The chat window appears to still load, but doesn't populate with any messages or users.
(https://i.imgur.com/nK8PdZS.png)
I miss the corcern.
I forgot there was even a chat room here to begin with.
The main page had errors too for a couple hours.
I have the same problem.
Have had issues with the main site this evening and switched to PHP 7.2 to see if that addressed any of them. I reverted it to 7.1 just now, and the chat should work again.
The chat script will need to be updated for PHP 7.2 by year's end.
Oh look, chat is acting funky again. Log in and you're immediately greeted with an "invalid IP address" error.
People log into the chat?
When I tried to log in to the chat a minute ago it redirected me to the home page of this forum.
Chat regulars with no lives right about now:
I think the chat has become sentient, and is now kicking everyone while starting its search for someone called "the intern."
I miss the intern
Is there another chat software we could have set up as a backup for AJAX? We seem to be running into a lot of problems lately...
Could always go back to IRC. Maybe start a channel on Freenode or something.
How about starting an AARoads Discord server? That way there can be multiple voice and text channels focused on specific subjects.
Nah, we're too old-school for discord. We want our mods to be able to mod, too.
Please stand by as I activate an emergency replacement
Quote from: corco on September 19, 2019, 10:16:48 PM
Please stand by as I activate an emergency replacement
Alright, who posted the traffic light emojis this time?
I have just tried to enter the chat, and it's not working for me. Has this problem not yet been resolved? Is there, perhaps, a problem with my account?
🚦🚥🚦🚥🚦🚥🚦🚥🐑🐑🐑
Quote from: TurnpikeJohnny on September 23, 2019, 02:34:27 PM
I have just tried to enter the chat, and it's not working for me. Has this problem not yet been resolved? Is there, perhaps, a problem with my account?
Welcome from
very close by! PM me if you want to know which city/town I live in.
The chat is dead. Long live the chat.
Quote from: 1 on September 23, 2019, 03:19:49 PM
Quote from: TurnpikeJohnny on September 23, 2019, 02:34:27 PM
I have just tried to enter the chat, and it's not working for me. Has this problem not yet been resolved? Is there, perhaps, a problem with my account?
Welcome from very close by! PM me if you want to know which city/town I live in.
apparently it's Lowell
Quote from: cl94 on September 23, 2019, 04:46:24 PM
The chat is dead. Long live the chat.
Figures. Just when I was gonna come back from my hiatus. 😠
Quote from: signalman on September 24, 2019, 06:34:43 AM
Quote from: cl94 on September 23, 2019, 04:46:24 PM
The chat is dead. Long live the chat.
Figures. Just when I was gonna come back from my hiatus. 😠
Not worth it. corco is a dictator in the alt-chat.
Quote from: Alps on September 24, 2019, 10:25:21 PM
Quote from: signalman on September 24, 2019, 06:34:43 AM
Quote from: cl94 on September 23, 2019, 04:46:24 PM
The chat is dead. Long live the chat.
Figures. Just when I was gonna come back from my hiatus.
Not worth it. corco is a dictator in the alt-chat.
You can just call me Kim Il-Corco
Quote from: corco on September 24, 2019, 11:05:02 PM
Quote from: Alps on September 24, 2019, 10:25:21 PM
Not worth it. corco is a dictator in the alt-chat.
You can just call me Kim il-Corco
:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
Quote from: cl94 on September 24, 2019, 11:05:58 PM
Quote from: corco on September 24, 2019, 11:05:02 PM
Quote from: Alps on September 24, 2019, 10:25:21 PM
Not worth it. corco is a dictator in the alt-chat.
You can just call me Kim il-Corco
:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
I for one welcome our new dictatorial overlords.
Quote from: US 89 on September 24, 2019, 11:06:46 PM
Quote from: cl94 on September 24, 2019, 11:05:58 PM
Quote from: corco on September 24, 2019, 11:05:02 PM
Quote from: Alps on September 24, 2019, 10:25:21 PM
Not worth it. corco is a dictator in the alt-chat.
