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- Why do we have to register?
Because I say so. The previous versions of
these boards did not require registration, and so were heavily
abused. So heavily in fact that someone who felt he'd been hard
done by (and I must say, I'd probably have to agree) chose to
get the entire site shutdown by threatening legal action against
the owners of the server i.e. my employers, who for the previous
8 years had been quite happy to ignore the site's existence. So
now, if you want to be nasty, you'll have to do it in your own
name. Hopefully, this will lead to more productive discussion
and less bitching.
There are 4 levels of registration possible.
-
public : free for read
& post
-
registered : can be read
by everyone but only registered users can write
-
restricted : can be
read by everyone but only validated users (eg. accepted
by the moderator) can post on it.
-
private : can be accessed
only by users created throw the administration interface
So far, I'm mainly using two of these: registered and private.
The only restricted one is the announcements forum, which isn't
really a forum, since no one except the moderators gets to post..
You will be required to enter a valid email address in order to
register, because your login password will be sent to you at that
address. Email addreses of posters in the fora will have extra
extra words inserted in an attempt to foil at least automated
address harvesters. Anyone trying to email a particular poster
will have to edit the email address first, or it will bounce with
a "host not found" or "host does not exist"
message.
If there is enough interest, I will try to figure out how to
give you the option to entirely suppress your email address. Let
me know if this is a desirable feature.
The classifications of the current fora may change with time,
and there may be new ones added. If you have a suggestion for
a new forum, please let me know, and I will consider it.
- What happened to the old Makiwara?
This is the third version of the Makiwara.
The first one outgrew itself, so I upgraded to different software
where it was easier to create more forums (technically the plural
is fora), but still allowed very little control over who posted,
other than retrospectively i.e. I could delete a post, but couldn't
prevent it. Then came along a few people whose heads were a bit
too pointed for their own good, and caused the boards to get shutdown
around Christmas 2002 because someone who they had libelled decided
he didn't like it, and threatened legal action. So the site got
shut down. However, this all happened while it was being hosted
by my employer. I'd been meaning to move to the full domain name
for some time, but I was in what my boss calls a "fur lined
rut" i.e. it was too easy NOT to move (and the proof of this
pudding is the time it has taken to move it!) This event however
forced my hand, and here I am and so is the new site. It also
gave me a chance to revamp the site somewhat - not significantly
on the surface, but in the underlying structure.
- Is there free speech on these boards?
Of course there is. Rational free speech, that
is. Provided that you don't slander or libel anyone, or put racist,
sexist, pornographic, or otherwise offensive material on them.
The moderators will be the ultimate judges of what fits into these
categories, and I choose the moderators.
Free speech, as I understand it, does not require
me to allow you to say anything at all, much less something I
don't approve of, on my forum. If you have something to
say, and which I won't permit on my boards, the principles of
free speech make it perfectly acceptable for you to go and talk
about it somewhere where people are willing to listen, and you
can even set up your own discussion board somewhere and populate
it with your rantings.
Bear also in mind that while Australia and the
US and other countries may well have nominal free speech laws,
not all the people participating here are from such "liberal"
countries. Remember too that libel is a legal offense in most
countries.
A word of warning:
my criteria for what is acceptable will always be subject to change
from time to time. If some of your opinions and preference do
not change with time and/or experience, then you are probably
not getting the most out of your life.
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