Moderators (requests and notices)

Was there any announcement about what was being opened up to the entire Internet and archives?

There wasn't, but the only things I opened up were the things I had closed to AI scrapers and bots in March of this year, these things were historically open.

Members area remains closed, and if anything else shadowy existed then that remains closed and permanently hidden, and of course DMs remain private.

I do support any content that was ever public being archived.

But it's because I don't support opening anything else that I'm against the OSA and find it incompatible with my ethics. I'm not opening the private stuff, and I won't ever implement something to scan it either.

I have an expectation that posts I have made in non-public areas of the forum are not made public.

They're not.

Members area has never, is not, and will not be public.
DMs have never, are not, and will not be public.
Other very explicitly named areas that might exist have never, are not, and will not be public.

Everything else on the forum has always been public... and the only thing that changed earlier this year is that I blocked AI scrapers and all bots from even accessing the public... but I've undone that, to allow archiving to occur, because archiving involves bots.

I don't know what you thought happened, but it's certainly not a change from anything that has existed since forever on the site. The only thing is undoing a block only recently put in place to stop bots. If you posted a year ago and it wasn't in an explicitly private forum... then it was already public.

I just logged out and the private areas remain private, the public areas remain public.

Which is one of the reasons this place is so great and unlikely to be replicated.

Thank you VB.

Are you reassured now? Because this seems to have been an unwarranted panic.

Yes. Completely. Many thanks for responding @Velocio. Sorry.

That could've easily been checked by logging out or using an incognito window.

I guess the pending death of the forum is unsettling people. I don't think the implications on this last page would have been made in normal circumstances.

True, but if anything, it's a good time to practice checking your assumptions.

If you're in a position where you're thinking that Velocio is stepping back and/or more likely to be otherwise occupied, it's surely a good time to attempt to verify your concerns where possible.

Will certainly be an interesting time here for the next few months!

Tbf, Jonny69’s initial post made it sound like he logged out and could still see the members-only bit.

Tbf

Fairness would have involved checking that and asking for clarification, which is what I did as soon as I read the comment, not leaping straight to "OMG, Velocio is going to expose our PMs to the world."

This.
If stuff you read on the internet upsets you, and its in your power to check if said stuff is true, maybe check before you start complaining.

I claim mitigating factors, and have said sorry.

That’s not good enough.

I literally can't tell who is joking in here.

Has everyone had their snacks?

Didn't you see the stickied thread? In order to reduce the chances of getting fined due to the OSA, Velocio has banned humour on the forum

It's Friday, where's the popcorn at?

Clue:
I’m joking

2 under

That's not good enough