You can just call me Kim il-Corco
:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
I for one welcome our new dictatorial overlords.
If only he were as welcoming to others. My vote is for IRC where all may enter.
I'm hoping to launch chat publicly by Saturday and all will be welcome, if only as a backup (fingers crossed the official chat returns because that is preferred). The reason I haven't really posted the link now is because there's no registration system and I have no way of knowing who is who without checking IPs, which makes any moderation impossible- especially if somebody logs in pretending to be somebody else. That should be ready to go here soon and it'll be welcome to all.
Quote from: corco on September 25, 2019, 07:00:03 PM
I'm hoping to launch chat publicly by Saturday and all will be welcome, if only as a backup (fingers crossed the official chat returns because that is preferred). The reason I haven't really posted the link now is because there's no registration system and I have no way of knowing who is who without checking IPs, which makes any moderation impossible- especially if somebody logs in pretending to be somebody else. That should be ready to go here soon and it'll be welcome to all.
Unless you log in as (corco), in which case the host becomes easily confused and must repeatedly ban you.
I am in chat. We found the problem apparently. Come on in.
Quote from: Alps on September 27, 2019, 06:45:09 PM
I am in chat. We found the problem apparently. Come on in.
Is it now. It's still kicking me out.
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on September 27, 2019, 06:54:16 PM
Quote from: Alps on September 27, 2019, 06:45:09 PM
I am in chat. We found the problem apparently. Come on in.
Is it now. It's still kicking me out.
Yeah, that's weird. I myself am definitely in there.
Quote from: Alps on September 27, 2019, 07:41:12 PM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on September 27, 2019, 06:54:16 PM
Quote from: Alps on September 27, 2019, 06:45:09 PM
I am in chat. We found the problem apparently. Come on in.
Is it now. It's still kicking me out.
Yeah, that's weird. I myself am definitely in there.
I've watched several people try to come in so far, and get booted again. They're able to leave one line of text at most. Recommend waiting...
So far, we have 4 people in chat, and one who was getting booted is now in there with us. I think it's resolving.
If you're still unable to get into chat (most people seem to be able to, now), try a DNS flush. It may work to manually set DNS to 8.8.8.8 for the time being (I'm told this is a Google DNS that will work).
Quote from: Alps on September 28, 2019, 11:25:27 AM
If you're still unable to get into chat (most people seem to be able to, now), try a DNS flush. It may work to manually set DNS to 8.8.8.8 for the time being (I'm told this is a Google DNS that will work).
& set your 'alt' DNS to 8.8.4.4, which is also a Google DNS.
These are the ones I'm using, and having no issues getting into the chat.
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on September 28, 2019, 11:30:38 AM
Quote from: Alps on September 28, 2019, 11:25:27 AM
If you're still unable to get into chat (most people seem to be able to, now), try a DNS flush. It may work to manually set DNS to 8.8.8.8 for the time being (I'm told this is a Google DNS that will work).
& set your 'alt' DNS to 8.8.4.4, which is also a Google DNS.
These are the ones I'm using, and having no issues getting into the chat.
And if you object to having both set to Google servers, 1.1.1.1 is another, non-Google alternative.
Bump
Quote from: Duke87 on December 26, 2019, 06:24:31 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 26, 2019, 11:22:52 AM
Bump
I was just able to get in no problem.
It was fixed earlier, but beware of trouble coming when we're forced to update to SMF 7.2.
Quote from: Alps on December 27, 2019, 12:51:16 AM
Quote from: Duke87 on December 26, 2019, 06:24:31 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 26, 2019, 11:22:52 AM
Bump
I was just able to get in no problem.
It was fixed earlier, but beware of trouble coming when we're forced to update to SMF 7.2.
I thought that had been done already? I guess not.
