Most recent activity
-
LFGSS and Microcosm shutting down 16th March 2025 (the day before the Online Safety Act is enforced)
merging the forums to make it foreign enough to leave you alone
They are already going to leave it alone. Ofcom does not have its sights set on a relatively small impractical bicycle forum.
-
LFGSS and Microcosm shutting down 16th March 2025 (the day before the Online Safety Act is enforced)
Yeah from talking to lawyer friends it seems like this is a really disproportionate response.
Lawyer Mate: I went to a conference by the lead woman in charge of implementing OSA
Me: should we worry or not
Lawyer Mate: We as in who
Lawyer Mate: I mean if you run a social network maybe
Lawyer Mate: Or like online video game
Lawyer Mate: That is really high on the enforcement agenda
Lawyer Mate: A mere forum whilst technically captured
Lawyer Mate: Will be low on enforcement agenda
Lawyer Mate: And require minimal measures beyond what they are doing already
Lawyer Mate: I agree with the assessment that it could be weaponized by dickheads
Lawyer Mate: But ultimately you are quite correct it's doesn't require that much
Lawyer Mate: And besides the guidance on compliance is not fully out
Lawyer Mate: I think the draft guidance is
Lawyer Mate: And shows it's quite simple for most to achieve compliance
Lawyer Mate: But it depends on what service you offer
Lawyer Mate: What you need to achieve for a porn site, Vs social network Vs Kids video game are very different to a mere forum
Lawyer Mate: I expect there will be some guidelines issued for standard forum providers so that its clear what they do and don't have to do -
LFGSS and Microcosm shutting down 16th March 2025 (the day before the Online Safety Act is enforced)
There's a GOV.UK explainer page here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer
Whilst I doubt the act will be particularly useful, I am not sure how it threatens small communities really other than making sure you moderate and respond to complaints.
-
LFGSS and Microcosm shutting down 16th March 2025 (the day before the Online Safety Act is enforced)
How exactly does this work? From skimming the article it seems like as long as you respond to people reporting horrendous behaviour and revenge porn, have an active moderation team, and complying with Ofcom request, it shouldn't change much? What exactly have I missed here - IE how does this add any more administrative overhead than say, responding to DMCA requests.
Also, could the site be set up and owned by a Ltds so that if they did get fined, the risk is to the company not anyone personally?
Terrorism
Harassment, stalking, threats and abuse offences
Coercive and controlling behaviour
Hate offences
Intimate image abuse
Extreme pornography
Child sexual exploitation and abuse
Sexual exploitation of adults
Unlawful immigration
Human trafficking
Fraud and financial offences
Proceeds of crime
Assisting or encouraging suicide
Drugs and psychoactive substances
Weapons offences (knives, firearms, and other weapons)
Foreign interference
Animal welfareSurely most of these things are against the forum rules anyway and any fines would be only levied at forums who repeatedly don't bother to try and take stuff down?
I'm looking over some of the supporting document, most of the requirements seem to be only applicable to large providers, not small communities.
The ones that do apply:
Providers should have systems and processes designed
to review and assess content the provider has reason
to suspect may be illegal content (part of its ‘content
moderation function’)This is just having a moderation system, surely?
Providers should have systems and processes designed
to swiftly take down illegal content and/or illegal
content proxy of which they are aware (part of their
‘content moderation function’), unless it is currently
not technically feasible for them to achieve this
outcome.All forums have this anyway
All providers of U2U and search services should have
complaints systems and processesAll forums have this anyway, maybe needs be formalised
Providers should handle complaints about suspected
illegal content in accordance with their content
prioritisation processes aPretty sure any forum admin would respond to PMs about this with haste.
Without going through the full document it seems like if you have a small, moderated forum with responsive admins most of this shouldn't really affect you. I think the legislation is more targeted at large providers who allow shitloads of terrible stuff through without accountability, and smaller providers who don't really bother moderating their own content properly or ignore it when someone complains their ex uploaded nudes etc.
I'm not sure forum software (i.e. microcosm) is really threatened by the act and as long as it provides moderation tools, surely it's up to the people that run the boards to be liable.
It seems like an incredible amount of value could be lost, and perhaps reaching out to Ofcom directly to establish compliance and dialogue could be a better solution - I doubt very much that they're just going to hit people with huge fines without first trying to rectify the problem.
-
Yeah, they are both for fixed gear. Just trying to work out my frame BB standard and shell width as a starting point (without disassembling). I think it's BSA 68mm if that's the most common nowadays, it's a Quella singlespeed frame (but not one of their current ones). Might give them a ring. The Lasco CF12 according to this review is "Compatible with 103mm JIS type bottom bracket, 170mm compatible with 3/32in chains, 165mm compatible with 1/8in chains", and on the FK55 SantaFixie page they claim "111 JIS square taper bottom bracket recommended" but I am not sure in what way they "recommend" it.
Does this mean my current BB likely has spindles that are too short? How does one calculate all this stuff to make sure I have the correct chainline? My rear wheel is an older Miche Xpress but surely track wheels all have the same width?
-
Generally speaking, if you switch a JIS crankset for another JIS crankset, will your chainline be unaffected? Or do different cranksets sit differently on the taper itself? Thinking of replacing my Lasco CF12 for a FK55 CNC, but not sure whether this will affect my chainline and it's an £80 experiment. If it did affect chainline, what would be there remedy? A different width BB?
-
good chainline
What exactly do you mean by this? I thought it was adjusted per bike/wheel/frame etc?
What about :4. Waiting for the Ofcom guidelines in January to come out to see whether this is actually the death knell it may feel like (and it might not be anything to really worry about).
Does Ofcom say what they classify as "large" (as most of the guidelines apply to this category) I feel like that is for big social networks not fairly popular but niche forums.