Kendall Frederick said:
I had the jacket, back in the day...
Black was the colour to have... 
Kendall Frederick said:
I had the jacket, back in the day...
Black was the colour to have...
secretariata (Forum Supporter) said:Kendall Frederick said:
I had the jacket, back in the day...
Black was the colour to have...
If anyone remembers the SNL skit with Horatio Sanz doing the "WWhhhhhaaatt?!?! This is a genuine, burgundy members only jacket with a banded collar."
I know on a few other forums there are sections you can only see if you're logged in. I read it as he was requesting something like that so he can ask "us" vs having the world know his business.
The_Jed said:Wow... no, that's not what I meant at all. The entirety of the forum can be viewed by non-members. I'm trying to ask for advice without supplying people with ammo for personal attacks.
If I were wishing to do that, I'd create an anonymous burner account. Several other regulars have done that if they have sensitive questions or information to discuss.
You can keep it in reserve and only post from there when you don't want to be easily connected.
In reply to Duke :
Could also ask a trusted confident to post for you.
In reply to secretariata (Forum Supporter) :
My dad got a lot of mileage out of a turquoise one. Like until 2015.
In reply to secretariata (Forum Supporter) :
Mine was actually black, I just found this pic first! I think I got mine in maybe 1984? I remember lots of questionable style decisions back then...
To the OP, just realize that anything you post online is public, "private forum" or no.
Just ask SECDEF.
I bought a black one on eBay when I bought the 944 a few years ago. I also found a bag car phone to put on the console.
I favor the sock puppet account. And Google leads back here quite a bit.
The_Jed said:Wow... no, that's not what I meant at all. The entirety of the forum can be viewed by non-members. I'm trying to ask for advice without supplying people with ammo for personal attacks.
What's stopping the people who would use that info badly from joining?
I definitely understand where the thought is coming from, Jed. I have held back on posting things here due to it being a publicly accessible forum. But my thought - if there was a "members only" area - would it still be a good idea to post this stuff online to be archived forever? Where the slightest breach or as alfadriver says the wrong person signing up then makes it public forever? Probably not. So maybe a members only area would just be false security.
Apparently the new hotness for sharing really sensitive info is Signal. Just sign a bunch of randos up for your group chat and start sharin'!
alfadriver said:The_Jed said:Wow... no, that's not what I meant at all. The entirety of the forum can be viewed by non-members. I'm trying to ask for advice without supplying people with ammo for personal attacks.
What's stopping the people who would use that info badly from joining?
They would have to know there is a section that only members can see. My assumption is he is simply trying to make sure if someone searches his username, they don't see everything he posts here. Many people use the same name on multiple forums.
For example, searching a username in this thread, I can see:
They have Instagram (and their actual name)
They post here, classic motorsports, R3VLimited, tech talk, Miata forums, BMW forums, Motorcycle forums etc. That's on the first page.
If that person posted here about personal stuff (relationship, finance, etc) I'd see it. That being said, not sure if a restricted area would solve that or not (as far as Google goes)
In reply to Steve_Jones :
you are assuming that the bad actors are random groups on the interwebs.
What if it's personal attacks from someone on the board? If you are worried that you are being bullied by another member- I don't see a members only section fixing that.
For a forum directed subject- if you want to discuss violating emissions laws as a business opportunity- lets say. And the worry is that some random group on line searches for that discussion to flush you out. But that kind of thinking ignores the fact that there are people in the regulatory agencies that actually are enthusiasts that would likely want to be part of that private board.
And if you are discussing *that* personal of info on an internet chat board, perhaps this is the wrong place to discuss it?
I'm also in the create a burner account camp.
And then maybe run your question/thought through ChatGPT/Claude/etc. Those of us who have been around awhile and post at least semi-frequently can typically tell who the post is from based on verbiage, grammar, syntax, etc.
alfadriver said:In reply to Steve_Jones :
And if you are discussing *that* personal of info on an internet chat board, perhaps this is the wrong place to discuss it?