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on December 27, 2019, 03:37:19 AM
Quote from: Alps on December 27, 2019, 12:51:16 AM
Quote from: Duke87 on December 26, 2019, 06:24:31 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 26, 2019, 11:22:52 AM
Bump
I was just able to get in no problem.
It was fixed earlier, but beware of trouble coming when we're forced to update to SMF 7.2.
PHP 7.2***
(random acronym, numbers)
Guess what? Chat is crapping out again!
I'm a chat mod now?
Time to play American Pie in observance of the Chat's last day. Trivia in 10 hours for a final sendoff, maybe we should have a toast at the end?
Quote from: cl94 on February 19, 2020, 10:38:03 AM
Time to play American Pie in observance of the Chat's last day. Trivia in 10 hours for a final sendoff, maybe we should have a toast at the end?
Um the chat's still up. Personally I haven't really been on there since 2017.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on April 07, 2020, 10:33:21 PM
Quote from: cl94 on February 19, 2020, 10:38:03 AM
Time to play American Pie in observance of the Chat's last day. Trivia in 10 hours for a final sendoff, maybe we should have a toast at the end?
Um the chat's still up. Personally I haven't really been on there since 2017.
Happy to post that it looked like the forum software update resolved issues with it. May run into the same issue at the end of 2020 when the PHP will have to updated again on the server.
This seems the most recent discussion about chat, so I'll ask here:
Do you have to contribute to the chat in order to stay? I jumped in just to see what it was all about, but got bumped back to the forum home page before long.
Quote from: webny99 on June 08, 2020, 11:30:50 PM
This seems the most recent discussion about chat, so I'll ask here:
Do you have to contribute to the chat in order to stay? I jumped in just to see what it was all about, but got bumped back to the forum home page before long.
Yes, you shouldn't sit there.
So it wasn't working yesterday and still isn't working today. Is it fixable or have we finally reached the point where it just isn't compatible with SMF anymore?
It's not SMF that's the problem, it's the PHP interpreter–the language keeps changing so older code slowly goes out of compliance with PHP's expectations. (And Ionos, our web host, will not allow us to stay on an old version of PHP without shelling out a bunch of money for support.)
I believe the current plan is to try to find a replacement that is compatible with PHP 8, but I'm not sure if we've ascertained whether one actually exists.
Quote from: Duke87 on April 02, 2023, 07:18:33 PM
have we finally reached the point where it just isn't compatible with SMF anymore?
I think this is the answer sadly.
When I went onto the chat, the whole thing just screamed 2010. If that chat is no longer usable, we could create a discord server or something like that to replace it.
There's nothing wrong with software designed in 2010.
I get paid good money to write software with the client explicitly requesting "please make the user interface resemble something from 1997".
My favorite video game is from 1991 and my wife's is from 1987.
A good chunk of my work is done using a piece of software based on a design from 1979.
It's all a matter of taste.
There is a Discord server already, but it's not really used.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 02, 2023, 09:05:46 PM
There's nothing wrong with software designed in 2010.
Well there must be something wrong with that particular software from 2010, as it doesn't work anymore.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on April 02, 2023, 09:06:50 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 02, 2023, 09:05:46 PM
There's nothing wrong with software designed in 2010.
Well there must be something wrong with that particular software from 2010, as it doesn't work anymore.
No shit?
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 02, 2023, 09:00:44 PM
It's not SMF that's the problem, it's the PHP interpreter–the language keeps changing so older code slowly goes out of compliance with PHP's expectations. (And Ionos, our web host, will not allow us to stay on an old version of PHP without shelling out a bunch of money for support.)
I believe the current plan is to try to find a replacement that is compatible with PHP 8, but I'm not sure if we've ascertained whether one actually exists.
People still go into the Chat?
Quote from: Rothman on April 02, 2023, 09:44:04 PM
People still go into the Chat?
There is quite a few people who are active in it. Apparently the demand is enough that alternate options are being discussed off forum. The hook seems to be that forum chat wasn't logged?
