Forum Software LC?

[Richard Gaskin]

William Prothero wrote:

 > Discord looks really interesting. I'm thinking of trying it out.
 > One thing I wonder about is user privacy. I know there are private
 > channels, but does the entity supporting discord have access to
 > user data, emails, names, etc?
 >
 > That will be the first question I'm asked.

It's a good question.  With almost every public service today, the 
answer will be negative.

Discord is free of charge but is not open source, so while you can set 
up a server there easily, someone else is hosting it, and like nearly 
every public service the TOS fine print allows data mining.  Same with 
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and pretty much every SaaS you use.

For the purposes Discord used for, this is usually fine.  Game 
publishers use it for support and tips, and a great many other orgs 
besides, and for that sort of discussion privacy needs are minimal.

For example, there's a growing HyperCard group hosted on Discord:
https://discord.gg/RZZv3wk4

But with VERY few exceptions, any service you're not hosting yourself 
will be subject to data mining in one form or another.*

Only self-hosted systems provide you with complete assurance about how 
user data is handled.

Discourse is free and open source, but for some the system requirements 
for self-hosting may be daunting.

No worries: there are many dozens of good packages for threaded 
discussion forums, and most are FOSS and can be self-hosted.  And if you 
use any shared hosting you can try out many of them easily enough in 
Softaculous or whatever one-click install system is provided by your host.

And Bill, it's been a couple years since we talked. If you want to kick 
around a few ideas for what your group needs, give me a call.  Always 
good to talk with you.


----


* Privacy rant:

I'm rebuilding all of my web tooling, and with that my content, and with 
that I just started the rewrite for my Privacy Policy.

When I wrote this more than 15 years ago, the biggest concern at the 
time was spam.  We hadn't yet seen comprehensive cross-indexed user 
behavior tracking used to build psychographic models capable of 
destabilizing entire regions, as we've seen with more modern information 
warfare (the US Senate Intel Committee reports on disinformation 
campaigns include a good methodology overview: 
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/publications/report-select-committee-intelligence-united-states-senate-russian-active-measures 
).

So while I'll be extending some of the wording scope when my new site is 
published, I was frankly surprised at how well the rest of a 15-year-old 
policy has held up - here's the meat of it:


     To be perfectly frank, we find it disappointing that so many
     companies who sell products and services online also act as
     mass-marketing companies, selling your email address and other
     personal information to anyone who's willing to pony up the cash.

     We offer our Privacy Policy as a challenge for all other online
     companies:

     Stick to what you do, do it well, and stop the practice of selling
     customer information to strangers. If you can't be profitable
     sticking with your core business and need to also sell your
     customers' personal information to remain viable, maybe it's time
     to rethink your business plan.

     The sale of customer information to other companies is a
     significant contributing factor to the ever-growing volume of
     unsolicited commercial email (commonly called "spam"). Last
     year alone spam cost ISPs more than US$7 billion, and the
     aggregate cost to global industries is many times that. We
     know there are many more legitimate ways to spread the word
     about good products and services, and hope that by working
     together we may one day see an end to spam.


If digital surveillance is of interest, I've found the work of author 
and EFF consultant Cory Doctorow particularly enlightening. This article 
provides a good intro to what he's been up to lately:
https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2023/09/14/cory-doctorow-takes-on-big-techs-worst-impulses-in-the-internet-con/

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems