Subj : Re: SSH on BBSes
To   : Spectre
From : boraxman
Date : Sat Apr 02 2022 19:07:40

 Sp> I'm going to start here with, I don't put my real name on anything that
 Sp> is any form of online, BBS, FacePlant or anywhere else. That stems from
 Sp> discussions about privacy all the way back at Yr10/Form 3 computer
 Sp> studies, that kind of thinking seems to have gone completely by the
 Sp> wayside these days though.
 Sp> 
 Sp> Fido has a history of wanting real names for access to its echoes
 Sp> though... then it gets shady as to what can be done with the echoes by
 Sp> any particular BBS.  I started with the theory of feeding FSX into a
 Sp> local news server and from there to a local and limited forum on the TLP
 Sp> website.. this partially eventuated but not being happy with the
 Sp> achievable result I scrapped it.  Now someone else might decide its a
 Sp> great thing to pop it up on an open forum, and then your name is out
 Sp> there for all to see.. but you had to use it for FIDO in the first
 Sp> place.  I'm not sure there's a hard and fast answer there, unless FIDO
 Sp> rule implemented regarding suitable use of the network/echo data.
 Sp> 
 Sp> Spec
 Sp> 

I realise you could use a fake name for FidoNet, but I used my real name because I took the rules at face value.  I don't use it here, obviously, but it is a moniker I use elsewhere.

I don't like the fact we have to be this careful, but that is just the way it is.  The fact is that employers will search for your name, and social mores change, so something you said today, which is innocent, is later "problematic".  This is what worries me, the more and more that is considered to be bigoted and wrong, the more and more likely things we say will in 10 years time come up and besmirch our character.

Having BBS discussions limited to BBS users, and having them off the web will prevent this, and give people a greater sense of assurance that they can speak to other without having to worry about the unknown.

In that sense, I'd rather use telnet on a BBS, with the discussion not indexed by web crawlers, than SSH on a BBS, with the discussion being indexed and made permanent by web crawlers.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

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