[Rant] Site update slowing Halforums down for 1/2 and hour?!?

[ElJuski]

I'm not a public and open person, and I think this whole open-internet thing is going to cause plenty of trouble for everyone.

And regardless of WHY, I think it's a pretty reasonable concession to NOT force everyone out in the open if they don't want to. I just don't feel like being out there constantly.





But seriously, how do I check this out and change it if I want to change it?

 

[makare]

I don't like stuff like that either. Being able to turn it off would make me happy too.

 

[ElJuski]

oh, cool!

 

[Calleja]

Oh no, yeah, I agree that it HAS to be opt-in, either that or none at all, of course. What I'm trying to understand is purely academical... what problems is the open internet thing gonna cause? I have neighbors who know where I live, but I don't live in fear of them murdering me in my sleep.

Well, not until now I didn't.

 

[ElJuski]

purely academical

 

[makare]

I just don't like it. It isn't fear or anything. I don't find those kinds of things amusing and I don't want to be a part of it. That's all.

 

[Espy]

There are few moderators, and they show up as red pins, so they're going to have a hard time hiding.

I like the idea, but you should at minimum make all the pins the same color so you can't tell registered from unregistered or from moderators.

Pff, us Mods have far to much power to be contained by mere user pins. SO MUCH POWER

 

[Calleja]

I'm sure you can walk across town at 3am without a problem as well.

I.... can. Did so just this Saturday when my idiot friend left without me and I had to do just that. It was literally at 3am and change and everything. I mean, I'm way taller than the average Mexican and bald and bearded to boot, which, granted, may help with the "intimidation" factor... but I do live in a safe city.

Wait... how does walking at 3am relate to internet anonymity, come to think of it?

 

[ElJuski]

Regardless, not everybody wants to peacock themselves all over the vast expanse of the internet. And I don't think it's weird that people don't, but much more that other people do.

 

[Dave]

I think it's a cool thing and not at all that intrusive...but only if you can "opt out". And by opt out I mean log in incognito. Invisible, even!

 

[strawman]

what problems is the open internet thing gonna cause?

You know how stupid people sometimes get when they're arguing about something unimportant on the internet, and then they start attacking the person in every way they can? Digging up old threads to annoy them? Finding their email and subscribing them to peta alerts? Finding them on facebook, or blog, or elsewhere and annoying them?

Imagine if they knew your address. It's very easy to fill out a magazine subscription with "bill me later" checked. But there are lots of other worse ways to annoy someone you feel has done you a grave wrong.

Further, for those of us with children, we can either post pictures of our children online, or post our address, but it's not particularly safe to do both, because there are some sick people in this world, and even though it's only a 1 in a million chance (and it's probably lower than that anyway) as a parent can I justify taking that tiny risk when it can so easily be avoided?

Lastly, somewhat like hanging out in a private clubhouse, some want to come here and unwind in ways that might seem at odds with their life. They don't encourage their friends to visit them here, and they don't encourage people in the forum to get to know them in real life. It's not necessarily that they are hiding anything, but compartmentalizing things gives them a sense of freedom they might not otherwise have.

There's also a sense of control. You can "turn off" your online friends merely by disconnecting. The sense of control over your relationships when you know they can't bug you unless you choose to be bugged is liberating for some.

Those are a few reasons, certainly not a comprehensive list.

 

[Dave]

Remember, someone showed up at JCM's house once to kick his ass. Because of something off of the Image forums.

That's why this does not give any personal information at all or is not close to where people live (or so I thought).

I've got it up again, but now all logged in people are red like Admins. For some reason it wouldn't let me take Admins out or change their color. Working on the invisible thing now.

 

[Dave]

And off again. Unless I hear from the dev I won't be turning it back on. The options don't seem to be doing anything. Gonna look at the php for now.

 

[strawman]

I was looking at the Javascript in an effort to exclude myself completely or move my location by 20-40 degrees in any direction. >.>

You like swimming that much?

 

[figmentPez]

Wait... how does walking at 3am relate to internet anonymity, come to think of it?

