News Forum |
 |
|
 Caves Dweller
Rascii
     Administrator

|
3/7/2013 | |
In an effort to prevent Creatures Caves from becoming like Facebook, I've been slowly implementing some new features that make the website more private for users.
As of the website revamp (last summer):
- User profiles are no longer public; you must be logged in to view them.
- Bibbles are also private (must be logged in to view them)
- The users list is now private
- All e-mail addresses are automatically hidden
- The MSN, ICQ and AIM listings were deleted
- Passwords in cookies were encrypted (and now all passwords in the database are also encrypted)
Additionally, I'm now in the process of introducing a feature whereby users can choose to mark new posts as 'private' when posting them, which means that only logged-in users can view the posts.
This makes it so that users can feel free to share pictures and information without having to worry that it will be searchable on Google, Google Images, or archived on websites like archive.org. Right now it only works for posting new images, but soon it will be rolled out throughout the site.
If people are interested, I'm also considering a feature in My Caves Settings whereby users can choose to mark all of their posts throughout the website as 'private', including posts made before the feature was introduced.
I've also toyed with the idea of making the forums private. Any opinions on these subjects? 
- Rascii |
 Sanely Insane
RisenAngel
     Manager

|
3/7/2013 | |
I'm neutral to most of those, but I object to making the forums private.
If you make it so people who aren't logged in can't see the forums, you'll increase the security, but at the same time you might deter potential new users who want to lurk around for a while before signing up. If they can't judge if the community's to their liking before signing up, they might not want to sign up at all (especially considering that signing up isn't necessary for the downloads).
~ The Realm ~
Risen Angel's Creatures Blog
|
 Caves Dweller
Rascii
     Administrator

|
3/7/2013 | |
There's also a flip side: Some people browse the forums for a long time without posting simply because they can. But if they were forced to be logged in, perhaps they would have posted responses.
I generally think there are probably a handful of missed replies due to people not being logged in. I know personally I wouldn't want to go through the sign up process just to post one reply when I'm reading a thread. But if I were already logged in, I would be more likely to reply.
- Rascii |
 Tea Queen
Laura
    

|
3/7/2013 | |
Neat. Thanks, Rascii!
If it were me, I wouldn't make the forums private; I'm willing to bet that unregistered users search the forums for help, news, etc. I know I often find that useful on other forums where I want to look up something without having to register.  |
 Caves Dweller
Rascii
     Administrator

|
3/7/2013 | |
But since they're unregistered, they can't contribute to the website. And without contributions, the website doesn't grow. ![[ncrying] [ncrying]](/images/smilies/emot_crying.gif)
I definitely see both sides though. Maybe it could just show the first 100 characters for people who aren't logged in.
- Rascii |
 Prodigal Sock
Ghosthande
    

|
3/7/2013 | 2 |
I have to agree with Laura and GM on this one... I fear that you're more likely to turn away potential members with that strategy. We aren't trying to "drive" people in so we can make money off them, and we don't want the Creatures Community to feel like an introverted, "clubbish" place; the fact that new people can feel welcome here right away has, to me, always been the best part about it.
I personally never join a forum if I can't already see what's going on there, because I can't tell if it's worth it or not. What if the members are horrible people who will be mean to me (which in my experience is often the case)? What if I just don't share anything in common with them? What if it turns out that they can't, or won't, help me with this one problem that I need help with?
Folks need to be able to see something to know CCaves is worth joining. Otherwise they won't know that we have fun topics to joke around in, cool news about Creatures 4, and helpful people will answer their CAOS or other computer questions... they'll just be joining a big blank and hoping for the best.
 |

