Member-only boards

[Pi.R^2]

So, question to any modly folk or people that have been around for a while and may know what the consensus on this is.

Is there a reason that there's no support boards that are member-only? I like that R/V is member-only, but I kinda think it would be nice if there was at least one board where you could post for SRS BSNS advice which isn't gonna come up in google searches and be visible to every tom dick and harry taking a leisurely stalk.

Just a thought I had, and clearly I decided to share it with the world :p

[ChocolateMarvel]

I agree, this would be a good idea or perhaps an option that your post could be 'members only'?

[The War Doctor]

Totally agree.

*has nothing useful to add*

[Bellatrix]

I like this 'members only' stuff.

Like the stickies and advice/info threads should be public, but not personal threads.

[MunchBox]

Also agree. I do get a tad paranoid when I can see a **** load of my threads/posts on Google.

Although, I'm sure something similar has been brought up in the past and it's been denied for some reason or another. So, good luck with that, Jenna :]

[Ailsa]

I also agree and have nothing of interest to add!

[Stellata]

I agree too. Sometimes folks need to talk about really sensitive things and it just can feel a bit safer to talk about it when it's moderately less public. As less public as the internet can be.

Though, this has been discussed before, and it was explained how member only support boards didn't exist due to wanting prospective members to see the whole site.

[griddlebone]

I think its because, as Katie said its so that prospective members can see the kinds of reasons that people post and what they can expect to get support for.

[FabulousMike]

I agree, I would love to have something like that.

[Pops.]

I'd also love to have something like that. But you have to be careful that having it doesn't "kill" the rest of the forum boards though. I've seen it happen on another forum in the past. Everyone just ended up posting in one part of the site, so the rest of the boards slowly died a death, leading to guests not bothering to become members, and current members getting bored and leaving. But RYL is a large community though and it also uses some sort of magical powers to prevent members from leaving anyway. So it's all good.

[Scaredy-cat]

At one point someone was reading my posts on here, and i did want somewhere to post that they couldnt read, i think i ended up spamming a meet thread or two if i remember rightly. But i can see the downsides too

[griddlebone]

The thing is....if you choose to post on the internet then there's always the chance that someone you know may read it, i think thats a risk you have to decide youre willing to take.x

[Bellatrix]

I say make serious members only.
Because its often about very sensitive stuff, and people who wants to post things about suicide or abuse but feared the repercussions shouldn't be excluded.

[Ailsa]

I say make serious members only.
Because its often about very sensitive stuff, and people who wants to post things about suicide or abuse but feared the repercussions shouldn't be excluded.

This. Also, if the concern is that potential members couldn't see it, maybe have it so that they could see the forum but not the posts? And have a Sticky explaining what it is and why it's hidden? I dunno.

[The One Who]

But you have to be careful that having it doesn't "kill" the rest of the forum boards though. I've seen it happen on another forum in the past. Everyone just ended up posting in one part of the site, so the rest of the boards slowly died a death, leading to guests not bothering to become members, and current members getting bored and leaving.

That was my first thought.

Is it possible to show the titles of threads in Serious, but not the actual content?

[sajhfuahuefghaeg]

This. Also, if the concern is that potential members couldn't see it, maybe have it so that they could see the forum but not the posts? And have a Sticky explaining what it is and why it's hidden? I dunno.

Then surely that defeats the point of it being hidden, because if someone is looking for it, they read the sticky then join so they can see that board and the posts.

[Ailsa]

Then surely that defeats the point of it being hidden, because if someone is looking for it, they read the sticky then join so they can see that board and the posts.

Well if you go by that logic, anyone could just join and look at the member only forums anyway. I think the main issue seems to be that the posts come up in Google.

If someone is looking for something, they'll always find a way to find it. I think the point of it being hidden would to stop people from stumbling across it accidentally, rather than anything else, but I could be wrong here.

[sajhfuahuefghaeg]

But people do join just to get to the member forums. I know at least 3 people who joined purely for meets/r&v to be available to them.

[Ailsa]

But people do join just to get to the member forums. I know at least 3 people who joined purely for meets/r&v to be available to them.

I'm not surprised! I just don't think that's the issue at hand here...

