Moderator Recruitment / Respect / Privacy & Anonymity / Curtailing Abuse

[[Ho...]]

We understand that the majority of members appreciate the changes and the hard work of our dev team. I can speak for the dev team when I say, thank you for your support and it's our pleasure.

[[ho...]]

Thank you to each of you on the team who works to keep this life-saving forum running. 

[[gr...]]

Very impressed by your dedication to the members here, Colin. Thank you and thanks to your team for all that they do.

Great changes

 

[[mt...]]

I would like to suggest Vertigo as a moderator.  He has been a godsend to me and soooo many others.  I think he would make an

excellent addition to the team!!

 

Thanks for all your hard work and care dear moderators!

Mimi

[[Ho...]]

I appreciate your nonmination, but for the same security reasons, we can't consider such nominations. As we've said, the most helpful thing our members can do is accept an invitation if you receive one.

[[sa...]]

These changes are fabulous and greatly appreciated! :clap: :clap:

[[Ho...]]

[Guest [...]]

thing is if the person is on the forum and others who have multiple memberships this will not stop them at all.

 

So, partial success is worth nothing!? Better to do nothing and have no success? I think that is more than a little defeatist. We can do only what we can do.

 

As I explained, access (for those seek to cause us problems) has also been severely curtailed. These measures are incremental, and more will follow.

 

not at all i was answering eli's comment thats all    I think its fantastic

[Guest [...]]

I am very pleased with all these privacy improvements. I just logged out to check out what a visitor would see.

 

As names are being hidden in posts, I'm wondering if you have ever considered removing the list of people who are active? Even members don't really need to see who is active at any particular time. Do they? Just a thought.

 

Xana

 

[[...]]

I guess I won't hold my breath for an invitation since you're not yet letting standards slip.

Just kidding. I just thought that was a funny thing to say in front of ALL members.

[[Co...]]

thing is if the person is on the forum and others who have multiple memberships this will not stop them at all.

 

So, partial success is worth nothing!? Better to do nothing and have no success? I think that is more than a little defeatist. We can do only what we can do.

 

As I explained, access (for those seek to cause us problems) has also been severely curtailed. These measures are incremental, and more will follow.

 

not at all i was answering eli's comment thats all    I think its fantastic

 

Oh. I still don't quote understand, but if it was crossed wires, am I am sorry.

 

Colin.

[[Co...]]

I am very pleased with all these privacy improvements. I just logged out to check out what a visitor would see.

 

As names are being hidden in posts, I'm wondering if you have ever considered removing the list of people who are active? Even members don't really need to see who is active at any particular time. Do they? Just a thought.

 

Xana

 

Hi Xana,

 

We deliberately left the Who's Online list in place. It is useful for visitors to see that the forum is 'hopping', as this will not be very obvious from the stripped posts (we are also making code changes to remove the online/offline badges from posts as I type this message); and many boards are now completely hidden to guests.

 

From time-to-time, I login simply because I notice someone in that list I wish to catch - I'm sure I'm not the only one that does this.

 

There is no practical way for someone to attempt to match up names from the Who's Online list to individual redacted posts from the public boards.

[[Co...]]

I guess I won't hold my breath for an invitation since you're not yet letting standards slip.

Just kidding. I just thought that was a funny thing to say in front of ALL members.

 

Hi goto

 

There are a great many things we look at when we consider inviting someone to the team. There are some great people that we end up not inviting because of a small issue that is probably nothing to do with their 'character'. No sleight was intended by my remarks, of course. I am just trying to be as transparent as possible, but without revealing anything that potentially might be used against us, and reassure members - given the abuses that have taken place without -  that we take security seriously.

[[Ho...]]

Btw, these are the boards that are members-only. In other words, you can use names on these boards and guests will not be able to see them. This board (Community News) is not viewable by guests. 

 

Buddie Blogs

Buddie Space

Faith and Philosophy

Alternative Therapies & Supplements

Off-Topic

Progress Logs

Community News and Notices

Feedback

Technical Support

 

I know this may be too much to ask, but it would be a lot easier to keep up with the members only boards if they were "color coded". Especially for those of us with benzo brain still. 

 

The members could see it to know which ones to be more careful about what they post on if it is a semi-private matter.

[[Ho...]]

I can speak to Colin about "colour coding". I'm not sure about if this is possible within the forum software.

 

However, I think it's probably a good idea for members to get into the routine of leaving other members names out of their posts, across the board (so to speak), as well as leaving their own names out of posts. Whether or not this works is very dependent on individual members and how they post.

 

 

[[je...]]

