GDPR

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

In order to make practical our GDPR responsibilities (in other words, to cut the number of e-Mails we'll have to send) we intend only to contact Forum members who have been active on the Forum over the past 18 months. Accounts that haven't been used since 31 Dec 2016 will be closed and all information pertaining to those accounts will be deleted. Anyone who has not contributed since then, but who wishes to contribute in the future, will have to rejoin.

If you have posted anything since Jan 2017, you need not do anything: your account will remain open, and you will be contacted about GDPR in due course. Any members wishing to continue their enjoyment of the Forum, but who have not posted any comments in this period should post a reply to that effect here, and their membership will be kept open.

Those who have joined the Forum since 18th May need do nothing - they have already opted in.

Please raise any queries/comments about this issue here on this Thread, rather than via the "Contact Us" or Private Message facilities.



Apologies if this sounds somewhat Dalekesque - this is something we have to do, something we're new at doing, and something that we would all find dozens of things we'd rather be doing instead. Nothing is changing, and once it's done, the Forum will continue to function as vibrantly as before.

Thank you.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh - and just in case anyone hasn't read the most recent updating of the Forum Privacy policy, here it is:

It is not absolutely certain that the regulation applies to the forum: it does not sell goods or services, has no turnover to be fined from if found to be using the data unlawfully, nor is is clear what the "organisation" is now that FoR3 has handed over the running to the membership.

However, it costs nothing to comply so:

Your data held in the system's database consists of an email address (which you may have failed to update and which therefore no longer functions***) and a log of your IP addresses. Your username is associated with this information.

The database also contains information which you have given but which is not required (personal details on your profile page or on the forum threads) and which is already viewable by other members.

Data is held to ensure that there is no breach of the Terms and Conditions or House Rules (to prevent the registration of multiple accounts, identify banned users, and recognise spammers and spambots). If you are not happy with this, please notify the administration: the deletion of your account will delete all your personal data.

The forum cookies used ensure that the forum functions as it should: if you tick the Remember Me box on the login page, your login information is retained so that you do not have to login each time you use the forum. Cookies also register, for your own information, which threads you have contributed to, or whether there are posts on a thread which you have not read; and prevent members voting more than once in a poll.

[Zucchini]

Absolutely the right solution imo

[jean]

...this is something we have to do, something we're new at doing, and something that we would all find dozens of things we'd rather be doing instead...

That's an almost perfect expanding tricolon, did you know?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Absolutely the right solution imo

Thank you.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That's an almost perfect expanding tricolon, did you know?

Fortunately, they managed to operate just in time.

[french frank]

I shall be starting to make a cull year by year as long as no one suggests a reason why that shouldn't be done. I'm working initially on the basis that 'activity' means that people haven't even logged into their accounts rather than that they haven't posted at all. This could mean that something like 1,000 accounts will be deleted, leaving about 500 'active'.

[cloughie]

Fortunately, they managed to operate just in time.

Painful?

[oddoneout]

Thank you for dealing with this in a sensible fashion - or so it seems to me.
The privacy bit I agree does seem perhaps unnecessary, but any list of email addresses is potentially of interest to other organisations, and I would always want to know that such information would not be passed on without my informed consent.
The allotment society I was involved with was approached some years ago to provide the members' contact details for marketing purposes, in return for a donation to funds. We refused, much to the surprise of the business concerned, which did not seem to understand that the society did not have members' permission to pass on those details.Their argument was that they had a product of interest to gardeners, and that funds were always of use to small outfits such as ours. They weren't interested in giving us leaflets to distribute instead, which hardly helped their case.

[LMcD]

Absolutely the right solution imo

[Dave2002]

The forum cookies used ensure that the forum functions as it should: if you tick the Remember Me box on the login page, your login information is retained so that you do not have to login each time you use the forum.

That’s quite interesting. I had thought that the remember function was done at the client end - in the end user’s browser. I suppose it could be done either way, and the mechanisms could be browser specific. Perhaps the remember function has a time limit which may be site dependent, and reliant on cookies - and hence require permission for cookie storage.

I visit two forums which use the same underlying software, and I do sometimes have to login, but the password is filled in automatically, which I assume is from my end. Also both forums using this software appear not to be using the most secure method for transmitting passwords, as I get warnings from some browsers about this. I therefore use distinct passwords for those sites, and they are different from passwords used for any other sites.

[french frank]

the mechanisms could be browser specific.

The password is different - your browser remembers that if (judging by Firefox) you click for it to store it. If you log in from a different browser the next time it probably won't recoognise you at all - if you log out from your account, as the notice says, 'All cookies cleared'. If you're not logged in, the software can't give you any information as to which threads you've read, whether there is anything new since you last visited &c.

'Remember me' is for people who close the browser without logging out, so that they're automatically logged in when they reopen the browser (I think whether they're visiting the site or not).

I had a couple of 'Privacy Policy Updates' emails this morning MacUpdate had a useful phrase: 'We may send account-related email messages that are triggered by your site activity'. These would include an automatic Welcome message when you join, Happy Birthday if you enter your exact date of birth (not required) and notifications of new PMs and additions to subscribed texts - if you have opted in to the notifications.

[Nick Armstrong]

Absolutely the right solution imo

Agreed.

[Dave2002]

That's an almost perfect expanding tricolon, did you know?

Thanks for introducing me to this rhetorical concept.

Sometimes people can’t count - https://people.csail.mit.edu/paulfit...sh/script.html

[Estelle]

I would very much appreciate my account being kept open. I enjoy reading the posts on this site and do so regularly. I read to learn and to experience various viewpoints on the subjects under discussion. I regret that I don't post myself, but I don't believe I am in the same league with those who contribute regularly. I do hope that you will not delete my account! Thank you!