Quote from: Rothman on April 02, 2023, 09:44:04 PM
People still go into the Chat?
I used to be on the chat somewhat often at night for a short period of time, I haven't been in the chat since mid-January, I was thinking of returning multiple times recently.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 02, 2023, 10:00:15 PM
There is quite a few people who are active in it. Apparently the demand is enough that alternate options are being discussed off forum. The hook seems to be that forum chat wasn't logged?
This is certainly a big part of the appeal: what you say in an AJAX chatroom is not scraped to build a consumer profile of you for advertising purposes, nor can it be subpoenaed by courts because there is no permanent record of it. It is therefore a nice safe space for discussing some things people might, for various reasons, not be comfortable discussing somewhere that doesn't offer this level of innate privacy protection.
Most internet forums that used to have their own chat do seem to have given up and just created a Discord server instead. But Discord, like all modern social media, is permanently logged so does not offer AJAX's privacy benefit. It also requires that you have a Discord account in order to use it, which will be a barrier to adoption for some.
Quote from: Duke87 on April 03, 2023, 09:02:48 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 02, 2023, 10:00:15 PM
There is quite a few people who are active in it. Apparently the demand is enough that alternate options are being discussed off forum. The hook seems to be that forum chat wasn't logged?
This is certainly a big part of the appeal: what you say in an AJAX chatroom is not scraped to build a consumer profile of you for advertising purposes, nor can it be subpoenaed by courts because there is no permanent record of it. It is therefore a nice safe space for discussing some things people might, for various reasons, not be comfortable discussing somewhere that doesn't offer this level of innate privacy protection.
What the freak are you talking about in there nowadays? :D
Badmouthing the ex-spouse? :D
I guess I need to subpoena the lot of you now. :D
Quote from: Duke87 on April 03, 2023, 09:02:48 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 02, 2023, 10:00:15 PM
There is quite a few people who are active in it. Apparently the demand is enough that alternate options are being discussed off forum. The hook seems to be that forum chat wasn't logged?
This is certainly a big part of the appeal: what you say in an AJAX chatroom is not scraped to build a consumer profile of you for advertising purposes, nor can it be subpoenaed by courts because there is no permanent record of it. It is therefore a nice safe space for discussing some things people might, for various reasons, not be comfortable discussing somewhere that doesn't offer this level of innate privacy protection.
Most internet forums that used to have their own chat do seem to have given up and just created a Discord server instead. But Discord, like all modern social media, is permanently logged so does not offer AJAX's privacy benefit. It also requires that you have a Discord account in order to use it, which will be a barrier to adoption for some.
What kind of freaking things are you guys talking about in the chat that would make you fear THAT much? I understand worrying about privacy to some extent, but seriously?
There is a lot of people in the chat circles who are involved in government work. You tend to have to exercise some caution with what you say on public platforms as a government employee. Although, I find the prospect of anything from a chat session being used against someone in an employment hearing to be so minuscule that it's probably not worth worrying about.
But then again I speak from the perspective as someone who conducts employee investigations. There was only a single instance where an employee's social media profile was something I could use against them. That particular instance was when I still worked in the private sector and it was beyond damning. Nobody I know in chat groups does anything or says anything approaching that level.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on April 03, 2023, 11:41:42 PM
What kind of freaking things are you guys talking about in the chat that would make you fear THAT much?
Well the forum is a logged medium so we're not discussing it here. ;-)
For the record, if there were any credible threat of anyone getting hurt based on what was being discussed, those of us with mod powers in the chat would have taken appropriate action to intervene.
I am not so sure the chat is (was) unloggable--in principle one could have a net logger open in Firefox or Chrome and then save a HAR. As the old Russian proverb goes: "Man is master of the word left unsaid; once it is said, it is his master."
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2023, 12:08:57 AM
There is a lot of people in the chat circles who are involved in government work. You tend to have to exercise some caution with what you say on public platforms as a government employee. Although, I find the prospect of anything from a chat session being used against someone in an employment hearing to be so minuscule that it's probably not worth worrying about.
