The Fedora Lounge 4.0

[3fingers]

Never forget that no matter where you go on the internet, and no matter what you do there, you yourself are the product. It's up to you, however, to determine what kind of product you are.

I must confuse the devil out of them then. Most of the ads that pop up other than a few things related to my occupation (usually high visibility clothing) are either things that are in no way interesting to me or are related to the topic of the thread I am reading. Sorry guys, no sale.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's endless malicious fun to play with algorithms. Enter, oh, let's say "cling peaches in heavy syrup," "Mannlicher-Carcano," "Captain Kangaroo," and "panty girdle" into random search fields as you traipse around the web, and watch the robots try to keep up.

 

[GHT]

If it's any consolation, Facebook's been selling your info for years. And you don't even need an account. They've collected information through friends, and friends of friends. I personally don't think there's anything FL could do worse, than what Facebook's already done.

That's true, but two wrongs and all that. I have never signed up to BookFace or any other popular social media site. I don't use plastic to purchase, don't have a Paypal account, don't have any store loyalty cards and don't make many cash withdrawals. A single withdrawal of a significant amount is usually enough for a few weeks.
I pay all my utility bills and any other annual payments through the post office rather than the bank, always in cash. I go out of my way not to leave a footprint. So now the powers that be who are reading this are wondering who GHT is, and what the initials stand for. Cryptographers might be lucky, do we have any fifth columnists as members?

 

[Doctor Damage]

Whoever is in charge of the 4.0 switch, here's something that keeps messing up when I use the site (via Firefox). I can hover over the draw-down arrows for FORUMS, MEDIA, AND MEMBERS and it let's me do the actions like "Mark Viewed" etc. However, the draw-down for ARTICLES almost never works for me and I get the odd menu items as shown in the screenshot below which doesn't show "Mark Read". I only get it to show the proper full menu like 20% of the time. The other three tabs work fine 100% of the time.

 

[Edward]

There is a new law here in the UK and probably the rest of Europe too, that forces companies to declare the information that they hold on you. We are currently being asked for permission by those companies to continue to farm that information. To that end, the Fedora Lounge has introduced a pop-up, at least here in the UK, that must be "agreed" before membership can continue.

The pop-up will apply more widely. The GDPR applies not only to companies located within the EU, but to anyone globally who collects personal information from anyone based within the EU. THe GDPR standards are fast becoming international - China's latest Cybersecurity laws are all closing in on EU level data protection, to name but one. As ecommerce becomes more and more a factor (there's something like only 12% of adults who have never used the web in the First world now, and shrinking all the time), this sort of universalisation of standards becomes inevitable, albeit that the driving forced is commerce rather than privacy itself.

It's taken me over a week to decide to continue and that's because every other company's request includes an opt out from having personal information retained, The Lounge has no such facility.

The opt-outs for most enterprises will related to receiving marketing communications, which TFL typically doesn't have. It would be impossible, however, to run a forum without capturing personal information even you never posted a photo, or your gender, or whatever, given that the definition of personal data runs to anything which alone, or in conjunction with other information, can render a living individual identifiable. If you've ever used a search engine, you've given away personal information - it's impossible not to. The only way to avoid a forum like this collecting your personal information would be not to participate.

My delay has been caused by two clauses in the terms and conditions: The first is this one.
"TheFedoraLounge.com may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of its assets, including your Personal Information, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets or in the event of bankruptcy."
All the rhetoric over the stringent security of The Lounge goes out of the window with that clause.

Sounds scarier than it is.... essentially this provision has to be here because if ever we had a new backer, TFL would have to be shut down, or delete all users and have them re-subscribe. I can't imagine you'll see any GDPR related compliance policies without this.

The second is this:
"These terms may be changed at anytime without notice."
Hardly makes the terms and conditions worth the (virtual) paper that they are printed on.

Completely standard legal term you'll find in anything, though.

A lot of people have been scared by new GDPR policies from a lot of companies, but there's really nothing new in them, it's simply the case that the GDPR emphasises informed consent in a stronger way than ever before, so there's a level of awareness that didn't exist previously, even i little real change in how the web operates.

If it's any consolation, Facebook's been selling your info for years. And you don't even need an account. They've collected information through friends, and friends of friends. I personally don't think there's anything FL could do worse, than what Facebook's already done. I'm pretty sure it's tame. And the terms changing could always be for the better. That bit is usually a disclaimer to cover their buts when they do make updates, so that no one can sue saying, "You didn't tell me!" Well, most sites usually have update notices on the front page. Most members are likely to bookmark just the forum's section, and won't see said updates.

Believe me, nobody on TFL is ever going to make big (any) bucks from our members' personal information. (Personally I think Zuckerberg is a heel, but I wish I had his money!).

Never forget that no matter where you go on the internet, and no matter what you do there, you yourself are the product. It's up to you, however, to determine what kind of product you are.

Exactly. We live in a world now where it is basically impossible to avoid having a footprint, unless you never communicate, never travel - going off-grid simply isn't an option any more. Ultimately, though, you can still exercise some choice and throw the odd spanner in their works.