Hope...That is a very good point.  It will begin immediately and I hope others do so as well.  And these are all great "upgrades"...so thanks. 

[[Co...]]

Btw, these are the boards that are members-only. In other words, you can use names on these boards and guests will not be able to see them. This board (Community News) is not viewable by guests. 

 

Buddie Blogs

Buddie Space

Faith and Philosophy

Alternative Therapies & Supplements

Off-Topic

Progress Logs

Community News and Notices

Feedback

Technical Support

I know this may be too much to ask, but it would be a lot easier to keep up with the members only boards if they were "color coded". Especially for those of us with benzo brain still. 

 

The members could see it to know which ones to be more careful about what they post on if it is a semi-private matter.

 

This had already occurred to me. It would require us maintaining two sets of forum templates. Or, I might append the private board titles with something like '[Members-only]', but I am unsure if that would make much practical difference.  I have not even discussed this with other members of the team. I really don't know if it is worth doing.

[[Ho...]]

Btw, these are the boards that are members-only. In other words, you can use names on these boards and guests will not be able to see them. This board (Community News) is not viewable by guests. 

 

Buddie Blogs

Buddie Space

Faith and Philosophy

Alternative Therapies & Supplements

Off-Topic

Progress Logs

Community News and Notices

Feedback

Technical Support

I know this may be too much to ask, but it would be a lot easier to keep up with the members only boards if they were "color coded". Especially for those of us with benzo brain still. 

 

The members could see it to know which ones to be more careful about what they post on if it is a semi-private matter.

 

This had already occurred to me. It would require us maintaining two sets of forum templates. Or, I might append the private board titles with something like '[Members-only]', but I am unsure if that would make much practical difference.  I have not even discussed this with other members of the team. I really don't know if it is worth doing.

 

Ah ok, thanks.

 

Yea, maintaining two templates just for that sounds like a lot of trouble for something so little. Appending it for (members only) sounds more practical, if you decided to do it. Either way, Thanks for all the trouble you and the rest of the team go through to keep this a good place for support.

[[Co...]]

Ooops. There was a small hole in the '[Name hidden]' obfuscation system, hiding the names of member to guests. A little used function was missed. Anyway, just to let you know, JackSparrow (one of our developers) just fixed this - no more hole.

 

Obviously, if, when logged out of the forum, any of you come across a way of viewing the names of posters to the public boards, contact the team (privately) and we will fix it. Though, I'm pretty sure we have all the bases covered now.

 

Thanks.

[[KR...]]

Hi all,

 

Further to my post from a few weeks ago, Hope1962 and I would like to see a return of the systems we suspended last year because of abuses (originating from outside of BB) and because of a major forum upgrade which proved incompatible with some add-on systems. Unfortunately, until we have a larger team, we cannot commit the required moderation resources to return all these features and systems. We are actively looking for members to invite onto the team to help out and return the forum to normal functioning.

 

Moderator Recruitment

 

Every so often, we go through a round of sending out invitations to potential moderators, but, of course, for a variety of reasons, not all potential moderators feel that they can say 'yes'. Mostly, they cite their own recovery problems. I'd like to reassure members that we do not expect members of the team to neglect their personal recovery priorities, and we even supply a team support area in case they might prefer to discuss their personal withdrawal and recovery problems 'in private'. Other team members prefer to use the public boards. Being a member of the team requires little more time here then you would normally spend on the forum. Your own recovery should not be compromised by any commitment you might make to the team, and even affords you a second avenue of support. And, of course, any such commitment to the team is not binding. Most of the team take breaks from time-to-time too - this is to be expected.

 

Respect

 

We have received one or two hints at another barrier that might discourage some from joining the team. It seems that some members feel that team members attract an unwarranted and disproportionate amount of abuse from a small number of members. Whilst we try our best to be understanding towards those that may be acting out of character during their withdrawal, if this has the effect of discouraging others from joining the team, or impedes team members' own recovery, this is unacceptable. This affects individual team members, and the forum as whole if it makes it harder for us to recruit suitable people to be moderators. The services and features we provide are directly affected by the size of the active team. So, we have decided to take a tougher approach with those that engage in such abuse. Some of you will know that we banned a few persistently problematical members a few weeks ago - this has improved the situation - the forum is much more settled.

 

The 'tougher' stance on abuse will affect few members, and so long as any 'complaints' are handled appropriately and proportionately by contacting the team through the PM system or the Help Desk, simply complaining about an issue you feel was not handled well or handled unjustly, will have no effect upon your membership of this forum. As before, neither will simple, respectful, measured public statements disagreeing with me or a team member on a particular matter attract the attentions of the moderation team. This is purely about requiring a little more respect towards those that volunteer their help during a time when they are usually trying to cope with their own personal struggles too, and to ensure that members are not put off joining the team.

