Invisapeeps 2.0

Grand Poohbah of Peepdom · All hail the Grand Poohbah, and nobody gets hurt!

A note about board privacy.

dqm either · Don't Quote Me

Holy Crap!

Are you saying that the mods outted someone by giving out their IP address and if so how did the member find out the person's identity by her IP address???????

I didn't know you could get that kind of information in that manner.

Moon-and-Star · Someone's watching me - I can feel it.

No, the mods/admin didn't do anything. A few posters suggested admin use their ability to identify IP addresses to narrow down the city where the person lived so other posters could use the info they had to try to find the person's husband.

Cassady · Senior Member

No, that's pretty much the opposite of what she's saying.

Mods were sort of approached to see if they could provide that info. They quickly and definitively said they could not, and would not if they could, do so.

Poobah is just reassuring members here that their privacy is similarly respected here as well.

In my interpretation.

YMMV.

Littleone · Senior Member

It's a big mess over there. Makes me sad. I wasn't home when it went down so had no part in it, but the side effects are going to be great.

dqm either · Don't Quote Me

OK by the 'she' I will assume that this isn't Richard talking. The mention of another board led me to believe it was him as I am a member of another board that he mods so initially I assumed it was him yet there is no 'big mess' there to speak of so I guess ...

Honestly, I don't know what I guess. It sounds like something craptastic happened and for whatever my condolences are worth as I don't know if that person is a member here or not but never the less, I'm very sorry that that happened to someone.

It's still very disconcerting that someone could use my IP address to locate my husband.

wtf...

why were they looking for her husband? That sounds creepy.

I've done my research on IP addresses but I think I need to look into it some more and perhaps reconsider msg boarding.

I just learned the day before yesterday that it is possible for a mod to change a user's password, log on as them and then access their PM's without their knowledge.

I also found out that deleting your account isn't a safeguard because even if you delete the mod can change the status of your account.

Yes that is possible and it just happened to someone I know on the third.

Not the PM part but the changing of an account status from deleted. It happened without the person's prior knowledge or permission.

From what the mod said they had good reason but the reason wasn't made public so the only thing people are able to do is speculate and on the surface it looks bad. So bad that I'm thinking that this hobby of mine has exceeded my comfort level.

So at the conclusion of the game I'm hosting I'm out.

I talk about way too many people on here for somebody to be tracking down my family.

OR rainy · It's Raining Men... :p

No someone wondered if the Mods could use it to get the posters location. Information received by one person was used in an attempt to reach the posters husband to alert him to a possible medical issue. The mods weren't involved at all until the choices were made.

So while I understand your reluctance to stay part of the board in light of the third board's antics....doesn't mean the issue is only mods.

dqm either · Don't Quote Me

Actually this has just been a bad week for stuff like this.

I'm a member of two boards and nothing has happened on either board I'm a member of... But I'm friends with people on this board who are members of two additional boards. Within the past few days the two boards I'm not a member of have had some majorly craptastic things happen that were so effed up that they spilled over onto the two boards where I am a member.

I got both sides of the story in one sitch... clearly don't know the entire story in the other sitch but I need to listen to my gut and the warning bells are deafening. I'm not comfortable with either thing that happened and there by the grace of God and all that jazz...

I know with absolute cerainty that my husband would not be cool with a stranger from the internet calling his cell and if they told him about this place it would possibly hurt him and others because I come here to be brutally honest about things and brutal is not something that I want my husband to know me as in sickness or in health.

I realize that in one situation it was a mod and from what you're saying in the other situation it wasn't a mod but I'm assuming it also wasn't something that a mod could have prevented.

The conclusion of that is: the risk of this hobby has officially outweighed it's benefits.

Two warnings in the same week is one more than I should have needed but I guess I'm slow.

RichardInTN · I believe in I.D.I.C.

dqm either wrote:
OK by the 'she' I will assume that this isn't Richard talking. The mention of another board led me to believe it was him as I am a member of another board that he mods so initially I assumed it was him yet there is no 'big mess' there to speak of so I guess ...

Honestly, I don't know what I guess. It sounds like something craptastic happened and for whatever my condolences are worth as I don't know if that person is a member here or not but never the less, I'm very sorry that that happened to someone.

It's still very disconcerting that someone could use my IP address to locate my husband.

wtf...

why were they looking for her husband? That sounds creepy.

I've done my research on IP addresses but I think I need to look into it some more and perhaps reconsider msg boarding.

I just learned the day before yesterday that it is possible for a mod to change a user's password, log on as them and then access their PM's without their knowledge.

I also found out that deleting your account isn't a safeguard because even if you delete the mod can change the status of your account.

Yes that is possible and it just happened to someone I know on the third.

Not the PM part but the changing of an account status from deleted. It happened without the person's prior knowledge or permission.

From what the mod said they had good reason but the reason wasn't made public so the only thing people are able to do is speculate and on the surface it looks bad. So bad that I'm thinking that this hobby of mine has exceeded my comfort level.

So at the conclusion of the game I'm hosting I'm out.

I talk about way too many people on here for somebody to be tracking down my family.

While that's true in it's simplest form, It's an over-simplified description of what could happen.

