Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

The Fine print: The following are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Journal by janrinok

NCommander is publishing a Meta story today: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=22/11/20/0342250 It will be published on the front page with all of the restrictions that apply to such stories and discussions.

In it NCommander explains how he sees the future of the site developing with regards to software, hardware and administration. Some of those views are different now from the views that many of us held in 2014. The requirement for some of our servers is no longer justified, and there are better technologies available for achieving what we are trying to do thus also reducing our running costs. The administration of the site is placing an increasing burden on the relatively few administrators that remain in the support team. Society has also changed. Some discussion has been replaced by intimidation and threats. It is much more polarised than it was in 2014. In many ways this is the same as for numerous other web sites. However, the abuse and toxic atmosphere created by a small number of Anonymous Cowards is unacceptable and must be reversed if the site is to survive. The responsibility for some of the problems that we are experiencing, and the resulting actions that we have had to take, is placed entirely at their feet.

A few months ago the majority of the community opted - albeit very reluctantly - to remove AC posts from the front pages of the site. This action has successfully removed the vast majority of the abuse from our discussions. We are seeing a slow increase in the number of comments week-on-week and the signal-to-noise ratio is now much higher. It is only right that we also reconsider the implications of that change.

This journal entry is to enable anyone who wishes to remain anonymous to express their views. I promise that I will read it and will ensure that genuine views are considered when the community decides which path it wishes to follow. I cannot make any assurances that other members of the site's administration will read it - although I expect that at least some will. If you have an account then I strongly encourage you to leave your views under NCommander's Meta story and not here.

I further my promise that I will try to represent your views as honestly and fairly as I can.

If you abuse this journal then you are simply giving more support to the alternative options that might be considered than you are to the status quo. I encourage you to expresses sensible, logical and considered views but should you decide that abuse is what you prefer then this journal entry can simply be removed. You are being given an opportunity - do not throw it away.

Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Reply to Comment Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by janrinok on Monday November 21 2022, @09:51AM (6 children)

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 21 2022, @09:51AM (#1280778) Journal

    You can have an account yet always post as AC. Your username doesn't have to indicate who you really are, and nobody will see it anyway if you post as AC. I don't think you will be any more vulnerable off-site harassment than you are now.

    These are plans and ideas for discussion - nothing is set in stone.

    To be honest, you are the type of AC we want to keep!

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=1, Informative=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 21 2022, @11:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 21 2022, @11:42AM (#1280788)

    will need to change the fifth dot point under important stuff below the new comment box.

    also wonder if your legal exposure changes with the new policy around actual editor deletions that could have but never were applied?

    i will be one of the smartarse (short form commenter) ACs that was not causing trouble, but regardless you will be happy to see go away. never subscribed, only managed a sub or two, do have an account but only modded in the early couple of years. generally never login for convenience as much as maintaining AC status these days.

    anyhoo it was nice while it lasted, the quality of comments held up for at least the first 7 years from AC as much as named members. even the trolls were entertaining until ari got into doxing and the 'other' one got super spammy. others have said it was inevitable, but we all noticed the feel here has certainly changed these last couple of years.

    thats life, so long, thanks to all, will check back every so often.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Common Joe on Monday November 21 2022, @04:01PM (4 children)

    by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday November 21 2022, @04:01PM (#1280821) Journal

    Possibility: Have a checkbox in the settings where the user can default to posting as AC instead of under their username.

    • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday November 21 2022, @05:44PM (3 children)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 21 2022, @05:44PM (#1280839) Journal

      The button is there now. Next time you post a comment look below the text box you are typing in. There is a check box for Post Anonymously just above the Preview button. You can even set it as the default somewhere in your settings - I don't know exactly where though.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2023, @06:07PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2023, @06:07PM (#1311135)

        You should inform users that usung the checkbox does not prevent staff from seeing which user posted the 'AC' comment.

        • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday June 12 2023, @06:25PM

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 12 2023, @06:25PM (#1311137) Journal

          You should read the contents of the wiki that has been there for almost 9 years until it disappeared last November, in particular this extract from the FAQ:

          Are "Anonymous Coward" posts actually anonymous?

          When displayed to general readship accounts, yes. To accounts with site administration privileges, no. When an AC post is made by Soylent account holder X, its IP is hashed, and this is visible for up to about two weeks after the post is made to admin account holders. This hash matches the IP hash that appears with account X's non-anonymous posts, and so it is clear to the admin account holders that the AC is in fact Soylent user X. For this reason, when posting anonymously, if you actually want your post to be anonymous to everyone on Soylent, you should ensure that you make the post from a unique IP that is not the same IP you normally post from. Note: Just because a post can't be identified on Soylent to a particular account and IP, does not mean that the authorities can't associate posts with specific individuals. "Anonymous" is very much a relative term.

          After 9 years you still haven't read it. That is hardly the fault of the staff.

      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2023, @07:08AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2023, @07:08AM (#1312164)

        I clicked "Post Anonymously", but I am also a pure AC, no account, only a hashed IP address that janrinok thinks originates in the United Arab Emirates, so basically, fuck janrinok, and his sockpuppet hunt. I do not care who you are, as long as you can make a decent argument, and not be all racist and horse-de-wormery. Janrinok wants agent confirmation. After a long career in intel, you have to know who you are dealing with, because like Kim Philby, the Soviets pulled the wool over the eyes of the Brits so many times.