is only minor and I look forward to a time when this change can be reversed.

regards
Tim

Hi all

It is nearly 3 months since a abusive PM was sent to me, and in my humble view, now might be a good idea to re-allow guest access to the forum.

However, another consideration is to leave it as it is, as the number of visitors do not appear to have dropped, even if you can only view the posts by being a member AND *if* you log in.

So, as a straw poll, are their any views about whether the forum should stay as it is (and requiring members to log in) or should it be changed back to how it was (and thereby allow guests to view any open postings)?

From my perspective, I'm happy to leave it as it is and the only negative I can think of, is that keeping all posts private means that casual forum visitors are not able to read anything about the efforts made to support the BOINC community, and hence any potential new members may not be enthused about joining BOINC, or even registering for this group and getting involved with the Marathons and/or the Sprints...

So, if you have any views, please let me know (here or via PM, as you prefer).

regards
Tim

Hi Tim,

for me it would be a good option to access forum quickly from other place or machine. And I don't want to be logged in elsewhere apart from my home PC just to read some news or possible issues warnings.

But this feature seems not so important comparing to the safety at any level within this forum or your inbox.

And once again to the other side: at least news section should be public for guests and search bots. How can we attract newcomers for such a closed community anyway?

Best wishes
Dmytro

Hi Dmytro

Thanks for your input and good feedback.

I have the opinion that the biggest problem is that when things go wrong (which can happen to any device) that it opens up the possibility of detractors/criticisers using the situation to make unjustified, abusive and/or inconsiderate posts which are aimed demoralising or pissing off anyone who is trying to keep things ticking over.

So, making the forum for "members only" at least limits such negative comments (and of course means that such comments can be more easily attributed to specific individuals).

And I agree that the downside is that non-members cannot see anything.

So, perhaps, a good compromise might be called for, where some sections are members only and others as open for guests?

A little bit of re-jigging of the current sections might then be needed...or a new section can be added, so maybe this can be done in time for the 2024 season?

regards
Tim

Hi all

"Guest" access has now been re-enabled, so you can VIEW the forum without needing to register...but if you want to comment, then you will still need to log in.

regards
Tim