Personal Information, Privacy, Civility and Community

[Jon Matcho]

This topic has been discussed a few times in the past without much conclusion. So now, with the "new" Canard Zone it's time to share current policy and some thoughts relating to how these subjects will be handled going forward.

Personal Information, Privacy & Anonymity

As an example (and the motivation for this post) the following are excerpts from another discussion:

On 10/30/2014 at 7:55 PM, Marc Zeitlin said:

And let me put in a request for actual names in signature files, so that we know who we're talking to.

On 10/30/2014 at 8:33 PM, CutieDarkFae said:

How does my real name help you know who I am unless you already know me somehow?

On 10/31/2014 at 1:48 AM, Marc Zeitlin said:

It makes you more of a person, and less of a troll. I respond far better to people that I know the name of than to anonymous nobodies.

The sharing of real names at the Canard Zone is encouraged, however, this sharing is entirely optional and will remain the policy here going forward.  Those who choose to remain anonymous have the right to do so as this is a personal choice that should be respected. On the other hand, anonymous members should be sensitive to the fact that that other members simply appreciate knowing something about the person they are taking the time to "talk" to.
 
Privacy and security are extremely important at the Canard Zone.  Internet crawlers, "bots", search engines, as well as members not logged in are all unable to access certain forums as well the member list and related member profile information.  Additional details on privacy at the Canard Zone's can be found in the Privacy section of the Canard Zone Rules and Guidelines (a link is available at the bottom of every page).

Civility

On 10/31/2014 at 1:48 AM, Marc Zeitlin said:

What I will say is that on the COZY mailing list, everyone is required to use real names and provide addresses and phone #'s in order to join. This has tended, over the 19 years I've been running the list, to lead to far higher levels of civility than on most internet fora.

By nature of a mailing list, where once an email is let loose on the entire membership (with no way to retract it) either this approach or individual email approval is practically essential. With web forums, where it's possible to delete posts after the fact, additional options are available to maintain civility.
 
There are forums where moderation is "hands-off" (as was even the case here in the distant past) where unruly and disrespectful behavior tends to occur and may even appear to be tolerated.  Forums with good guidelines and moderation in place, such as HBA and Van's Air Force, the discussion does indeed manage to be civil. The latter reflects the new approach for the Canard Zone, and I encourage everyone to read through the forum Rules and Guidelines (a link is available at the bottom of every page).  Simply put, unruly behavior will not be tolerated, posts may be deleted, and if absolutely necessary, members banned temporarily to indefinitely.

An important capability here is the "Report" feature (located at the bottom of every post), where a post that another member may consider to be against the Canard Zone's Rules and Guidelines can be reported for review by the moderation team.  Reporting a post is anonymous (except to the moderator(s) themselves) and your involvement is never disclosed to other members.
 
Community

Community is all about knowing your neighbor in a civil environment.  If my actual next door neighbor were to wear a hockey mask and would not let me know their name, it would be understandable to distance myself from them.

To this end I encourage everyone to revisit their personal information (which can be done by clicking your user name in the upper-right of the page, selecting the 'Profile' menu, and then pressing the 'Edit Profile' button) and do one or more of the following:

• Let everyone know your name, or even your first name... nickname at least?
• Share your location:  country, locale, town, etc.
• Share something about your airplanes and canard interests
• Fill out as much of your profile as you're willing to do -- it's interesting stuff and helps remove the mask distraction

A good example of the benefits of community are the membership rosters available when you join the CSA and/or Cozy Mailing List groups.  There members are able to see other member names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, project/plane flying status, etc. and are able to contact these people, visit their projects, share stories, meet, etc. growing the community -- none of which would be available if everyone was unwilling to share.  
 
Please do enjoy the forum regardless of how much you care to participate in the community, and feel free to make any suggestions you like, either here or through private messaging.