I was noticing that the other day on my cell phone, when logging onto the site here, that fictional highways was not there. Then yesterday I was in private browsing where if I would log onto aaroads I would not be sigened on as a user for private does not tell your site that I am logged on last, and I noticed that it was not there either.
Its obvious that you must be a signed in user to see the fictional highways thread. Yet the rest you can see including regional, off topic, and general threads. Why is only fictional highways available to be observed by signed in users?
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
Quote from: 1 on December 10, 2015, 09:55:50 AM
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
This.
Road Related Illustrations, and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
Also the Mass Transit forum.
Quote from: 1 on December 10, 2015, 09:55:50 AM
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
And Bingo was his name-o.
And I believe there is a forum that doesn't appear when you are logged in.
I myself joined after a few days reading the General Highway Talk, as I found most threads interesting and up to this day is still where I contributed the most, but I also have a good share of posts in the Fictional Highways forum which is off-reach for visitors.
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on December 11, 2015, 03:17:15 PM
And I believe there is a forum that doesn't appear when you are logged in.
Registration Issues
Quote from: vdeane on December 11, 2015, 03:59:06 PM
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on December 11, 2015, 03:17:15 PM
And I believe there is a forum that doesn't appear when you are logged in.
Registration Issues
Yep, that's completely intentional for that section not showing up for people logged in. That way, if spam bots do post in it (since the only registered users that can post in it are Mods/Admins), nobody can see it unless they are logged out, thus limiting any potential attack vectors on you guys if you opened that thread till one of us can remove it.
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
Quote from: 1 on December 10, 2015, 09:55:50 AM
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
This.
Road Related Illustrations, and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
I don't see how restricting those boards from non-registered users would help. Non-registreed users can't post any ways, they can simply view the threads. Who cares if non-registred users view Ficitional Highways if they can't post there?
Quote from: mrsman on December 18, 2015, 02:25:47 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
Quote from: 1 on December 10, 2015, 09:55:50 AM
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
This.
Road Related Illustrations, and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
I don't see how restricting those boards from non-registered users would help. Non-registreed users can't post any ways, they can simply view the threads. Who cares if non-registred users view Ficitional Highways if they can't post there?
I think it's to reduce those that see the mass-transit and think they can sign up and use this to jump all over everyone that appreciate roads.
Most mass-transit oriented forums don't have anything that allows pro-road/highway people to post favorably about those topics, and if someone dared say something about expanding roads, they would be run over by all the pro-mass transit people.
Quote from: mrsman on December 18, 2015, 02:25:47 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
Quote from: 1 on December 10, 2015, 09:55:50 AM
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
This.
Road Related Illustrations, and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
I don't see how restricting those boards from non-registered users would help. Non-registreed users can't post any ways, they can simply view the threads. Who cares if non-registred users view Ficitional Highways if they can't post there?
If non-registered people have access to fictional highways (just viewing it), they may join the forum
only to post silly stuff there, hence the point made above. Not having that board visible means trolls won't be tempted to join; they don't know it exists.
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 18, 2015, 02:51:08 PM
Quote from: mrsman on December 18, 2015, 02:25:47 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
Quote from: 1 on December 10, 2015, 09:55:50 AM
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
This.
Road Related Illustrations, and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
I don't see how restricting those boards from non-registered users would help. Non-registreed users can't post any ways, they can simply view the threads. Who cares if non-registred users view Ficitional Highways if they can't post there?
If non-registered people have access to fictional highways (just viewing it), they may join the forum only to post silly stuff there, hence the point made above. Not having that board visible means trolls won't be tempted to join; they don't know it exists.
Trolls? Come on, dzlsabe (who's probably been banned, I don't see anymore posts of his) found out about Fictional Highways and it only took him a couple of days.
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 18, 2015, 02:51:08 PM
Quote from: mrsman on December 18, 2015, 02:25:47 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
Quote from: 1 on December 10, 2015, 09:55:50 AM
Imagine if we had 238 FritzOwls, who all joined just to post in Fictional Highways.
This.
Road Related Illustrations, and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
I don't see how restricting those boards from non-registered users would help. Non-registreed users can't post any ways, they can simply view the threads. Who cares if non-registred users view Ficitional Highways if they can't post there?
If non-registered people have access to fictional highways (just viewing it), they may join the forum only to post silly stuff there, hence the point made above. Not having that board visible means trolls won't be tempted to join; they don't know it exists.
If a non registered troll were to join based on what is being posted in those discussion boards, then take a look a general roads discussion and all they would is just have to read that, and that alone would have created some trespassers to invade us already.
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
With that board, you have to think about the privacy of people. Some people post in that in preparation of going on trips. If somebody was stalking a user, and found a post about him going on a trip with exact dates, and they knew where said person lived, I think you could figure out what might happen next.
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on December 18, 2015, 10:21:55 PM
If somebody was stocking a user
Are you thinking about Christmas too much? A stocking is what you hang up for Christmas. You probably meant "stalking".
Quote from: 1 on December 18, 2015, 10:36:12 PM
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on December 18, 2015, 10:21:55 PM
If somebody was stocking a user
Are you thinking about Christmas too much? A stocking is what you hang up for Christmas. You probably meant "stalking".
