| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Salopian |
Posted - 11/24/2006 : 09:19:02
Benj, is there any chance that the default could be for the 'include my e-mail' box to be ticked? It's frustrating writing a reply and then realising that I've got to go back, click on the link and write it there. I very much doubt that many people who are messaging others want to keep their address secret, and those that do will be consciously aware of the fact and can thus untick the box. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Sean |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 21:47:20
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
I was talking more as a matter of principle. I don't really get any spam in my inbox...
Then I can see how you see 'anonymity' as more of an issue than spam and cyber-crime.
Losing an email address to spammers (I mean having to change email address because my address is on every criminal's mailing list) is a serious pain in the butt. It can take ages to contact everyone with the change, and go to every website that has newsletters that I subscribe to and change my details, and do the same with every online retailer I use etc etc.
I earn a living sitting in front of my computer, I have multiple levels of security set up, and the security that benj allows through hidden email addresses is just another useful security tool. I can't afford to have my security breached on a regular basis (it was breached about two years ago, and my new alpha-numeric email address has been fine since then, touch wood) simply because someone has their feathers ruffled by some perceived insult caused by a degree of separation between them and me.
So if your need to feel that your communication with other fwfrers is of a more personal nature (there's nothing wrong with that I might add  ) is more important than the security of the business I run from home on this computer, then sorry, but there's not much I can do about that. My security is non-negotiable. |
| randall |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 20:24:38
The fwfr PM [without divulging email address] is an exemplary feature. |
| benj clews |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 17:32:40
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
Faked?
It would be preferable because (i) they would not explicitly trying to be secretive and (ii), to return to the original point, they would not be causing me hassle by their own bizarre preferences.
Perhaps faked isn't the best word. Pretend would be better. As in sending your email from an address that isn't your own.
Anyhow, since the present default is to message without including your email, then you really can't say anyone is explicitly trying to be secretive. Only by me providing a check a box that says "Hide my email address" can you really say anyone has chosen to be secretive.
As for the issue of the hassle of replying, I hope to write a better way of handling replying. Right now, it's a bit of a botch job. |
| Salopian |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 17:12:57
Faked?
It would be preferable because (i) they would not explicitly trying to be secretive and (ii), to return to the original point, they would not be causing me hassle by their own bizarre preferences.
Anyway, I don't want to go on about this. So long as they do not impose their sinister behaviour on me by contacting me in that way, people can do as they please. |
| benj clews |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 17:04:09
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
I stand by what I said - if someone wants to communicate with me individually, they can do so with their e-mail address (which after all can also be pretty anonymous or a junk address) or not at all.
So what you're really saying is email addresses are as anonymous as personal messaging without that box checked. Why is a (potentially faked) email address any more valid? |
| Salopian |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 16:54:45
I was talking more as a matter of principle. I don't really get any spam in my inbox, so I assume that filling an address in online is a much bigger source of that than sending e-mails to specific individuals.
I stand by what I said - if someone wants to communicate with me individually, they can do so with their e-mail address (which after all can also be pretty anonymous or a junk address) or not at all. |
| benj clews |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 16:46:11
In this day and age of spam, viruses and spyware, I don't see how you can consider your inbox in any way intimate. I certainly check the name of sender and subject line before opening anything I receive. In fact, if anything, this forum is more intimate for me- I at least know what is posted here will be relevant to me.
P.S. From a security standpoint, this forum is no more in the public domain than a virus-infected inbox. |
| Salopian |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 16:33:57
It's fine to go by just usernames here; it's in the public domain, so e-mail addresses would be less secure and less relevant. One's inbox is more intimate and thus an anonymous message is an intrusion. |
| benj clews |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 16:29:58
I don't see any of the anti-hiding-email-address folks here posting their email addresses along with their discussion posts... |
| Montgomery |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 15:37:16
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
People can of course stay anonymous if they like - but I don't then want them messaging me.
You can know who I am, Salop. I think people who have the nerve to say something should also have the nerve to stand behind what they say.
EM :) |
| Montgomery |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 15:36:20
quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
I find it a bit insidious to think that people would explicitly want to stay anonymous in communications with someone else.
I don't think it's anonymous, i.e., you know who the email came from. They've just chosen to not share their personal email. There are a couple of reasons why someone may want to do this:-
a) They like fwfr and fwfrers but want to keep a little bit of distance from people they've never met. Perhaps this is a little like meeting someone in the pub, giving them your work phone number so they can ring, but not being willing to hand out home phone number, mobile number, email address and street address.... just yet. Or having a regular visitor to your house who you haven't given a spare key.... yet. Etc. Also of note, the real names of some of the regulars who've been fwfring for years remain unknown to me, some like anonymity. I don't see this as good or bad, it's just the way things are.
b) It's safer from a spam/virus/trojan perspective. E.g, say I send you a PM with my email address included, then at some stage in the future your computer becomes infected by a virus that goes through your address book and also scans your old emails for email addresses, adds them to a file that it sends to a criminal in Belarus who then adds my email address to the global spamming / phishing / scamming network and I at best become a victim of spamming (I have received no spam for two years since I last changed email address) or perhaps receive a virus that wipes out my system, or at worst become the victim of criminal fraud.
Etc. This could be why people choose to not give out their email address to everyone they communicate with.
Have you been stalked before, Sean?
Just wondering.
EM :) |
| Josh the cat |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 13:01:46
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
People can of course stay anonymous if they like - but I don't then want them messaging me.
That's your choice if it is not enough to know people thru fwfr, if you have to know their private contact details then that is your choice/problem, I'll have no problems abiding by your request.
Josh the anonymous cat. |
| Salopian |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 09:50:59
People can of course stay anonymous if they like - but I don't then want them messaging me. |
| Sean |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 00:18:43
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
I find it a bit insidious to think that people would explicitly want to stay anonymous in communications with someone else.
I don't think it's anonymous, i.e., you know who the email came from. They've just chosen to not share their personal email. There are a couple of reasons why someone may want to do this:-
a) They like fwfr and fwfrers but want to keep a little bit of distance from people they've never met. Perhaps this is a little like meeting someone in the pub, giving them your work phone number so they can ring, but not being willing to hand out home phone number, mobile number, email address and street address.... just yet. Or having a regular visitor to your house who you haven't given a spare key.... yet. Etc. Also of note, the real names of some of the regulars who've been fwfring for years remain unknown to me, some like anonymity. I don't see this as good or bad, it's just the way things are.
b) It's safer from a spam/virus/trojan perspective. E.g, say I send you a PM with my email address included, then at some stage in the future your computer becomes infected by a virus that goes through your address book and also scans your old emails for email addresses, adds them to a file that it sends to a criminal in Belarus who then adds my email address to the global spamming / phishing / scamming network and I at best become a victim of spamming (I have received no spam for two years since I last changed email address) or perhaps receive a virus that wipes out my system, or at worst become the victim of criminal fraud.
Etc. This could be why people choose to not give out their email address to everyone they communicate with. |
| Corduroy Pillow |
Posted - 11/26/2006 : 03:43:10
Not insidious. Just paranoid.  |
