[Kathy2]

Originally Posted by thedog123123

-might connect personal information to account through mcmaster email. I don't know the system and so this one is a weak argument and probably false but people must enter a valid mac address which links a certain degree of personal info (name in a round-about sort of way mainly). I realize you can change the email but is the original still maintained hidden from the public to confirm validity? Some people wish to to retain a certain level of anonymity when using the internet

I agree with this.
Having people sign up with a Mac email makes complete sense and I'm not arguing that. But personally, I ALWAYS use a fake (but valid) email address and name when signing up for any kind of website. I would never use my Mac email for anything other than directly logging into McMaster stuff (like libID or Avenue)

It's a good idea and I understand why you're doing it. But I can imagine some people might not sign up if they have to use their real Mac email.

[Kathy2]

Originally Posted by Chevalier

umm when you say drop down do u mean the forums tab and then under that?
i just have 2 concerns about this

1) for some reason my forum tab doesnt drop down, i have to click on it and go to that page and then access the diff sections

Mine does this too for some reason. I thought it was my computer.

[RyanC]

Originally Posted by Kathy2

I agree with this...But personally, I ALWAYS use a fake (but valid) email address and name when signing up for any kind of website. I would never use my Mac email for anything other than directly logging into McMaster stuff (like libID or Avenue)
...

What is your reason for this? (just curious)

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by RyanC

What is your reason for this? (just curious)

I do the same thing because I only sign up for "valid" sites and yet the crappy email I use for that, which has no personal identifiable info gets 2 or 3 junk mail a day. Unless you are part of MI for a while, I had no reason to believe it would be any different

[comte]

Also, I'm guessing the info of people's IDs are stored somewhere, where prospective people trained in cracking and obtaining that information may appear for some strange reason, or even one day, an administrator may suddenly turn evil or become a hostage, or having their girlfriend held hostage, so that someone may try to obtain that information.

PS. I know I'm a bit of a pessimist.

[Kathy2]

Originally Posted by RyanC

What is your reason for this? (just curious)

I'm just super paranoid about personal information on the internet. I use MUSS for emailing TAs/profs and job applications only, so I don't want to be getting all sorts of random sites emailing my MUSS account. I just don't want my MacID and my Mac email stored anywhere other than official Mac sites. I know I'm overly paranoid but oh well.

[cwong]

Amazing. You guys rox my sox

[RyanC]

Originally Posted by Kathy2

I'm just super paranoid about personal information on the internet. I use MUSS for emailing TAs/profs and job applications only, so I don't want to be getting all sorts of random sites emailing my MUSS account. I just don't want my MacID and my Mac email stored anywhere other than official Mac sites. I know I'm overly paranoid but oh well.

Fair enough. You can change the email address on your account, and I presume you will pretty much not exist to much extent on the server database. (obviously theres certain aggregate data on the interwebs that will forever be cached, so its a risk, albeit small)

Do ya use facebook? Are you as overly paranoid there too?
(they used to require you to confirm your status by providing a university mail)



What would be a better way to verify students, I wonder?
Perhaps in place of this, have a user vouch for you to verify your account? I think a large reason for this is to prevent spambots.

[jhan523]

Originally Posted by RyanC

Do ya use facebook? Are you as overly paranoid there too?
(they used to require you to confirm your status by providing a university mail)

Ironically, facebook is the only place I have my McMaster e-mail and I haven't gotten a single spam (not including all the spam the university itself sends me, they should really create more than 1 mailing list) in the 3+ years I've been at McMaster.

[Kathy2]

Originally Posted by RyanC

Fair enough. You can change the email address on your account, and I presume you will pretty much not exist to much extent on the server database. (obviously theres certain aggregate data on the interwebs that will forever be cached, so its a risk, albeit small)

Do ya use facebook? Are you as overly paranoid there too?
(they used to require you to confirm your status by providing a university mail)

What would be a better way to verify students, I wonder?
Perhaps in place of this, have a user vouch for you to verify your account? I think a large reason for this is to prevent spambots.