Eh, I'd be as careful in there as I am on here, anyway. There are more reasonable things to be cautious of than thinking a subpoena's coming your way from something said on here or in Chat.
Quote from: Rothman on April 04, 2023, 07:03:59 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2023, 12:08:57 AM
There is a lot of people in the chat circles who are involved in government work. You tend to have to exercise some caution with what you say on public platforms as a government employee. Although, I find the prospect of anything from a chat session being used against someone in an employment hearing to be so minuscule that it's probably not worth worrying about.
Eh, I'd be as careful in there as I am on here, anyway. There are more reasonable things to be cautious of than thinking a subpoena's coming your way from something said on here or in Chat.
As one who has never gotten into real-time chat, be it here or IRC or anywhere else -- think the old AOL chat rooms which never had much appeal to me as an AOL user -- this isn't a real concern of mine. I tend to do online stuff on my own schedule and really don't feel the need to participate in things of that nature.
But this makes me wonder about something on a much larger scale. Why do ISPs, platforms, etc., log IP addresses? It seems to me that keeping a record of IP logins just opens them up to a bunch of unwanted legal scrutiny, such as warrants or the aforementioned subpoenas.
There was a case out of Georgia involving the Topix forums several years ago. If anyone doesn't remember Topix, it was an online forum/bulletin board where one could either post as a registered user or a non-permanent username that could be changed with each individual post. Subforums existed for most every community, and a lot of rumors and gossip were posted there. Someone in a Georgia community took exception to something that was posted on Topix, they got a court order for the poster's IP, and legal action followed. I do not remember if it was a civil case or if criminal charges were filed. At any rate, Topix ended up shutting down their community forums sometime after that.
It always occurred to me that if Topix had not logged IP addresses, that whole situation would have been avoided. And I say this as someone whose name got mentioned derogatorily on local Topix boards in more than one community.
If I was running something like that, I wouldn't log IP addresses.
There must be a financial incentive to log IP addresses.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on April 03, 2023, 11:41:42 PM
Quote from: Duke87 on April 03, 2023, 09:02:48 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 02, 2023, 10:00:15 PM
There is quite a few people who are active in it. Apparently the demand is enough that alternate options are being discussed off forum. The hook seems to be that forum chat wasn't logged?
This is certainly a big part of the appeal: what you say in an AJAX chatroom is not scraped to build a consumer profile of you for advertising purposes, nor can it be subpoenaed by courts because there is no permanent record of it. It is therefore a nice safe space for discussing some things people might, for various reasons, not be comfortable discussing somewhere that doesn't offer this level of innate privacy protection.
Most internet forums that used to have their own chat do seem to have given up and just created a Discord server instead. But Discord, like all modern social media, is permanently logged so does not offer AJAX's privacy benefit. It also requires that you have a Discord account in order to use it, which will be a barrier to adoption for some.
What kind of freaking things are you guys talking about in the chat that would make you fear THAT much? I understand worrying about privacy to some extent, but seriously?
Considering two people are concerned - we will talk about personal medical issues, family/relationship, personal stuff we don't want to air on a forum or have to look back on in the future (like FB chat that maintains a history).
Quote from: hbelkins on April 04, 2023, 02:48:31 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 04, 2023, 07:03:59 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2023, 12:08:57 AM
There is a lot of people in the chat circles who are involved in government work. You tend to have to exercise some caution with what you say on public platforms as a government employee. Although, I find the prospect of anything from a chat session being used against someone in an employment hearing to be so minuscule that it's probably not worth worrying about.
Eh, I'd be as careful in there as I am on here, anyway. There are more reasonable things to be cautious of than thinking a subpoena's coming your way from something said on here or in Chat.
As one who has never gotten into real-time chat, be it here or IRC or anywhere else -- think the old AOL chat rooms which never had much appeal to me as an AOL user -- this isn't a real concern of mine. I tend to do online stuff on my own schedule and really don't feel the need to participate in things of that nature.
