Remain active to keep your account.

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Drugwash
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Re: Remain active to keep your account.

Unread post by Drugwash » 2019-02-16, 12:06

Is this purge really really so beneficial for the board that it deserves all this trouble?
No purge == nobody asking for e-mail notifications + nobody pi$$ed off for receiving e-mail notifications + nobody accidentally left out if they forgot to log in + less work for the admin(s)

Personally I landed here now just by accident - wanted to see if there's anything new for XP (POSReady or not) users but went straight to that topic as it was bookmarked and only the absence of the other POSReady topic made me go to the board root and find this announcement, otherwise I might've visited again in a year, two or five and even then I might not have logged in (if possible by then).
At login, board notified me as follows:
Last visit was: 10 May 2018, 20:01
It is currently 16 Feb 2019, 13:32

so it's been a while since I actually logged in to say something.

People may come over more or less often but they may not log in unless they actually have something to say or ask - if they don't, they just stay as guests, simply reading and that may hold true for a long time.
I had a Facebook account created way back when it first appeared, but since the Miranda IM FB plug-in wouldn't work on my 98SE I just forgot about that account for about five or more years, until I stumbled into it in my accounts database. I went to log in and it was still active, no problems. Used it for a few months then deleted it, but that's not the point - point is, it was still there, waiting for me to remember it and need it. Same may happen to an account or more on this board, for whatever reason. People may get much more pi$$ed off for losing their account than for receiving a notification e-mail.

As for "disposable e-mails" as mentioned somewhere above, even that may be debatable. Personally I use mail.com as my main address, because it's the only (free) one I found that doesn't ask for my phone number, full name and address, what I ate at breakfast and other things that major "players" ask for today. Some regard that as disposable and do not even allow it (such as the AHK board, regardless of how much I asked them to make an exception) but I see it as my only real connection to the web. Of course, I may be disposable too.

Well, that was just my personal opinion. Y'all have a great weekend!

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Moonchild
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Re: Remain active to keep your account.

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-02-16, 12:12

If we were to only look at "what is beneficial for the board" then this wouldn't be done. But our Approach to Everything™ is a bit more balanced than that and also user-centric.
These purges are done for user privacy protection. In the unlikely event of a data breach, would you be happy if your e-mail address and potentially other personal data gets harvested by spammers and/or scammers just because you registered to ask a question 5 years ago?
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"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
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Drugwash
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Re: Remain active to keep your account.

Unread post by Drugwash » 2019-02-16, 13:21

As you said, it'd be an unlikely event.

In all these years I've spent on the Internet and in using software and operating systems from Z80's BASIC to Windows 7 (even 8 once) and several Linux flavors, I noticed how options/choices are taken away from the user in the name of this eluding "privacy and security" that everyone is invoking but doesn't actually exist. Who first said " whoever trades in freedom for security deserves neither" was right. But this fits a much larger topic.

Personally I wouldn't care much if such unlikely breach happened, precisely because I chose not to give away sensitive data. My e-mail, my location? Public knowledge in many other places, not just here on this board. But that's about all. People should learn not to give in to those that harvest their private data in much more ludicrous ways than breaching a forum board's database.

Anyway, I just spoke my mind freely as I always do, hopefully didn't upset or offend anyone by doing so - and if I did I apologyze, it was not my intention.
And hopefully you won't need another long walk out in the cold before deciding what to do. :)

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Moonchild
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Re: Remain active to keep your account.

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-02-16, 15:31

You're clearly overreacting over something we've done for years and have now actually made more lenient, not less.

Just because it's not happened to you (to your knowledge!) doesn't take away that it can and will happen; more so to systems that aren't pro-actively maintained -- there are plenty of factors involved for a potential data breach on the forum, not in the least the fact that it is hosted in a datacenter through a vps provider that leases hardware from an upstream provider (that's already 3 groups of people with potential access; while I trust these parties with our data for running a good business, there is an inherent risk of relying on 3rd parties) -- then there is your OWN data security to consider: if one of your accounts is breached does that provide hackers with enough information to hack these forum accounts? If there's nothing to hack, then that is one less concern.

You can say "it's not a problem" all you want but that is always how it goes: it's not a problem at all up to the moment when it is, and then it is a big problem.
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"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: Remain active to keep your account.

Unread post by Drugwash » 2019-02-16, 17:25

My friend, we can't live in fear. I, at least, won't. That's all.
Please forgive me for wasting your time.

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Re: Remain active to keep your account.

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2019-02-16, 18:48

Caution != Fear.. Responsibility != Fear..

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