[Bellatrix]

I'm gonna go find out what happens if one googles my name and RYL.
Brb.

[Bellatrix]

Erm, yeah, first post is the thread in serious about me being in hospital.
I think if the posts were not visible, it would be better.
Like, yes, someone could just join and read it. But it removes accidents stumblings and people who just google my name finding out (I'm an actor, people google my name to find my CV, I wouldn't want them finding the RYL page too)

[griddlebone]

But if you dont use your full name on ryl then people should be able to trace you surely?if youre just using your first name how would someone like a potential employer know its you?x

[The One Who]

Also, most people searching wouldn't use the addition of "RYL" on the search.

[squirrelspit]

if you google just your name loads of acting things come up.
if you google Bellatrix then loads of not you stuff comes up (Harry Potter??)
fair doos if you google your screen name and RYL some you related threads come up, but those are very specific search terms and surely in order to google that a person would need to know the fact that you were here, and your screen name anyway, meaning a private board would be useless because people would still know you were here/who you were on here in the first place.

However, this is why people make second accounts, which is a good plan.

If they made a private forum, absolutely everyone would just use that, and then all the other boards would become obsolete.

i dunno, i guess i dont agree with making **** private.. its the internet, its the risk you take.

[random.swirls]

The number of times I have heard well I lurked for ages and eventually I decided to join and start posting suggests that having the boards open to the general public works.

My guess is if we closed off the boards and made them members only then I reckon a number of people who initially lurked probably would have gone to another website and as some of these lurkers are well known and loved members RYL would almost be poorer because of it.

If someone found out I was on RYL they would be able to find me in a jiffy and if the boards were private they would be able to join and stalk me regardless.

[griddlebone]

if you google just your name loads of acting things come up.
if you google Bellatrix then loads of not you stuff comes up (Harry Potter??)
fair doos if you google your screen name and RYL some you related threads come up, but those are very specific search terms and surely in order to google that a person would need to know the fact that you were here, and your screen name anyway, meaning a private board would be useless because people would still know you were here/who you were on here in the first place.

However, this is why people make second accounts, which is a good plan.

If they made a private forum, absolutely everyone would just use that, and then all the other boards would become obsolete.

i dunno, i guess i dont agree with making **** private.. its the internet, its the risk you take.

Charlie says it better than me! :p xx

[Bleeding Angel]

Thats the issue as well, even the members only board needs something like 5-10 posts in it to actually see it. Doesnt take long to set up a fake email, spam a few posts in order to see it. If people want to find you having it private wont help at all.

[Bellatrix]

Hmm, I see both sides.

[Pi.R^2]

I see both sides too, especially since people make non-srsbsns thread in Serious already, and that problem would only get worse if it was the only support board that was member-only.

I know you only have to make an account to see R/Vs, but it's just an extra barrier to people stumbling across it, which would make me feel a lot safer.

I do understand the reasonings, but I personally will not be using RYL to talk about my own issues anymore, apart from of course, my excess R/V woe-ing. And let's be honest, nothing's gonna stop me XYZ spamming the say here thread either :p

[The One Who]

I do understand the reasonings, but I personally will not be using RYL to talk about my own issues anymore, apart from of course, my excess R/V woe-ing. And let's be honest, nothing's gonna stop me XYZ spamming the say here thread either :p

What does a members-only board give than an alter account does not?

[yourockmysocks]

I lurked for a long time before I joined! I probably wouldn't have bothered even lurking let alone joining if the serious stuff was not visible, as that is why I came here in the first place. The chances of anyone accidentally stumbling upon your account are pretty slight if you don't connect it to your: name, location, facebook account, extraneous details etc.

[Kame]

What does a members-only board give than an alter account does not?

I suppose with an alternative account, people may not get the same replies as they might do if they post under their regular name. If you see someone you know post a thread in serious, then you do tend to actually go over to have a look/give hugs/support whereas a lot of people who aren't as "well-known" to the community sometimes don't get the same level of support.

I understand that you could PM everyone your alternate account, but it only takes one person to forget and slip your name I guess.

[Pi.R^2]

What Lanny said :)
And also, it's still my entire situation, just minus my name.

[talaiporia]

A while back, when I wasn't doing so well, I deleted a thread because I discovered that my sister had been reading it as a guest, and a members-only board would have made me less paranoid.