But this makes me wonder about something on a much larger scale. Why do ISPs, platforms, etc., log IP addresses? It seems to me that keeping a record of IP logins just opens them up to a bunch of unwanted legal scrutiny, such as warrants or the aforementioned subpoenas.
There was a case out of Georgia involving the Topix forums several years ago. If anyone doesn't remember Topix, it was an online forum/bulletin board where one could either post as a registered user or a non-permanent username that could be changed with each individual post. Subforums existed for most every community, and a lot of rumors and gossip were posted there. Someone in a Georgia community took exception to something that was posted on Topix, they got a court order for the poster's IP, and legal action followed. I do not remember if it was a civil case or if criminal charges were filed. At any rate, Topix ended up shutting down their community forums sometime after that.
It always occurred to me that if Topix had not logged IP addresses, that whole situation would have been avoided. And I say this as someone whose name got mentioned derogatorily on local Topix boards in more than one community.
If I was running something like that, I wouldn't log IP addresses.
Because if someone tries to hack into the site, you need a record of the IP address they used so you can block the attack.
Because if someone is using multiple accounts abusively, usually the only hard evidence you have of that is their IP address.
Because if you're running a for-profit site, you need to know how often your customers are visiting the site and where they're from, so you can
market to them meet their needs more effectively.
C'mon, H.B., I know you can do the contrarian song and dance better than this. I'm disappointed.
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 04, 2023, 03:11:02 AM
I am not so sure the chat is (was) unloggable--in principle one could have a net logger open in Firefox or Chrome and then save a HAR.
It wouldn't log by default, though. The regulars also all agreed upon "no logging" as a rule, and for the most sensitive things AJAX supports direct messaging between just two users (which means no one else can log it because they can't see it).
Quote from: hbelkins on April 04, 2023, 02:48:31 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 04, 2023, 07:03:59 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2023, 12:08:57 AM
There is a lot of people in the chat circles who are involved in government work. You tend to have to exercise some caution with what you say on public platforms as a government employee. Although, I find the prospect of anything from a chat session being used against someone in an employment hearing to be so minuscule that it's probably not worth worrying about.
Eh, I'd be as careful in there as I am on here, anyway. There are more reasonable things to be cautious of than thinking a subpoena's coming your way from something said on here or in Chat.
As one who has never gotten into real-time chat, be it here or IRC or anywhere else -- think the old AOL chat rooms which never had much appeal to me as an AOL user -- this isn't a real concern of mine. I tend to do online stuff on my own schedule and really don't feel the need to participate in things of that nature.
But this makes me wonder about something on a much larger scale. Why do ISPs, platforms, etc., log IP addresses? It seems to me that keeping a record of IP logins just opens them up to a bunch of unwanted legal scrutiny, such as warrants or the aforementioned subpoenas.
There was a case out of Georgia involving the Topix forums several years ago. If anyone doesn't remember Topix, it was an online forum/bulletin board where one could either post as a registered user or a non-permanent username that could be changed with each individual post. Subforums existed for most every community, and a lot of rumors and gossip were posted there. Someone in a Georgia community took exception to something that was posted on Topix, they got a court order for the poster's IP, and legal action followed. I do not remember if it was a civil case or if criminal charges were filed. At any rate, Topix ended up shutting down their community forums sometime after that.
It always occurred to me that if Topix had not logged IP addresses, that whole situation would have been avoided. And I say this as someone whose name got mentioned derogatorily on local Topix boards in more than one community.
If I was running something like that, I wouldn't log IP addresses.
And yet you proudly spoke on M.T.R. - which is now logged in Google Groups. (with no restrictor plates, of course)
Quote from: SSOWorld on April 06, 2023, 06:42:25 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on April 04, 2023, 02:48:31 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 04, 2023, 07:03:59 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2023, 12:08:57 AM
There is a lot of people in the chat circles who are involved in government work. You tend to have to exercise some caution with what you say on public platforms as a government employee. Although, I find the prospect of anything from a chat session being used against someone in an employment hearing to be so minuscule that it's probably not worth worrying about.