 

[Frunobulax]

On most days, I access the forum on my phone through TapaTalk, so I haven't noticed this before. Previously, when going to the Forums>Hats, there would be stickies located at the top. "Links to Important Hat Forum Threads" and the like. Those appear to not be there anymore. Am I missing something?

 

[GHT]

Exactly. We live in a world now where it is basically impossible to avoid having a footprint, unless you never communicate, never travel - going off-grid simply isn't an option any more. Ultimately, though, you can still exercise some choice and throw the odd spanner in their works.

Edward, I'm grateful for your informed response. You may have seen stories in the newspapers recently of insurance hikes on older drivers. The insurers claim that it's not ageism but they claim that our faculties all slow down with the ageing process and they adjust premiums to account for that.
[QUOTE ]The Daily Telegraph: Rias, a specialist over-50s insurer, charged Mr Hall £883 for a year’s cover for his Vauxhall Corsa, even though the previous year’s premium was just £389.[/QUOTE]
When Kate Palmer, the investigative journalist looked into Mr Hall's case she found a worrying suspicion that his insurer had based their judgement on the information that they had gleaned from his profile. A profile that they had amassed from their own and internet information that they had bought. Mr Hall, going by his profile, seems a well to do sort of fellow, has no debt or mortgage, pays his bills promptly and rarely changes his suppliers, including his insurers. Rias assumed he would take the hit. But when they were caught out they covered themselves with the ageism tale.
Mr Hall's new insurer charges him just £308 for his small car. That's the sort of bad example that farming personal information can lead too.

Thank you to everyone who has made a comment about this and again, thank you Edward for your informed reply.

 

[Edward]

Car insurance is a touchy one. I'm sure I heard that the company that charged women less than men were done for discrimination, despite unarguable statistical proof that women are less likely to have an accident than men. Whatever way you slice the insurance game, though, a careful driver is always, in essence,. paying for somebody else's accidents!

 

[Zombie_61]

On most days, I access the forum on my phone through TapaTalk, so I haven't noticed this before. Previously, when going to the Forums>Hats, there would be stickies located at the top. "Links to Important Hat Forum Threads" and the like. Those appear to not be there anymore. Am I missing something?

I know nothing about Tapatalk, but on my laptop the "sticky" threads are still at the top of each forum and sub-forum. Now they're only separated from the other threads by having a little rectangular yellow/tan "push pin" icon on the right side of the "Title" column that identifies them as "sticky" threads.

 

[Frunobulax]

I know nothing about Tapatalk, but on my laptop the "sticky" threads are still at the top of each forum and sub-forum. Now they're only separated from the other threads by having a little rectangular yellow/tan "push pin" icon on the right side of the "Title" column that identifies them as "sticky" threads.

Y'know, they're there now. I swear they weren't this morning!

 

[GHT]

Y'know, they're there now. I swear they weren't this morning!

View attachment 121823

How did you miss them? They get right on my nerves.

 

[1930artdeco]

So far not bad. But I am having trouble adjusting to the white background. I would like more contrast-and I couldn't even see where there reply box is.

Mike

 

[Zombie_61]

So far not bad. But I am having trouble adjusting to the white background. I would like more contrast-and I couldn't even see where there reply box is.

Mike

Have you tried the "Lights Off/Dark" setting? Click on the little "light bulb" icon on the far right of the header (top of the page next to the "Search" icon). For me it's much easier on the eyes than the white background.

 

[Silvana]

I'm new to the site and learning to navigate my way around it .... I can't say if I prefer this font (not being aware of the previous), but it's clear and classy.

 

[nick123]

As of about 3-4 days ago on here, I have been bombarded with various versions of those “congratulations! You have been selected....” popup ads that lock up the phone. I’m sure it’s on my end, but thought i’d bring it to attention on the off chance it isn’t.

 

[3fingers]

As of about 3-4 days ago on here, I have been bombarded with various versions of those “congratulations! You have been selected....” popup ads that lock up the phone. I’m sure it’s on my end, but thought i’d bring it to attention on the off chance it isn’t.

I have been getting a fake Google ad claiming my phone is infested with 7 viruses. All I need do is click and they will fix them for me. Only happens on this site so far.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

As of about 3-4 days ago on here, I have been bombarded with various versions of those “congratulations! You have been selected....” popup ads that lock up the phone. I’m sure it’s on my end, but thought i’d bring it to attention on the off chance it isn’t.

I have been getting a fake Google ad claiming my phone is infested with 7 viruses. All I need do is click and they will fix them for me. Only happens on this site so far.

The minute you see this happen, note the time, and send me a PM with the time and zone it happened, and your IP address, and we'll block it.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I've recently been getting this pop up.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

Click the X next to the adchoices triangle on the top-right of the ad and you can report it. This month we're moving to lazy loading and sandboxing which should resolve most of the issues.

Lazy Loading is fully implemented now, and I haven't noticed any jumping when composing a reply. I think we can consider that fixed.

 

[AvavanBlythe]

I have been getting a fake Google ad claiming my phone is infested with 7 viruses. All I need do is click and they will fix them for me. Only happens on this site so far.

Worst case scenario, use Firefox Focus on sites that give you sketchy ads. They're willing to block certain ads, but this would be a temporary solution until it's blocked.