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Privacy on BHW

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Steph Curry Jr.

Steph Curry Jr.

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Just a quick question - does BHW have access to the contents of our private conversations here? If yes, should it be on the privacy policy?
 
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Yes they do have access to the private conversations.
 
Steph Curry Jr. said:
Just a quick question - does BHW have access to the contents of our private conversations here? If yes, shoulda it be on the privacy policy?
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For the safety and security of members, staff can access conversations if required. This is one way to remove scammers and people who are selling via these channels, as an example.
 
Unless someone is doing something very shady, or has a "friend with benefit" on this forum; I don't see a reason why it's an issue that the mods can see our PMs. Should it be in the policy? Well I am not a lawyer, but I think everyone who visits this forum has some idea about how databases work. The owner obviously has access to the database, and can see everything. Some sites even keep a copy of password in plain text (which is real scary, nevertheless).
 
MisterF said:
For the safety and security of members, staff can access conversations if required. This is one way to remove scammers and people who are selling via these channels, as an example.
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Gogol said:
Unless someone is doing something very shady, or has a "friend with benefit" on this forum; I don't see a reason why it's an issue that the mods can see our PMs. Should it be in the policy? Well I am not a lawyer, but I think everyone who visits this forum has some idea about how databases work. The owner obviously has access to the database, and can see everything. Some sites even keep a copy of password in plain text (which is real scary, nevertheless).
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I think it should be disclosed somewhere. I mean yeah it's a dumb move to do this on a public forum but what if you share sensitive and really private stuffs, oblivious to the fact?

AND no, not all owners have access to your private dms, e.g end to end encryption?

Again I'm not asking for end to end encryption here it'd be ridiculous, I'm just saying its not a given to accept that all service providers have access to your info.

Just a disclosure up front is all I ask. And maybe it even exists somewhere here i only suspected and didn't find it on the privacy policy and got curious is all.
 
Steph Curry Jr. said:
AND no, not all owners have access to your private dms, e.g end to end encryption?
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You never know lol. Also, end to end encryption concept is generally associated with chat platforms; and not forums.

I personally do not feel the need for the admins to add a policy for that. It's quite obvious. Upto the admins to decide. :)
 
Gogol said:
You never know lol. Also, end to end encryption conception is generally associated with chat platforms; and not forums.

I personally do not feel the need for the admins to add a policy for that. It's quite obvious. Upto the admins to decide. :)
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Alright. If you say so.
 
Yes they do have access at times it feels weird but then at times it’s helpful too so I’m olay with it. Till you’re complying within the rules you have nothing to be afraid of.
 
Just to clarify:

  • Access to members PM's is not a universal mod permission, so not all the mods are able to access these. Going forward, we're going to formalise the mod progression, including some of the higher level functions, to make sure that the permissions held by each mod is appropriate to their knowledge, proven ability and how much experience they've had.
  • In addition, we maintain logs of moderator and administrator actions. So, whenever one of the senior mods/admins views a member's account to either help them with their upgrades or verify an exchange on PM, this is recorded in the logs. These logs are reviewed internally to ensure that the ability is being used judiciously and appropriately.
  • We'll be taking on new mods once the platform migration is complete, so that they're able to learn the appropriate system going forward.
  • When the mod progression structure is in place, we'll produce content explaining what the different levels, titles and colours mean, so every member will have informationto who can perform more detailed investigations or carry certain tasks out.

Essentially, here's what this means for our members:

  • Most of our mods will *not* have the ability to read member's PM's. If they need this information, they'll be able to request information from the senior mods or admins who do have the ability. New mods will not be given this permission until they have reached a specific level of seniority after lots of experience and several promotions.
  • All members will be able to see which mods have this ability and, if there are any concerns, are able to report this to administrators who can review the logs.
  • We comply with some of the most rigorous privacy legislations, like GDPR. As such, you can read what your rights are in regards to your data in our Privacy Policy


We've had numerous discussions on this specific issue. The aim is to achieve a good compromise - where members are not worried about private conversations being read inappropriately - but also so we're able to verify claims of threats, abuse, trolling or scamming over PM. Whilst the current approach might not be to everyone's taste, we've found it to be a good balancing point that helps us safeguard members without breaching their privacy rights.
 
Steph Curry Jr. said:
Just a disclosure up front is all I ask. And maybe it even exists somewhere here i only suspected and didn't find it on the privacy policy and got curious is all.
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Well, we've always been open about senior mods/admins having the ability to read PM's and are always happy to answer questions in regards to it. However, you've made a great point because I don't *believe* that this is currently formalised in any rules or help documents. (fwiw, I'm not 100% confident about this, so happy to be corrected if anyone knows differently).

Thank you for raising it - we'll take this on board and make sure this is defined and mentioned in our rules or privacy policy on the next update.
 
Apricot said:
Well, we've always been open about senior mods/admins having the ability to read PM's and are always happy to answer questions in regards to it. However, you've made a great point because I don't *believe* that this is currently formalised in any rules or help documents. (fwiw, I'm not 100% confident about this, so happy to be corrected if anyone knows differently).

Thank you for raising it - we'll take this on board and make sure this is defined and mentioned in our rules or privacy policy on the next update.
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No problemo. My pleasure.
 
Good point raised. I'm pretty sure the BHW mods never abuse their power though. Sometimes, taking a sneak peek into the DMs is necessary to keep the bad guys away.
 
Gogol said:
Unless someone is doing something very shady, or has a "friend with benefit" on this forum; I don't see a reason why it's an issue that the mods can see our PMs. Should it be in the policy? Well I am not a lawyer, but I think everyone who visits this forum has some idea about how databases work. The owner obviously has access to the database, and can see everything. Some sites even keep a copy of password in plain text (which is real scary, nevertheless).
Click to expand...

Although I know about this I’m agree with OP that it should be disclosed somewhere. Not something shady, but people might just accidentally reveal their websites, their secret methods, things like that which they don’t want anyone else knows about, except the one they are talking with in the conversations.
 
nst1m said:
Although I know about this I’m agree with OP that it should be disclosed somewhere. Not something shady, but people might just accidentally reveal their websites, their secret methods, things like that which they don’t want anyone else knows about, except the one they are talking with in the conversations.
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Well, the admin has made her decision clear. So, let's go with that. :)
 
nst1m said:
Although I know about this I’m agree with OP that it should be disclosed somewhere. Not something shady, but people might just accidentally reveal their websites, their secret methods, things like that which they don’t want anyone else knows about, except the one they are talking with in the conversations.
Click to expand...

Absolutely - @Steph Curry Jr. raised a good point, we'll make sure this is documented as described above :) As the original question's been resolved now, I'll close the thread.

.
 
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