Are you being intentionally obtuse, or do you really not get this? There are portions of the population who are, unfortunately, more vulnerable than others because they are more likely to be the target of various forms of assault. These include, but are not limited to: women, children, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, religious minorities and more. The same threats that make these groups often feel unsafe walking around a major city at 3AM, are also the same threats they don't want tracking them down over the internet.

I'm a straight white male protestant, and even I hesitate when giving out my real name on the internet. Not many people share my last name, so it's quite possible to find my address with very little info about me. There's not much reason for me to worry, but I do have sisters who I would like to keep as safe as possible.

It's my observation that women who talk about themselves online, who share their thoughts and feelings for the world to see, quite often end up with guys who feel unduly attached to them. Most of the time this isn't much of a problem, as the silent majority of the internet are either nice or are too lazy/scared/etc to do anything bad. There are the rare exceptions, though, who become problem stalkers, and when that happens a home address can be the difference between threatening emails and something much more serious.

 

[Espy]

Remember, someone showed up at JCM's house once to kick his ass. Because of something off of the Image forums.

Well hey now, I mean, who hasn't gone over to kick JCM's ass? At least 2/3rds of this place has I'm pretty sure

 

[Dave]

If we only had a dollar, right?

 

[Covar]

Well hey now, I mean, who hasn't gone over to kick JCM's ass? At least 2/3rds of this place has I'm pretty sure

That's some strong self-loathing.

 

[Calleja]

Well excuuuuuuuuse me for asking what I thought was a valid question in a polite way. I sure learned that lesson. You guys know my name and location, visit me whenever you feel like it, I probably won't be coming back to the forum.

 

[SeraRelm]

 

[ElJuski]

I think it's a cool thing and not at all that intrusive...but only if you can "opt out". And by opt out I mean log in incognito. Invisible, even!

Well right, I don't think much is intrusive if you can opt out of it. That would be the point of having an option, right?

Well excuuuuuuuuse me for asking what I thought was a valid question in a polite way. I sure learned that lesson. You guys know my name and location, visit me whenever you feel like it, I probably won't be coming back to the forum.

 

[Espy]

You guys know my name and location, visit me whenever you feel like it,

Done. See you Sunday when my flight gets in.

 

[strawman]

I probably won't be coming back to the forum.

That's too bad, I was hoping you'd stick around.

 

[Dave]

The Mex has departed? That sucks. Not sure why. Privacy is a very personal thing that, like virginity, can not be gotten back once taken.

And I talked to the dev and he states it's not something that possible, this opting out. Damn it.

 

[strawman]

It's possible, he's just too lazy to implement it.

 

[Dave]

Damn. Thought I had it. I found the following:

$conditions = array(
            'cutOff' => array('>', $sessionModel->getOnlineStatusTimeout()),
            'getInvisible' => $bypassUserPrivacy,
            'getUnconfirmed' => $bypassUserPrivacy,

            // allow force including of self, even if invisible
            'forceInclude' => ($bypassUserPrivacy ? false : XenForo_Visitor::getUserId())
        );

I commented out the 'getInvisible' and 'forceInclude' but it did nothing. But it looks like he on purpose included invisible people. So he very well may just be lazy as fuck and not wanting to help out. He's probably mad at me because I gave him crap about the Spy addon which included things like Mod actions.
Added at: 10:03
I'll be invisible for a while while I test stuff.
Added at: 10:06
I think I got it.

 

[Jay]

Is it normal I can't see the names of people on their tags?

 

[Dave]

Yes. For privacy sake it's just a pinpoint of a near-by location. No names and now invisible people don't show up.

 

[bhamv3]

Well, my pin is pretty easy to identify.

 

[Dave]

Well, my pin is pretty easy to identify.

Not if you were surfing invisibly.

 

[Jay]

Meh, now I won't know which pin is Shego's as she approaches my location.

 

[Allen who is Quiet]

Either another registered user is my neighbor or the surfing invisibly thing isn't working for me.

 

[Shakey]

Mine shows me in a completely different state. It says I'm in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

[Dave]

How do you know that's you? They don't have names attached.

 

[Allen who is Quiet]

There's an option in the pulldown menu for "Show Yourself".