Some thoughts on your IP addresses and Chairman Members

[tatman3177]

good to see that it wont be done... thanks GS.

 

[TheAssholeFomerlyKnownAsDBBT]

 

[needtogetaas]

Members,

I appreciate your expressing your concerns over the IP address issue with the new Chairman Membership. I take the suggestions and concerns of all of our members very seriously.

The IP address feature was designed to help our Chairman Members some of whom are also sponsors. In threads discussing their brands, members lacking the courage to confront our sponsors directly with their real usernames, have been creating alters to make false criticisms and outright lies about our sponsors' products. The IP lookup feature was designed to level the playing field so that Sponsors would not have to defend themselves against the bogus accusations brought about by alters. And instead, the Sponsors could devote their time to addressing valid issues from real customers and real members.

Here is something to remember. The Chairman Members are hand selected by me. I know them, their real names, and I even know where they live. Really. Unfortunately, the only thing anyone knows about any Moderator on any forum on the Internet is that they make thoughtful and informative posts. Who would your rather entrust your IP address to? Someone that I know or someone that no one knows?

One more thing about IPs and Privacy. When you are on the Internet, you need to assume that everything you do is public. It is naive to think otherwise. We have done more than any site that I know of to protect member privacy. We go to enormous expense keeping famed steroid lawyer Rick Collins on retainer and enormous expense sending our Systems Administrator outside the country to work on our servers which are located offshore. But, if you want absolute privacy, use EliteFitness.com Secure Encrypted Email - not PMs or Posts.

With this said, I hear what you are saying and since I always listen to you, not only am I going to take the IP address feature away from our Chairman Members, I am also going to take it away from our Moderators. Going forward, the only people with access to IP information will be Admins and Elite Moderators.

I appreciate your bringing this concern to my attention, because it made me realize that you are absolutely right. Chairman Members don't need IP addresses - it adds almost nothing to the value of the membership. And you also made me realize that Mods don't need IP addresses either. If there is ever a valid reason for one of them to know an IP address, they can ask an Elite Moderator or an Admin and it will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Please also remember that I am not perfect and what seemed like a good idea to me initially became apparent that it was not such a good idea upon further review. Although this is certainly a humbling experience for me, I appreciate your bringing your perspective to my attention so I could address it.

thank you so much george this means alot to alot of people.

 

[supra5469]

Great job GS!!!! I knew you'd come thru

I have to agree with TheDon on this one "when on the internet you have to assume everthing is public" especially on a public forum such as this one. I belong to a car forum and can remember a situation that happened that was eyeopenning. Two guys agreed to buy parts of one another, the money was sent but no parts were received, words were exchanged but nothing resolved. One of the Mods ,who happens to be a lawyer, gets involved and to make a long story short...before you knew it out went this guys name, address, phone# s, social security #,his income, jobs he works at, his parents names,his parents address, his high school, college he went to, his transciprts, medical records, his three prior address, his girlfriends name and it went on,on......

Its pretty scary who can get access...If they want it they can get it

 

[George Spellwin]

This is a quote from the 'So, the Mods asked me why Satch's info had not been posted..' topic.



Read into that what you will.

Also:



Anyone here think Satch and Indy wouldnt have been invited to become 'chariman of the board' either if they were still here......?

Satch definitely not. Indy, perhaps - what's your point?

 

[needtogetaas]

Satch definitely not. Indy, perhaps - what's your point?

well i shore hope indy wont now.I dont know if it was brot to youre atantoin yet george but indy was bulling mebers.telling he was going to have them band.and useing radars name to back him up.this is not just me bull shiting there are sevral people that will conferm this.about 10 and counting.

 

[Raptorex]

this thread is not about individuals, but procedure and responsiblilities, try to keep it that way.

STFU already.

 

[George Spellwin]

well i shore hope indy wont now.I dont know if it was brot to youre atantoin yet george but indy was bulling mebers.telling he was going to have them band.and useing radars name to back him up.this is not just me bull shiting there are sevral people that will conferm this.about 10 and counting.

I did not know this. But, of course he will not be asked. Remember, it is pretty hard to get banned. The mods need a consensus and only Pamela, Manny, and Velvett are able to actually push the ban button. My only point was that even as a Chairman, there is not really anything he could do to our members.

 

[natty]

My last post here disappeared. Of the 34 you said were seslected for COB membership why did Cboogsrun, Newbiebynature and Djsf (Im not dissing you good bros) get invites of the tens of thousands of members. I still want to see a list of the supposedly 34 people selected.

 

[newbiebynature]

I did not know this. But, of course he will not be asked. Remember, it is pretty hard to get banned. The mods need a consensus and only Pamela, Manny, and Velvett are able to actually push the ban button. My only point was that even as a Chairman, there is not really anything he could do to our members.

im not getting into this but long story short indy did nothing to help the people on EF and they turned on him when he stood up for a person he believed was his friend...indy for mod