am i supposed to be able to see mod forums?

[PowerEngineer]

Well, as of now we've only heard your side of the story, esquared. It wouldn't surprise me to see GA get banned, but Mosh for the small time I've been here has been a great member. You guys have given us very little in the way of information regarding what exactly it is that happened.

I'm often mildly amused when I read postings suggesting that AnandTech must honor the poster's ideas of "free speech" and/or privacy. However, the sheer number of such postings in this thread (typified by this one) drives me to comment.

Being a member of the AnandTech forums is similar to being invited to a party at someone's house. We get to enjoy the party as long as the host allows us to stay. If the host has certain rules for us to follow, our options are to either follow those rules or to leave; the host is under no obligations to either explain or justify the rules to our satisfaction. Similarly, we have no right to demand an explanation if the host asks one of the other party-goers to leave. And certainly when offered an explanation, it is exceptionally bad manners to question the host's honesty. If we don't like the party, we can leave.

It is also perfectly obvious that every word we post in the fourms -- and in "private" messages -- has to be available to the moderators of this site (regardless of the degree to which they may have accessed them in this particular case). To feign surprise or outrage at this possibility is certainly disingenuous, and seems aimed at diverting attention from what triggered the bans (like the knee-jerk calls of "police brutality").

Let's not take these forums (particularly ATOT) so seriously.

 

[alkemyst]

I actually think that it could make a very interesting article for a legal journal.

LoL good luck with that, Personally I'd have k-lined you for a thinly-veiled threat like this.

 

[olds]

To those that would an dxplanation of the PM issue, I will waste my cell phone power to explain what was said be Ben, without hostility.

PMs are not readily viewable by Moderators.
For a PM to be viewed, one has to log onto the account.
That requires a password.

IF a serious situation develops, a Senior Admin can change an account password to access the account and review PMs. This is only when the Forums are felt to be jepordized, most usually with respect to a problem , to determine fault or track a fraud/thief in FS/T.

Logs allow Moderators to determine who is viewing what forum at a given time.

When informed of the breach, the logs determined who accessed the breach.

From there, the accounts were checked to see what may have been disciminated. Why that decision was made was based on additional info reported to the Moderators.

I hope that clears up the use/acess of PMs and logs

EK
Admin

Why was that even necessary?
Close the hole and move on. Deal with issues that pop up because of it as they pop up.

 

[alfa147x]

To those that would an dxplanation of the PM issue, I will waste my cell phone power to explain what was said be Ben, without hostility.

PMs are not readily viewable by Moderators.
For a PM to be viewed, one has to log onto the account.
That requires a password.

IF a serious situation develops, a Senior Admin can change an account password to access the account and review PMs. This is only when the Forums are felt to be jepordized, most usually with respect to a problem , to determine fault or track a fraud/thief in FS/T.

Logs allow Moderators to determine who is viewing what forum at a given time.

When informed of the breach, the logs determined who accessed the breach.

From there, the accounts were checked to see what may have been disciminated. Why that decision was made was based on additional info reported to the Moderators.

I hope that clears up the use/acess of PMs and logs

EK
Admin

My problem with the whole thing is that people (higher ups) claimed that PMs could or are not read. Which according to you is false

 

[olds]

I'm often mildly amused when I read postings suggesting that AnandTech must honor the poster's ideas of "free speech" and/or privacy. However, the sheer number of such postings in this thread (typified by this one) drives me to comment.

Being a member of the AnandTech forums is similar to being invited to a party at someone's house. We get to enjoy the party as long as the host allows us to stay. If the host has certain rules for us to follow, our options are to either follow those rules or to leave; the host is under no obligations to either explain or justify the rules to our satisfaction. Similarly, we have no right to demand an explanation if the host asks one of the other party-goers to leave. And certainly when offered an explanation, it is exceptionally bad manners to question the host's honesty. If we don't like the party, we can leave.

It is also perfectly obvious that every word we post in the fourms -- and in "private" messages -- has to be available to the moderators of this site (regardless of the degree to which they may have accessed them in this particular case). To feign surprise or outrage at this possibility is certainly disingenuous, and seems aimed at diverting attention from what triggered the bans (like the knee-jerk calls of "police brutality").

Let's not take these forums (particularly ATOT) so seriously.

Sorry. Sensible logic is not allowed/tolerated here.

 

[CanOWorms]

LoL good luck with that, Personally I'd have k-lined you for a thinly-veiled threat like this.

That's in no way a threat. I just think that it raises a lot of policy issues concerning children, data collection on children, notice of prior breaches, corporations, etc.

 

[Tweak155]

To those that would an dxplanation of the PM issue, I will waste my cell phone power to explain what was said be Ben, without hostility.

PMs are not readily viewable by Moderators.
For a PM to be viewed, one has to log onto the account.
That requires a password.

IF a serious situation develops, a Senior Admin can change an account password to access the account and review PMs. This is only when the Forums are felt to be jepordized, most usually with respect to a problem , to determine fault or track a fraud/thief in FS/T.

Logs allow Moderators to determine who is viewing what forum at a given time.

When informed of the breach, the logs determined who accessed the breach.

From there, the accounts were checked to see what may have been disciminated. Why that decision was made was based on additional info reported to the Moderators.

I hope that clears up the use/acess of PMs and logs

EK
Admin

This makes sense. Thanks.

 

[MotF Bane]

To those that would an dxplanation of the PM issue, I will waste my cell phone power to explain what was said be Ben, without hostility.