I disagree with this part. Many people here post personal stuff (family, health, finances) because they feel like this is "family". I'd rather them fell that way vs not being able to discuss it with anyone.
My door is always open, phone is always available, for any discussion, with no judging. Not everyone has to like me, and I don't like everyone, but I will never not listen and let someone vent/discuss/ask advice.
People are WAY overthinking this. It's not like the existing forum rules wouldn't apply to such a section, that it needs to cover every conceivable scenario, that it's for discussing doing anything illegal (see forum rules), or that it needs to be 100% secure from somebody already intimately familiar with this forum anyways... And when has harassment and bullying EVER been a problem here, let alone one that hasn't been addressed?
Many of the (sometimes deeply) personal threads here have been posted by members who have noted wanting to be extra careful with what details they include, the types of responses they might get, and even use burner accounts on top of that, all just to add a small amount of basic protection against crossover between other people in their real life knowing their personal details and/or identifying them by their personal details, and the 'GRM family' they're seeking personal advice from.
These aren't just fringe "what if" hypotheticals, they're demonstrable actual regularly recurring events. That alone tells me that having a dedicated 'safer' space (a not publicly searchable "Dear GRM", if you will) than the general off-topic forum would have enough value here to be at least worthy of genuine consideration, rather dismissing it offhand... Even if it may ultimately be determined to not be enough so to offset the time, effort, and cost of implementation. And that's without even getting into anybody not posting for other reason ('bad actors', etc.) that certainly wouldn't, couldn't, and don't need to 'all' be addressed by such a move.
Despite how much has been blown out of proportion and/or taken out of context just from somebody having the audacity to merely offer the simple suggestion of such an apparently egregious idea in this thread, I know of few other places on the internet that are capable of being as open, accepting, supportive, and helpful as here.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
Just because people do doesn't mean its a good idea. Especially if you are concerned that the random interweb phishers can use that information against you. Which is why jed is asking for a members location.
(Came in to suggest a "burner account" but I see that's already been done. Carry on.)
There is a mods only page, or there was. I only know this from seeing followed threads I couldn't access. So something like that is possible, but whether it's doable or a good idea is another thing.
Z31 maniac said
I'm also in the create a burner account camp.
And then maybe run your question/thought through ChatGPT/Claude/etc. Those of us who have been around awhile and post at least semi-frequently can typically tell who the post is from based on verbiage, grammar, syntax, etc
The last one that popped up I actually thought *was* the Jed. So it's not always easy to spot, but some people do have very clear writing styles. Why I never bothered with a burner. I also think it would be easier for people that don't post all the time already to pull off more anonymously.
I haven't actually searched my username in a while, but it's been the handle I've used everywhere online since 2005. It would probably take a hell of a lot of digging to find anything that shouldn't be/isn't really public knowledge.
At the same time this place has been a great home and a tight knit community with a lot of support. I've done threads detailing the destruction of and rebuild of my credit, I basically live blogged my entire trip through cancer last year, there are deeply personal and profound things scattered amongst the E36 M3 posts and dumb questions, but there's also like 12k posts to dig through to find them, not counting the thousands of pages of posts in some of the threads.
I guess what I'm saying is yes, things *can* be found or figured out, but unless it is something glaringly illegal or full names involved, a precursory search by a potential employer or spouse or stalker probably wouldn't return much without a massive time investment.
In reply to Driven5 :
I don't think people are "dismissing it offhand" for nefarious reasons, I think what's being asked is if we create this new "safe space", who decides who gets to join? Does that create anything of value for what he's seeking?
In reply to Driven5 :
I feel like you're reading a lot into people asking simple questions or posting their thoughts on the subject.
In reply to Jerry :
...and would it actually be safe in the way he seems to want / need?
Kendall Frederick said:
I had the jacket, back in the day...
Who can fit in a Medium size jacket from the 1980s , they seem to be a Small in todays sizing
Maybe lets focus on getting forum software that makes quoting easy and has a functioning private message system, then go from there.
What are we talking about here, whacking a guy, offing a guy, whacking off a guy?
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