 

Privacy & Anonymity

 

Another (smaller issue) that affects all members (but which might be a greater issue for some considering joining the team), relates to 'privacy'. Recently, as most of you are probably aware - following requests from members that make the forum 'private' - we changed some forum boards to 'members only'. We do not propose to make all areas of the forum private; certainly not those core areas which most benefit visitors to the website. However, to help provide even greater privacy, we have just made changes to how posts on the remaining public boards are displayed to non-members and search engines. Anyone not logged into the forum will be unable to view the personal information that is usually included with posts: membership name, avatar, signature line, gender, post count, tag line, and names appearing in quote headers. These changes will not remove your name when it is included within the body of a post, but it will make member contributions more anonymous. This measure will have little detrimental effect upon the casual visitor looking for information, arriving here because of a search engine return. They will still be able to read the 'meat' of the posts.

 

Curtailing Abuse

 

As I reported a few days ago, we have also taken measures to keep out a few determined miscreants, who are interested in nothing more than creating problems and upset for members, and attempt to engage in systematic abuse. They are now finding it very difficult access the forum through proxies, etc. We are adding more barriers all the time; it will become almost impossible for them to access our private and non-anonymised content as further measures are rolled out.

 

Request

 

On behalf of Hope and pianogirl and the rest of the team, I'd like to ask members two things:

 

[*]If in the past you were invited to join the team, but felt that you were unable to accept (for whatever reason), but you now feel more able to offer this kind of help, please contact Hope1962 or pianogirl.

 

 

[*]If you are contacted by a member of the team inquiring whether you might like to join the team, please give this serious consideration.

 

In Summary

 

There are a number of features and services - and future planned services - which are affected by the shortfall in the size of the team we require. Members should understand that we are very careful about those we ask to join the team; we will sacrifice services and features before we drop our expectations and standards from the team. If members would like to see a return of the chat room, and the creation of some great new features (that we've had to place on the back-burner), this lies in your hands.

 

I look forward to reading your comments and feedback.

 

Thank you.

 

This is a great feature to help secure privacy from non members. I had a problem with certain family members and co workers reading what I was posting on here back in the day. They werent members however one person found out my screen name and of course told others. They told each other they should come here and read some of the crazy stuff I was saying. Crazy to them. Not to me. I was in hell. As if any of this is funny or something. They would simply come to Benzobuddies and follow certain threads I was posting on without having to log in. Pretty sneaky of them I must say. They would later bring up the things I was saying on here and twist them around. Even worse they would read what i wrote and then try to discredit the things I was going through. I was pretty taken back by all of this. Really pissed me off if you want to know the truth.

 

O well. I'm done trying to seek validation from any of them. Their all out of my life now. I could care less what any of them read or know now. I'm free from worrying about what these meaningless people think about this or the process. I told them all to get screwed. No more fake friendships for me. I would rather be alone than deal with fake friends or family members that don't believe in the pain and suffering that can be caused by these horrible drugs.

 

 

[[Wi...]]

Krock,

 

Not sure what's worse/better. In my case they simply don't care lol

 

It does suck that they, in effect, invaded your privacy for malicious purposes.  I'm really sorry to hear that.  It's something no one needs, but especially when we are in a bad place to begin with.

 

WWWI 

[[Co...]]

KRock,

 

I am sorry to learn this happened to you.

 

This is one of the reasons we keep pushing that members should use names they use nowhere else, and that they keep their identity here private.

[[KR...]]

KRock,

 

I am sorry to learn this happened to you.

 

This is one of the reasons we keep pushing that members should use names they use nowhere else, and that they keep their identity here private.

 

Thanks Colin...this was the main reason I changed my screen name awhile back. And yes...People should keep their screen name PRIVATE even from loved ones and friends. Believe me..people are REALLY nosey and will read what you write when your not around if they have a chance. Its almost like leaving your diary open on the kitchen table.

[[Fl...]]

I would like to thank all of you on the team for your dedicated work and for your measures in keeping us as secure as possible.  We are already in a vulnerable place going through wd and to feel more secure is a positive thing.  I know I have been more transparent here than anywhere but I feel if it will help not only myself but others then it will be worth it in the end.

thanks again,

Flutterbye

[[Ho...]]

It's our pleasure, Flutterbye.  I'm glad you feel more secure.

 

Hope