PMs are not readily viewable by Moderators.
For a PM to be viewed, one has to log onto the account.
That requires a password.

IF a serious situation develops, a Senior Admin can change an account password to access the account and review PMs. This is only when the Forums are felt to be jepordized, most usually with respect to a problem , to determine fault or track a fraud/thief in FS/T.

Logs allow Moderators to determine who is viewing what forum at a given time.

When informed of the breach, the logs determined who accessed the breach.

From there, the accounts were checked to see what may have been disciminated. Why that decision was made was based on additional info reported to the Moderators.

I hope that clears up the use/acess of PMs and logs

EK
Admin

That'll do.

 

[olds]

 

[alfa147x]

I have a coupon for $1.50 domains

 

[alkemyst]

What if it had been six?

He secretly lusts for her.

 

[BoomerD]

Honestly if what nick is saying is true this is kind of out of hand. Wheres TFNN when you need it.

It's still around in spirit...just under a different name...but you have to bring your own:

 

[Alone]

I'm not sure what level of access is available to the staff here on the forums, but anyone with database access can read PM's without anyone knowing. I'm not saying that's the case, though.

 

[Tweak155]

This thread is blowing up faster than the US economy! Zing!

 

[shiner]

Change of Culture 2: Dossiers and Forum access

You papers please!

 

[sixone]

Well, eventually the disseminated information will surface through other sites. I'm curious to know what rises to the level of "jeopardizing the Forums".

The standard should be pretty high, IMHO.

 

[Alone]

This dossiers crap is getting ridiculous. It doesn't exist, never has..

esquared
Anandtech Forum Director[/b]

It does and has. As you're well aware, there have been at least a couple non-mods who have had the (mis)fortune of reading what's in the little private forum you've got there, and I'm not talking about this incident (more specifically, 5 years ago IIRC). While I don't believe there's anything too damning in there that would surprise anyone, but to say you don't keep records on people is just a foolish claim.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Change of Culture 2: Dossiers and Forum access

You papers please!

These are not the droids we're looking for.

 

[eits]

ok, i'm deciding to post in this thread...

first off, this whole thing kinda makes me sad. i don't like seeing my friends get attacked and i consider perk, ga, and mosh friends. yes, ga and i had our run-ins in the past, but i believe he and i have a mutual respect for each other, yet a difference in opinion... he's still a good guy, i believe, even though he can be provocative at times.

i feel bad for both perk and mosh. based on the information i have gathered so far, i think mistakes were made and things were blown out of proportion. i think perk might have made a mistake in his reaction (look, we've ALL been there... we've all been guilty of making a panicked decision to spare embarrassment of secrets escaping). i feel bad for mosh because i don't think she really did anything wrong other than voice her opinion in private to gaiden. i think the absolute worst that she should have gotten was maybe a week vacation or something.

either way, everyone needs to realize that this is a community that is made of people and personalities and we've all created bonds over the years. people make mistakes, but it's no reason for us to be assholes and call each other names or ridicule people for difficult situations or problems they may have in their personal lives.

as for poking into people's private messages, i think that's absurd. it happened and it never should have. there's a reason why they're called private messages and there's a sense of security people feel when posting to one another by way of that avenue. to think that various pieces of information about one's self or certain pictures or whatever could be read by mods/admins without your permission is very disturbing and disheartening.

i think decisions were made in haste without much thought of what was right or wrong and how things would go over when the community caught wind of it. i know first hand of a couple times where i was banned for something that was completely unfair and i'm convinced it had everything to do with personal feelings towards me. could this be another example of that happening? i don't know. but i do think that this entire thing is lame and it'd be great if this thread solves issues and, hopefully, there's a fair, adult, re-evaluation of the events that happened with a different outcome than this current one rather.

i also think it's unfair that those accused aren't given the right to defend themselves. we have all been in situations where we're accused of something and there's evidence to support the accusation, but it really wasn't how things transpired. misunderstandings and misinterpretations happen.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I'm not sure what level of access is available to the staff here on the forums, but anyone with database access can read PM's without anyone knowing. I'm not saying that's the case, though.

And remember that's true of EVERY forum. PMs can't be encrypted here or anywhere else and while most places will respect members privacy that's not universally true. Anyone with database access can read PMs and on most of the popular forum software packages like PHPBB, vBulletin and SMF there are hacks and extensions that can be installed to allow moderators to read PMs through their control panels without them having complete access to the DB. Treat this like boxing, protect yourself at all times. Private messages are not the place to discuss plans to whack an ex-wife, overthrow the government or exchange ATM PIN codes.

 

[shortylickens]

Now all we need is Anand to post.

 

[lxskllr]

Private messages are not the place to discuss plans to whack an ex-wife, overthrow the government...

:^O

Brb...

 

[Alone]

Now all we need is Anand to post.

Anand won't acknowledge, at least publicly, the going-ons of this forum. From what I've seen, he'd much rather pretend this place doesn't exist at all. It's a cash grab and a funnel for all the drivel that no one wants to see in any of the other categories.

 

[olds]

Now all we need is Anand to post.

Did he respond your your email?

 

[esquared]

It does and has. As you're well aware, there have been at least a couple non-mods who have had the (mis)fortune of reading what's in the little private forum you've got there, and I'm not talking about this incident (more specifically, 5 years ago IIRC). While I don't believe there's anything too damning in there that would surprise anyone, but to say you don't keep records on people is just a foolish claim.

There are no fucking dossiers here!

What the hell is wrong with you guys?


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director