Since however I found out she created an account to spy on me (not being paranoid, she admitted it) which bothers me, but really couldn't be helped by members-only or anything else, except by me using better privacy online (and not sharing computers, passwords, re-using usernames which I had foolishly been doing). Now I make sure not to post too much personal information here, that I wouldn't share anyway.

The idea sounds good, and though I can see disadvantages, and advantages, and on balance, would prefer it, it probably wouldn't make much difference as people could just create an account.

And yes, I lurked for almost 6 months before I joined.

[Horizon]

I seem to remember a while back, that there was a thread about making the A/B forum member-only, and a lot of people thought that would be unfair, as if to say that those posts were more important, etc. And I remember someone countered it by saying that in A/B, the people are posting about things that are being done to them, not things about harming themselves intentionally. I understand posts like that appear in Serious as well, but I'm just saying, the A/B is something to be considered as well.

[pingu]

i agree too it would be nice but then again if people are determined to find your posts then they will just join up ...
a thought perhaps... on another forum i was on years ago you could request a pass worded room that you needed a password to access the room would only last about two weeks and then it was deleted not sure how it worked but it was for ultra sensitive stuff and you could chose who had access mods had full access obviously but it seems something that might be of some use if it was possible to make it happen :)

: is off to google herself also

[angel of despair]

I like the idea of a passworded room, but if only a limited amount of people had the password would you have as much support? I do think at least one members only room would be good, and you could set a higher amount of posts for people to join it making it less likly someone would spam there way into it?

[Animad]

I find this thread slightly ironic as people are posting saying 'look, there are members-only areas' meaning that lurkers who haven't already joined may do just to see those and yep theres no reason why family members/ potential employers etc couldn't do that. Really I don't think it's a great idea people mentioning on here that there are members only forums.

Yes, I agree, it means your posts on that part wouldn't be on google but threads on other parts would still be and yep, it may reduce the number of people who join as they won't realise that x or y board is here which may help them as 1 member said above was the case with them. However, I do see the advantage.

I know personally I don't use this username elsewhere. My full name or email address isn't posted on here. I have no links to my facebook account. I haven't told anyone I'm on here. If I've had to use someone else's computer (such as when I used to come home from uni) I'd always make sure I'd delete it from the internet history. There is some info on here that yes, if people looked at a lot of my posts both in the past and more recent, they could put 2 and 2 together and work out it's me but that would take a lot of work and would mean someone would already be looking on here and then would have to intensely look at quite a lot of my posts, many of which say nothing at all which could pick me out. I'm therefore pretty chilled out that no-one would find my posts on google and then know it was me even though it is possible. Yes, if they put your username in and RYL Jodie (because as said (though I've not googled it) yours will come up with a lot of Harry Potter stuff) then people would probably find you but then they've got to know of RYL, have suspicions maybe that you're on here and know your username; not very likely on a CV. But yep, more likely within the family or people that use their username in multiple forums.

I'm pretty sure in the past we discussed the FAF becoming a members-only forum due to the fact there are some things on there that people don't want the world to see. We decided not to and our reasons were that with the FAF the info there could help a lot of people, both who SI and don't with First Aid stuff which, to us, the benefits of that to the wider community far out-weighed the fact that some people may feel uncomfortable about posting or not want it there. Some of the reasons for this were that people can delete posts/ threads after they've finished them and though only applicable to the FAF and not other forums, people who don't want others finding out stuff can feel free to PM us. I know that isn't helpful to the rest of the forum and the only real equivalent is emailing the supporters (and I don't want this to end up with them being over-run with things) but remember you can still delete posts and threads, type things in your journal (where you can get comments if it isn't private (and even then you can if you have people in your friends lists)) and also you can always PM other members about stuff, maybe even a multiple number, and obviously this would be much better if you know the members that you're PMing but it would be private.

[Pi.R^2]

True, true, I see the irony :-p
I also see the very epic disadvantages of my suggestion and surrender that it actually isn't a very good idea after all!

[Taliesin]

I don't see the point in making it members only as becoming a member is accessible to everyone. That's like locking your front door but leaving a key on a string attached to the knob...