Blame autocorrect + half asleep.
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on December 18, 2015, 10:21:55 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
With that board, you have to think about the privacy of people. Some people post in that in preparation of going on trips. If somebody was stalking a user, and found a post about him going on a trip with exact dates, and they knew where said person lived, I think you could figure out what might happen next.
Wouldn't that be more of an argument for the "Road Trips" board as well? Heck, one could even make that argument for the meet threads...
Quote from: vdeane on December 19, 2015, 04:33:57 PM
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on December 18, 2015, 10:21:55 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
With that board, you have to think about the privacy of people. Some people post in that in preparation of going on trips. If somebody was stalking a user, and found a post about him going on a trip with exact dates, and they knew where said person lived, I think you could figure out what might happen next.
Wouldn't that be more of an argument for the "Road Trips" board as well? Heck, one could even make that argument for the meet threads...
Yeah, and who's stopping the stalker from registering?
Quote from: vdeane on December 19, 2015, 04:33:57 PM
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on December 18, 2015, 10:21:55 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
With that board, you have to think about the privacy of people. Some people post in that in preparation of going on trips. If somebody was stalking a user, and found a post about him going on a trip with exact dates, and they knew where said person lived, I think you could figure out what might happen next.
Wouldn't that be more of an argument for the "Road Trips" board as well? Heck, one could even make that argument for the meet threads...
Agreed. The issue may apply to other boards, too (even more than "Travel" which is largely about things other than travel plans). Hiding some boards but not others isn't much help for protecting user safety, especially since as Steve points out bad guys can register so they can view the hidden boards.
People just need to be careful about what they post, such as posting about their trips only after completed, or being vague about details such as departure and return dates. Sometimes I'll PM or e-mail rather than post my RSVP for a road meet, for that reason.
I think the risks to my safety on this forum is relatively unthreatened by the status quo. Fear needs to be tempered by the true probability of an incident.
I think part of the rationale for hiding some boards and not others–and I'm sure other mods/admins can correct me if I'm off base–is the desire for this overall forum to be known primarily as a place to discuss real-world roads and related "roadgeek" interests. For those that make the leap to create an account and join, they can see that members of the forum also discuss things tangentially related to the roads (and even off-topic interests) but it's still primarily a roads forum. We don't want people to join just for posting in the fictional/mass transit/off topic/etc. boards when the primary focus of this community is roadgeeking.
Quote from: roadfro on December 23, 2015, 05:38:54 AM
I think part of the rationale for hiding some boards and not others–and I'm sure other mods/admins can correct me if I'm off base–is the desire for this overall forum to be known primarily as a place to discuss real-world roads and related "roadgeek" interests. For those that make the leap to create an account and join, they can see that members of the forum also discuss things tangentially related to the roads (and even off-topic interests) but it's still primarily a roads forum. We don't want people to join just for posting in the fictional/mass transit/off topic/etc. boards when the primary focus of this community is roadgeeking.
This is exactly correct. We want someone to join the forum because they want to participate in the main on-topic forums, not because they want to post in the ancillary forums like Fictional Highways or Sports. Then, once they join, they'll get those as an added bonus for registering.
Fictional Highways is a separate board not so much because we want to encourage conversation on the topic, but because "If I were in charge I would do this" is an inevitable subject that comes up among roadgeeks and it serves as a location to keep those topics from cluttering the boards about reality. In some cases ambiguously worded fictional posts may be mistaken for something that is actually planned, and overall the threads can serve as a distraction if not separated.
Mass Transit is hidden because of the reason mentioned above. This forum is primarily meant to be a forum about roads. Some of our members are interested in other modes of transportation and want to discuss that at times, which is fine and why we have the board. But we don't want the Mass Transit board to become a big draw to people whose primary interest is discussion and promotion of mass transit, who might then go out into the road boards and start derailing topics with comments about how any road project is wasteful and would be better spent on mass transit, etc. This is a valid viewpoint and there's nothing wrong with them for having it, but they'd be better served finding a forum that is as dedicated to transit issues as this one is to road issues.
Well since this board is visible to non-users, hasn't it just been revealed that these other boards exist? :paranoid: Anyone who isn't registered can see this conversation now.
It will fall into obscurity soon enough. It's not like Fictional Highways hasn't been mentioned in a dozen other threads anyway.
HOW COME "XXX ADULTS ONLY" DOES NOT APPEAR WHEN YOU ARE UNDER 18
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on December 18, 2015, 10:21:55 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on December 10, 2015, 10:25:37 AM
and the Travel board also aren't available to view when you're offline.
With that board, you have to think about the privacy of people. Some people post in that in preparation of going on trips. If somebody was stalking a user, and found a post about him going on a trip with exact dates, and they knew where said person lived, I think you could figure out what might happen next.
I would think a stalker would find better online information elsewhere for stalking a person ...
IIRC the Road-Related Illustrations board was hidden from guests because of copyright issues. I personally allow to reuse my works as long as credit is given, but I'm sure the kids at Roblox wouldn't do so.