Eh, I'd be as careful in there as I am on here, anyway. There are more reasonable things to be cautious of than thinking a subpoena's coming your way from something said on here or in Chat.
As one who has never gotten into real-time chat, be it here or IRC or anywhere else -- think the old AOL chat rooms which never had much appeal to me as an AOL user -- this isn't a real concern of mine. I tend to do online stuff on my own schedule and really don't feel the need to participate in things of that nature.
But this makes me wonder about something on a much larger scale. Why do ISPs, platforms, etc., log IP addresses? It seems to me that keeping a record of IP logins just opens them up to a bunch of unwanted legal scrutiny, such as warrants or the aforementioned subpoenas.
There was a case out of Georgia involving the Topix forums several years ago. If anyone doesn't remember Topix, it was an online forum/bulletin board where one could either post as a registered user or a non-permanent username that could be changed with each individual post. Subforums existed for most every community, and a lot of rumors and gossip were posted there. Someone in a Georgia community took exception to something that was posted on Topix, they got a court order for the poster's IP, and legal action followed. I do not remember if it was a civil case or if criminal charges were filed. At any rate, Topix ended up shutting down their community forums sometime after that.
It always occurred to me that if Topix had not logged IP addresses, that whole situation would have been avoided. And I say this as someone whose name got mentioned derogatorily on local Topix boards in more than one community.
If I was running something like that, I wouldn't log IP addresses.
And yet you proudly spoke on M.T.R. - which is now logged in Google Groups. (with no restrictor plates, of course)
Well, yes, and I didn't use the "no-archive" header, but that's a public forum and I posted publicly, not behind a made-up name.
With an IP address, you can find an anonymous user's identity. Had I posted on Usenet with a name like "Mickey" (to recall one of Randy's infamous usernames) then I could have remained anonymous -- at least to the extent of how visible or invisible IP addresses are on Usenet posts.
Quote from: hbelkins on April 06, 2023, 01:00:09 PMWith an IP address, you can find an anonymous user's identity. Had I posted on Usenet with a name like "Mickey" (to recall one of Randy's infamous usernames) then I could have remained anonymous -- at least to the extent of how visible or invisible IP addresses are on Usenet posts.
It's been a while since I used Usenet with an email client configured as a newsreader, but I recall that each post has a bunch of IP addresses as part of the routing headers that are not normally displayed in email clients or Web-based readers like Google Groups. Generally there is a line beginning "Received from . . . (IP address)."
Typically you don't get true anonymity unless you use a throwaway email account with a VPN that will accept payment through a means (such as Bitcoin) that can be made difficult or impossible to trace.
Quote from: hbelkins on April 06, 2023, 01:00:09 PM
With an IP address, you can find an anonymous user's identity.
Eh...not really. Theoretically, it's
possible, but it's impractical because in most cases a user can be assigned a brand new IP address by just restarting their modem. That makes it impossible without the ISP's records of which account has which IP address at what time. And a moderator of a web forum or whatever isn't going to have access to that kind of record.
In any case, there are far more reliable methods to track users than IP address, anyway. A server can query a browser for the operating system version, browser name and version, and list of fonts installed on it. These are all legitimate queries that a user has an interest in allowing the browser to provide, since having that information allows the server to serve pages that operate correctly with the user's system. However, it is very rare for two users of a site to have exactly the same set of responses to the three queries. So it provides a unique "browser fingerprint" that can be tracked from page to page.
In any case, the Chat link on the dashboard has been removed. RIP.
Quote from: LilianaUwU on April 06, 2023, 07:19:15 PM
In any case, the Chat link on the dashboard has been removed. RIP.
I was planning on going to the chat before it was removed... :-(