Information collected by ForumGarden.com

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 6:59 am

I have read the Forum Garden "privacy statement". This tells me that

ForumGarden.com "does not share private information with others".

What information, apart from e-mail addresses, actually is collected,

or observed, by ForumGarden.com?

ForumGarden · Post by **ForumGarden** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:08 am

Good question Bill. As you know, we do not ask for your name, address, phone number, country, etc. If you wish to publish this information on the forums, that is up to you.

The only real "private" information we care about is your IP address and your email address.

We use the IP address to be able to protect the system from people who want to disrupt the forums.

We use the email address to verify that the person signing up is doing so with a real account. Spam is a real and constant problem. If a new user is just trying to spam the forums and uses a bogus email, they will never get validated. Also, in your Control Panel, you can choose whether or not you make your email available to other members.

Therefore, both items that we are concerned about are in place to protect FG and its members.

What about all of the other information?

The system itself is run from database calls. The statistics generated by you are used internally to produce the pages you see now. ForumGarden keeps track of posts, rankings, threads, member ids, newest threads, hot topics, new members, and hundreds of other tidbits that allow FG to operate.

A good place to see these statistics in action is at www.forumgarden.com

Bill Sikes wrote: I have read the Forum Garden "privacy statement". This tells me that

ForumGarden.com "does not share private information with others".

What information, apart from e-mail addresses, actually is collected,

or observed, by ForumGarden.com?

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:10 am

sounds pretty reasonable.

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:24 am

Show me a statistic and I'll tell you a story....

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:58 am

I go along with that. I changed my email address when I joined,as I thought this Forum was like other forums that send you lots of spam ect. But this is not the case with FG. And so I posted my real email address.

:-6 :-6

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 1:27 am

Forumgarden wrote: The only real "private" information we care about is your IP address and your email address.

We use the IP address to be able to protect the system from people who want to disrupt the forums. What about all of the other information?]

Thank you for this information - What sort of disruption might you take action

over, I wonder? Posting advertisements, bad language, posting inappropriate

attachments, that sort of stuff? Under certain circumstances, would you block

the originating IP address, fire off complaints to the ISP, etc? Just wondering.

Forumgarden wrote: The system itself is run from database calls.

Interseting. I wonder what sort of database.... maybe you won't want to say!

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:08 am

And Who get's to view the database? Well I'm clean, I do not,and have not supported any Terrorists groups. I don't alway's agree with some of your governments policies in regards to overseas activities. Leaving politics aside I love the American Way of life,your culture and heritage is well known troughout Ireland and the rest of the world now that I mention it. Everybody,from young people in their teens and upwards wants to be and look and feel American in their everyday lifestyles. My neighbour still loves Elvis,his daughter aged 19 wants to be an American pop idol. We eat and drink American food. For many years I was James Dean with a can of bud or Miller.

From Ireland to Iran,some may not admit it,but they all love The American Lifestyle. And long may it continue.

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:16 am

capt_buzzard wrote: And Who get's to view the database? Well I'm clean, I do not,and have not supported any Terrorists groups.

Erm, I think that the ForumGarden administrator was referring to how this "forum"

works, not that information on contributors and their comments is collected.

capt_buzzard wrote: From Ireland to Iran,some may not admit it,but they all love The American Lifestyle. And long may it continue.

What an extraordinary statement - OT in this "arena" I guess - transfer it

somewhere else for further comment?

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:51 am

I'd imagine this forum works much like the one I moderate. As said, the IP helps to stop any trouble makers, the e mail address so they can send e mail when there are updates, etc. You can see top posters, statistics of how many posts each person makes, how many are made a day, how many new users join each day, their date of last activity in the forum. Basically, there's a lot of statistics, no personal information other than what the person has put in their bio.

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:55 am

What I meant was from Ireland to Iran one can hear american c/w music or see kids drinking Pepsi Cola,or wearing base ball caps. :guitarist

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:57 am

Peg wrote: I'd imagine this forum works much like the one I moderate. As said, the IP helps to stop any trouble makers, the e mail address so they can send e mail when there are updates, etc. You can see top posters, statistics of how many posts each person makes, how many are made a day, how many new users join each day, their date of last activity in the forum. Basically, there's a lot of statistics, no personal information other than what the person has put in their bio.

Oh Okies, and You and having breakfast or lunch :wah: :wah:

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:58 am

It's almost 8 am here so I am having breakfast. Wish I had some leftover pizza for breakfast

Guess I'll eat French toast.

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:06 am

capt_buzzard wrote: What I meant was from Ireland to Iran one can hear american c/w music or see kids drinking Pepsi Cola,or wearing base ball caps. :guitarist

Country & Western? Very minority taste here, and the butt of bad jokes! Do

you think that Pepsi is associated with the U.S.A., or have it outgrown that

perception to become a truly global brand, I wonder? Hmm, anyway, another

thread's topic, I guess.

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:10 am

The kids do, so does Peg & I :guitarist :guitarist

ForumGarden · Post by **ForumGarden** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:23 pm

Bill Sikes wrote: Thank you for this information - What sort of disruption might you take action

over, I wonder? Posting advertisements, bad language, posting inappropriate

attachments, that sort of stuff? Under certain circumstances, would you block

the originating IP address, fire off complaints to the ISP, etc? Just wondering.

You hit the nail on the head! Just consider the administrators and moderators here as nothing more than janitors that try to pick up the dead bodies, abandoned cars, and other major littering when we see it. We really do no more than that. Our main concerns are the occasional people who will sign up and then begin spamming every forum with an advertisement or scam. Those are the postings that we deem to be inappropriate. I think everyone would agree with that. :-6

Complaining to ISP's is pretty pointless. Nothing ever comes of it. We are lucky enough to have some nifty tools in our back pocket where we can block people who are trying to graffiti the place.

Interesting. I wonder what sort of database.... maybe you won't want to say!

MySQL.

Thanks!

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:13 pm

Every now and then you get people who like to go through the forums bashing others. Banning them is like taking out the trash

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 6:27 pm

with extreme prejudice.

Peg wrote: Every now and then you get people who like to go through the forums bashing others. Banning them is like taking out the trash