Razgriz

|
3/7/2013 | |
Just to chime in on this topic:
Rascii wrote: But since they're unregistered, they can't contribute to the website. And without contributions, the website doesn't grow. ![[ncrying] [ncrying]](/images/smilies/emot_crying.gif)
I definitely see both sides though. Maybe it could just show the first 100 characters for people who aren't logged in.
If you restrict guests from seeing the forums or limiting the messages they can see, you're more likely to drive them away rather than enticing them to register.
If they can't see how the community is like, why should they bother to register? Suppose an unregistered user is new to the series and is looking for a bit of help but has been in similarly small communities before and had bad experiences with such. Now, let's assume the forums are blocked for viewing to those not registered, why should that user register when past experience has left them burned? They can't see the community's attitude at all so I don't think they would take the chance of being burned yet again.
Now, if the forums don't have such limitations, that user can easily see how friendly the people here are and that help will be given if possible. Thus, they are encouraged to register and get involved.
I can see that you want the site to grow, of course, but attempting to force registration is most certainly not the way to go. |
 Wee Scrivener
Trell
    

|
3/7/2013 | 1 |
I like the idea of making some of the stuff private, but I have to agree, making the forums private is going a little too far. Even I lurked around here for at least three weeks before I worked up the confidence to sign up, and had I not seen how much fun everyone was having, all the projects being done, how nice everyone is, I wouldn't have joined in the first place. Besides, if you can't see the post and how much fun it could be, how can you know if you want to join or not?
Trell
"Holy crap in a casket!" |
 Senior Wrangler
Nutter
    
|
3/7/2013 | 2 |
Does it have to be an either/or? Can privacy be set on individual sections of the forum? That way you could make part of the site members-only but leave some parts available for public view. |
 Wee Scrivener
Trell
    

|
3/7/2013 | |
Nutter wrote: Does it have to be an either/or? Can privacy be set on individual sections of the forum? That way you could make part of the site members-only but leave some parts available for public view.
Ooh, yeah! GirlySatan said something like this earlier... The Help section should always be viewable by all. But Survivor and the like, could get away with being private.
Trell
"Holy crap in a casket!" |

Jessica
    

|
3/7/2013 | 1 |
I'm on board with pretty much everything that has been said. I see your point in trying to get more people registered and active by making the forums private, but I believe this would be more detrimental. I know it's not exactly the same scenario, but Creaturetopia has always been private. User registrations have been down for a long time, yet I always felt that the need to register was a little more of a deterrent. You really have no idea what to expect, and with a lot of online communities being rather serious and uptight, I think it's a benefit to help new members see what a helpful, open, and friendly community we have here.
Nutter brings up a good point about having some forums remain private, like Survivor and Strangeo.
I like what you've done for privacy so far, Rascii! Even the option to have certain things we post remain private might be a good compromise: Those who would like to use this feature are able, while the majority of the site could stay open for public viewing.
Discover Albia |
 Wee Scrivener
Trell
    

|
3/7/2013 | |
Here here, Jessica!
Trell
"Holy crap in a casket!" |
 Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
    

|
3/7/2013 | 1 |
I think user profiles should definitely private. A few years back at my school some creep decided to bookmark the link to my profile and make jokes about it. Creep...
Along with user profiles bibbles, email addresses etc should also be private in my opinion. |

Malkin
     Manager

|
3/7/2013 | |
Thank you for implementing all these new privacy features - I feel a bit better knowing that the profiles and contact details are private. 
My TCR Norns |

Don
   

|
3/7/2013 | |
If a thread/post is private you wouldn't be able to see it to get tempted to log in to reply.. which is one of our primary goals 
Don
AmberCreatures
 |

Liam
  

|
3/7/2013 | |
As others have said, making things register-to-view works as a disincentive, not an incentive. From experience, open forums are much more successful in encouraging people to join.
- Liam / K'aeloree
Spellhold Studios, a Baldur's Gate II, Neverwinter Nights and Oblivion Modding Community |

Merboy
 
|
3/7/2013 | |
I just appreciate anything that strives to "not like Facebook". Thank you, Rascii, you are a true marvel!
The Lantern Light.com |
 Air Guitarist
kezune
    

|
3/7/2013 | |
Actually, I really like Facebook. I do appreciate the strides you've made to protect our privacy but I don't think the forum should be private at all. I must've lurked for a half year before I finally decided to join the forum at all. I wish I could say the same about Creaturetopia but because I can't view it at all I've completely lost interest in creating an account and have given up on accessing all the useful resources that the site's supposed to have.
In regards to the contact information, I'd like to have the option to make those things available. I like to maintain friendships outside of the forums I visit and it's actually more comfortable for me to talk in private than in a public format like the chatroom. Just me, though.
Updated Rehosting Policy[/title] |