If the Member is regularly posting, they would know if their password had been changed... so as long as it's an "active" member, this can't really happen without their knowledge. Now, if they abandon the account or "delete" the account, THEN, in some cases, things can be done that they will not be aware of:

With "abandoned" accounts, if they never come back, you are right, if a Mod with ADMIN powers (at least the power to reset/re-assign passwords) could, in theory access the account and no one would be the wiser.

With "Deleted" accounts, it depends on the board. Zetaboards, for example, require ADMIN deletion to delete an account... but it's a TRUE deletion, it's gone forever and not recoverable. Activeboard, however, has "self deletion" as an option, and because of that the ADMIN (and any Mods with ADMIN access) have the power to recover the account... and then (if recovery wasn't asked for by the Member) they can do what they want with it.

ETA: My suggestion --- If you decide to leave a board (and this suggestion goes for ANY board), delete all your PM's and all your personal information in your profile before you go. Unfortunately if the Board Mods/Admin decide to ban you (whether you broke any rules or not), you (and your account) are at their mercy, nothing can be done in those cases.

-- Edited by RichardInTN on Saturday 11th of May 2013 09:52:29 PM

Desdenova · Motherhood: Sleep is for the weak!!

I wouldn't like to see you go DQM I understand we all have to do what makes sense for our lives. I also want to point that the grand poobah is always the same person, the rest of the moderators don't have any way to be the grand poobah. We just have our own moderator login.

winds55 · Guru

As I understand the structure, moderators' IDs can be as locked down or opened up to user information and capabilities as much as the administrator (grand poobah in this instance) chooses to allow. In very early discussions at the beginning of this board, it was clear that the mod IDs here were pretty locked down.

It's really a matter of trust - and the fact that this thread was started as reassurance tells me my trust is justified. Every person has to make their own judgement call as to who started the board, what the moderators can see, and whether the risk is worth the benefits.

The issue on the other board wasn't because of anything the mods or admins did or did not do - the issue was a breach of trust by an overzealous regular poster, initiated by a mob panic.

I would anticipate some additional traffic here, at least for awhile. It may help if the grand poobah also makes it clear that attempting to contact a poster or anyone from their 'real' life without previous permission is strictly prohibited.

Papa Bear · Senior Member

It's insane, DQM. I was getting PM's about it too.

For the record, the policy here is basically ours as well.

Grand Poohbah of Peepdom · All hail the Grand Poohbah, and nobody gets hurt!

Any posts made under this log-in are all made by me, Aardvark.

While it IS possible for me to change your password, I would never do so unless requested by the owner of the account. Passwords get forgotten from time to time and I have had to reset a few. I choose something generic and remind the poster to change it to something more secure.

Yes, you can glean information from a poster's IP address. For example, mine tells me I am in Pittsburgh. I currently have all mod accounts set to hide the IP address, including this one. It's not something we need access to in order to provide a positive experience for our members.

There are programs out there that I could use to find out more definitive information, but I would not do that. I would be appalled and beyond livid to have that done to me and I extend the same courtesy to everyone here. I take my role as board owner seriously.

DQM, I believe there are ways to disguise your IP address from showing. I'm not familiar with them, but perhaps Richard or one of our other tech-savy members can be of more help.

As always, if there is EVER a concern about the board, please PM me. I'll see it faster if you contact me through my Aardvark account, though.

Grand Poohbah of Peepdom · All hail the Grand Poohbah, and nobody gets hurt!

I must add, though, that I am NOT responsible in anyway for your safety on the internet. This thread is only to affirm that I will NEVER abuse the information I have access to. I have no liability should other posters attempt to find IRL information about any poster. Using this forum means you accept this.

Aurora · Senior Member

Grand Poohbah of Peepdom wrote:
Any posts made under this log-in are all made by me, Aardvark.

While it IS possible for me to change your password, I would never do so unless requested by the owner of the account. Passwords get forgotten from time to time and I have had to reset a few. I choose something generic and remind the poster to change it to something more secure.

Yes, you can glean information from a poster's IP address. For example, mine tells me I am in Pittsburgh. I currently have all mod accounts set to hide the IP address, including this one. It's not something we need access to in order to provide a positive experience for our members.

There are programs out there that I could use to find out more definitive information, but I would not do that. I would be appalled and beyond livid to have that done to me and I extend the same courtesy to everyone here. I take my role as board owner seriously.

DQM, I believe there are ways to disguise your IP address from showing. I'm not familiar with them, but perhaps Richard or one of our other tech-savy members can be of more help.

As always, if there is EVER a concern about the board, please PM me. I'll see it faster if you contact me through my Aardvark account, though.

There are ways to hide your IP address but almost any (I think all) have ways around them.

chocolatel0ver · Veteran Member

Sounds interesting. What is the link to that other board, so I can make sure I don't try to join?

winds55 · Guru

How did you find this one, chocolate? Most of the people here came from the other one, so I'm wondering how you found us. Might give the board ideas on how to get more traffic.

Papa Bear · Senior Member

winds55 wrote:
How did you find this one, chocolate? Most of the people here came from the other one, so I'm wondering how you found us. Might give the board ideas on how to get more traffic.

I don't know, but a search for decent mafia boards might do it. I have come to consider this forum a mafia gaming forum. (Meant in the best possible way.)

Welcome all!