I use Facebook (infrequently), and yes, I'm just as paranoid about information on there! :( My profile is private, and I don't even use my full name (I use a nickname and my middle name). They don't ask for a university email address now though, anyone can use FB.

I know the point is to avoid spambots, so it makes sense. I really don't think there's any way around it. I'm sure tons of people will still sign up with their MUSS account, I don't think it'll be a problem for MI. I don't think many people are as paranoid as I am about this stuff.

[Entropy]

Originally Posted by RyanC

Perhaps in place of this, have a user vouch for you to verify your account? I think a large reason for this is to prevent spambots.

Ask stuff only Mac students/alumni/staff would know.

Possible security questions:

"How many tiles are there on the floor outside JHE?"

"What does the graffiti on the southwest corner of TSH say?"

"What's today's special at 1280?"

The possibilities are endless. This way, even if the trolls get through, at least you know they're dedicated trolls that are willing to put effort into their craft. It's just the boring, lazy ones no one likes.

Also,

Originally Posted by Entropy

All it needs is a place where incoming first-year Eng students can ask what kind of laptop they should get.

Wish = granted.

[Leeoku]

I tried submitting a mod application. After submit, the "time spent per day" and the "are you willing to commit to learn" unchecks and my application is displayed as a .. (html coding script?) basically the same thing but with /b and the titles

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Leeoku

I tried submitting a mod application. After submit, the "time spent per day" and the "are you willing to commit to learn" unchecks and my application is displayed as a .. (html coding script?) basically the same thing but with /b and the titles

Update for mod applications

The form has been fixed, for those who didn't see a confirmation message when you submitted, please re-submit. Thanks!

[Chad]

Originally Posted by comte

Also, I'm guessing the info of people's IDs are stored somewhere, where prospective people trained in cracking and obtaining that information may appear for some strange reason, or even one day, an administrator may suddenly turn evil or become a hostage, or having their girlfriend held hostage, so that someone may try to obtain that information.

PS. I know I'm a bit of a pessimist.

Users who are too reluctant to put their McMaster e-mail on MacInsiders won't be able to post in the forums and confirm their account. They'll be able to browse but not post. Unfortunately there is no other easy way to confirm that new users are McMaster students without requiring a Mac e-mail initially.

We also never ask for your Mugsi password or anything like that. You can enter any password you want for your MacInsiders account. So I'm not entirely sure what 'hackers' could do with just your McMaster e-mail, even if someone did have your e-mail, the worst they could do is spam your e-mail account. We don't give your e-mail to any third parties or marketers, so other than the MacInsiders newsletters/updates (if you've opt-ed to receive them - you can toggle this in your profile settings) or if you've set to receive emails when someone replies to threads you post, or emails when you get a private messsage on MacInsiders, then you won't be receiving any other emails.

Now, once you do put in a McMaster e-mail and confirm it (click the link in the email that we send you). THEN you can change your e-mail to anything you want, such as that gmail or hotmail or whatever else you want to use. You'll just have to confirm the email change (you can do this in your control panel settings here) and then your mcmaster e-mail in our system will be replaced with your new e-mail that you changed it to (ie. your mcmaster email will not be stored anymore).

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Kathy2

I use Facebook (infrequently), and yes, I'm just as paranoid about information on there! :( My profile is private, and I don't even use my full name (I use a nickname and my middle name). They don't ask for a university email address now though, anyone can use FB.

I know the point is to avoid spambots, so it makes sense. I really don't think there's any way around it. I'm sure tons of people will still sign up with their MUSS account, I don't think it'll be a problem for MI. I don't think many people are as paranoid as I am about this stuff.

You know that Facebook isn't well known for protecting privacy right? Facebook uses your info to sell targeted advertising and information to marketers that partner with them, thats how they make their money and why they can keep it free. They've broken privacy rules and changed their privacy policies and privacy controls so many times. They've actually been under federal investigations and looked at by the FTC (recent news as of Sept and November of this year), especially after releasing the new 'timeline' feature (all your private wall posts right from the start when you used facebook were published to your timeline automatically). Just search google and you'll see all the Facebook issues with privacy.