Malkin
     Manager

|
3/7/2013 | |
I've PMed people and asked them for their email addresses when I've wanted to send them something - v.v. old school, but it mostly works. 
My TCR Norns |
 Caves Dweller
Rascii
     Administrator

|
3/8/2013 | |
Razgriz wrote: why should that user register when past experience has left them burned? They can't see the community's attitude at all so I don't think they would take the chance of being burned yet again. I think the 'attitude' of Creatures Caves is displayed very publicly via the news, image galleries, universal website commenting and other features. The forums are not the only place where Creatures Caves members share their thoughts and ideas on this website.
Ghosthande wrote: Folks need to be able to see something to know CCaves is worth joining. See above comment to Razgriz.
C-Rex wrote: I think user profiles should definitely private. A few years back at my school some creep decided to bookmark the link to my profile and make jokes about it. Creep...
Along with user profiles bibbles, email addresses etc should also be private in my opinion. Thanks. I'm glad to hear that you appreciate these features being private.
Nutter wrote: Does it have to be an either/or? Can privacy be set on individual sections of the forum? That way you could make part of the site members-only but leave some parts available for public view. As mentioned in my initial post in this topic:
"I'm now in the process of introducing a feature whereby users can choose to mark new posts as 'private' when posting them, which means that only logged-in users can view the posts.
If people are interested, I'm also considering a feature in My Caves Settings whereby users can choose to mark all of their posts throughout the website as 'private', including posts made before the feature was introduced."
kezune wrote: I wish I could say the same about Creaturetopia but because I can't view it at all I've completely lost interest in creating an account and have given up on accessing all the useful resources that the site's supposed to have. New Creaturetopia accounts cannot be created, so it is impossible for you to join their website. However, Creatures Caves accounts can be quickly and easily created by anyone.
kezune wrote: In regards to the contact information, I'd like to have the option to make those things available. I like to maintain friendships outside of the forums I visit and it's actually more comfortable for me to talk in private than in a public format like the chatroom. Just me, though. You may send a private message to any user on this website by clicking the little speech bubble at the top right of their profile or under their username in the forums. Additionally, if you would like to make your AIM, MSN, ICQ and/or e-mail publicly available, you may put this information in the "info" section of your profile. For example:
ICQ: #####
Email: lala@testing.com
However, in today's world of bots crawling the internet and spammers collecting e-mail addresses, I don't think it's necessary or appropriate for Creatures Caves to encourage users' contact information being publicly shared and catalogued by search engines like Google.
Anyway, I appreciate everyone's feedback on the thought of making the forums private. Based on the feedback, they will remain public.
However, not many people have responded to the option of making individual posts private (except for Jessica -- thank you ). Is there any interest in this feature? Would anyone even use it? If not, I won't spend all the necessary hours creating and implementing it.
The main reason that I personally don't like my forum posts being public is that I don't like the idea of them being catalogued and searchable on Google. Maybe I'm just freakishly paranoid though, because it seems everyone else is comfortable with it. 
- Rascii |
 Tea Queen
Laura
    

|
3/8/2013 | |
Sorry, Rascii; I've been distracted by things! Maybe having the option to make individual posts private could act as an additional compromise, in regards to not making the entire forums private. Just speaking personally, I'm not sure if I'd use it though. On a different forum I visit there's a private sub-forum instead, separate from the rest, where only members can post. It works well. |
 Senior Wrangler
Nutter
    
|
3/8/2013 | |
Sorry Rascii, I'd got swamped in the mass of replies and was replying to those!
I'm not sure I'd use a private post feature; but then I tend not to post my name, pics or personal information specifically because I've been on the net a long time. I can see how being able to make all your posts private in one fell swoop would be useful though, in certain situations.
A lot of other forums I've been on have one or more boards that are "members-only", which gets round the individual post privacy issue - anything you want hidden, post to the members board. I think you do get a feel for the site from the community pages but it's not the same as being able to view people's interactions on the forum itself. |

Malkin
     Manager

|
3/11/2013 | |
Has anyone tried logging out and browsing as a 'Guest' yet?
My TCR Norns |
 Patient Pirate
ylukyun
     Manager
|
3/12/2013 | |
I got logged out a couple of times, I didn't notice that much difference. |