SummitPost.org

Twoshuzz and JasonH-

I appreciate your responses and I have no reason to doubt them. I do not think this is paranoia though, rather a legitimate concern for which the mods and admins ought to be able to answer.

I do not do any sort of drugs, for example, but I used to have a job where I was randomly tested, and I disliked it intensely. I wasn't paranoid, and had nothing to hide, I just didn't think it was right. I think it is the same here.

So do the mods and admins have the ability to read PMs and chat logs? JasonH and Twoshuzz have said they do not and I beleive them, but is the ability there for the green folks for either PMs or chats?

Matt clearly can read chats and has in the past. Is he still doing this? Does he have the ability to read PMs? Does he read any?

How long are chat log contents saved and accessible? Or are they wiped out as soon as all the participants log off?

How long is content of deleted PMs accessible? Or is it wiped out when the PM is deleted?

Thank you.

It was a straightforward, simple and not an odd question in any way, considering the earlier post.
It has nothing to do with paranoia. It could be easily answered without flaming remarks.
It doesn't matter if anybody would want to read or not, the question was if it's possible.

At most workplaces, the IT department can read the coworkers' chats. Most people don't know this. Especially if they use msn to chat. That one has its doors wide open. (At a workplace, what you do on their computers belongs to work. Don't talk illoyal about your work on a work computer on a chat, ever... )

Thanks Jason, for a straight answer.
I didn't expect green administrators to be able to, but the red ones might. Not an issue really, don't use that chat, but I prefer to know anyway.

mrchad9 wrote:So do the mods and admins have the ability to read PMs and chat logs? JasonH and Twoshuzz have said they do not and I beleive them, but is the ability there for the green folks for either PMs or chats?

I can see dead people

but other than that there is no way (as far as I know) for greenies to look at your privates

The PM system uses the phpbb pm system which I can't tell if it was updated to version 3 like the forums or if it's still version 2. I'm pretty sure the red titled admins cannot go up to your profile and straight up check your pms. Unless Josh modded up the private message system to be able to do that.

Unless they were this guy:

Thank you for the explanation Matt.

Matt: it is wrongheaded programming to make people clear their browser's cache to fix a webpage formatting problem that keeps recurring. It's not a rant. It's logic.

Webpage programming should be seamless to the user. A user should not have to go to his Internet Options to make certain webpages load correctly, especially ones he frequents.

Once you implement the user profile setting to turn chat off completely, hopefully this problem will become moot. So thanks for implementing that.

~~~~~~~~~~

As an aside, I've been on this site a long time and have contributed much material; so I would like to think, as a stick in the mud, that I'm a long stick...with a respectable banner waving at the top.

Montana Matt wrote:I thought everyone would know that anything they do on a server that requires information to be saved in the database would be readable by anyone with access to the database. This is true with every site you use on the web.

You have just revealed that you are true computer nerd deep into your soul. That's sweet.
No, most people wouldn't know that anything they do on a server that requires information to be saved in the database would be readable by anyone with access to the database. Most people don't have a clue as to that fact. Most people don't even know there's a database involved.
It might seem logical to a person who works with computers and databases etc, that other people would logically deduce it, but alas, I think that's very far from the truth. The interface is all there is.
Like a wall in a building. If you know what's in a wall, it's easy. To other's it's just the wall.



The difference between red and green.

This is probably meaningless and nobody would even care, nor do I really. But, when you click on a profile it shows "last active" and the date is given. If they are currently logged in we would likely know that. But it might be interesting to know the last active prior to that date. I know who cares.

Matt,

It is not obvious to most people that chat messages would be saved at all. (It is of course rather foolish to assume that nobody is listening to and/or recording anything one does unencrypted on the Internet, but it does make a difference to some of us to know whether an indefinite record is being made *routinely*.)

Regardless, I think SP's features have run ahead of the terms of use , FAQ, etc. It is best if privacy-related info is clearly and officially stated in a single authoritative, easy-to-find place.

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Those of you worried about whether Matt can see your chats should worry more about whether anybody can access your account and pretend to be you. I haven't tried to do that, but if the ease with which I can fake a vote (by anybody, on any object) is any indication, SP was not built with security in mind.

Well first off I'll bet there was no disclaimer because people would freak out thinking "Oh I'm going to be spied on" which Matt does not have the time even if he was a spy.

Do you see other sites have it in there terms of service? Whether it be facebook, gmail, ymail, youtube, or what ever, the info you post is stored in the database and site owners have access to that kind of stuff. So always make that an expectation for any site!

I agree with narteb's post and think it would be a good idea to put all this information on chats/PMs in a spot where most members can find it. Just so everyone has the same story

nartreb wrote:Those of you worried about whether Matt can see your chats should worry more about whether anybody can access your account and pretend to be you. I haven't tried to do that, but if the ease with which I can fake a vote (by anybody, on any object) is any indication, SP was not built with security in mind.

Wait... What!!!

OK- I don't mean to be suspicious, but this surprises me. You have a nice profile photo... I'd like to give it a 10, but it is late. Will you do it for me?

Only admins and above can do that kind of stuff. And trust me I've had my account taken over (in the past) by admins before so I know quite well how the system works. If your talking about hacks, well why hack a user when you can hack an admin. Ok not likely, but my point is on any given site admins can take over your account if they want to. This is not uncommon for websites to be able to do this kind of stuff folks.

As for SP with security, the voting system has an extreme lack of security, I know about a million ways to cheat the system but your not going to see me do it! So I have yet to see summitpost hacked, so I think they got decent security here.

So why do you say "I'd like to give it a 10, but it is late. Will you do it for me?". It's not possible for a non admin to do that.

As for the info on chat/pm's, I guess I could understand the chat one because Matt has easy access and can see the last 10 chats, but not so much on pm's. If you want to go that far, there might as well be a disclaimer on the profile saying "Note: Site owners can view your password inside the database, you have been warned". I'm not actually suggesting that be done, but I'll bet the database is rarley visited by the site owners (although Matt might for updating stuff). But as I said I guess I understand for the chat part because that can be seen without even looking inside the database.