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Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:50 am
by christopher:::
Hi. I was just wondering what the rationale is for making certain forums/discussions invisible to guests, while others are visible? I was surprised to find that the masterbation discussion has stayed visible while others such as the one dealing with Buddhism and tolerance was made invisible immediately.

I hope its alright if I ask, did you all have a discussion of that sort? I ask cause when we had the tolerance discussion going it was a strange feeling, to suddenly have the thread closed to the larger public, like a door had been closed.

Over at ZFI we do have a few forums not visible to guests. If I recall correctly our rational was to protect the privacy of members revealing personal information. If your purpose is similar I would suggest moving the masterbation discussion to a less "public" forum.


:namaste:

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 4:48 am
by Ben
Hi Christopher, hello all

A decision was made a few weeks ago to make some fora on Dhamma Wheel viewable to members only. The reason was because it would discourage lurking and encourage membership (and hopefully) contributions. My colleagues and I (Retro was on holidays at this point) went through the fora and nominated which fora would ideally be viewable by members who were logged in. Nothing new was added nor taken away. Its just a means to encourage membership and for members to log in. If you are logged in, you are more likely to join in the discussions - which was felt to be a benefit.

As the ex-privacy officer of a large municipality in Australia, my advice to all members is that one should only post or retain on their profile only personal information which one would be comfortable writing on the back of a post card. Be judicious - don't be paranoid.
Kind regards

Ben

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:01 am
by mikenz66
Which ones are invisible (to save me the trouble of working through them)?

Mike

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:17 am
by tiltbillings
mikenz66 wrote:Which ones are invisible (to save me the trouble of working through them)?

Mike

If you are signed, none of them. If you are not signed in, as would be so of a "guest", you will see that there is, for example, a Dhamma-free-for-all section, but you'll not be able to read unless signed in.

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:34 am
by retrofuturist
Greetings Mike, all,

Classical Theravada is another that guests cannot currently access.

It's all subject to change though (as is anything), so if there are any alternative methods by which to achieve the ends that Ben describes in his post above, then please let us know your thoughts.

Metta,
Retro. :)

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:45 am
by Jechbi
Ben wrote:... and encourage membership (and hopefully) contributions.
You mean contributions as in thoughtful posts?

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:50 am
by Ben
Hi Jechbi
Jechbi wrote:
Ben wrote:... and encourage membership (and hopefully) contributions.
You mean contributions as in thoughtful posts?
Ideally, yes. However, i realise that the reality may be a little different and the ideal may take a little longer to actualise.
Cheers

Ben

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:06 am
by Jechbi
Cuz actually at first I thought you meant dana.

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:11 am
by Ben
Jechbi wrote:Cuz actually at first I thought you meant dana.
Oh, dear me! No no no no!!!!!!!
I wouldn't even make a hint that anyone should give dana!
Kind regards

Ben

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:16 am
by Mawkish1983
Ben wrote:Oh, dear me! No no no no!!!!!!!
I wouldn't even make a hint that anyone should give dana!
... but if we wanted to donate some money via paypal without our wives (who might forbid all financial transactions of a selfless nature) knowing, is there a system in place? How much does this place cost to operate (or is it secret?)?

Re: Rational for Making Forums Invisible to Guests?

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 6:43 pm
by DNS
I have moved the discussion about dana and suggested places to make donations to the Announcements forum.

:anjali: