For anyone who has been on a Zoom/video call with me to discuss the forum, you've heard me elaborate on my concern regarding privacy and security when it comes to certain information one reveals about themself to others in general, but specifically online.
Some of the basic rules of traditional prepping are that you:
This is one of the reasons I backed away from publicly viewable introduction threads. But this needs to be taken another step further.
Enter what I am currently calling either Trust Levels or Circles of Trust
DISCLAIMER: I'm going to directly refer to SKAN in this context - but only from a perspective of raising awareness in general. I respect SKAN for what they have accomplished. Remember - we decided to keep this site free so that there is "no skin in the game" or any "bruised egos" if something else better comes along, or if people choose not to join here. No battles intended - we all have to work together. I do, however, have issue with the Circle platform and the forum software module they use, but that is a completely different discussion - which also may be limiting their ability to implement what describing below. Who knows, maybe we'll all join forces someday - I welcome that, so I want to keep the air clean.
I noticed on SKAN that recently they made a change to the Profiles, allowing people to enter all kinds of information about themselves. While this is great, I believe that caution should be taken with the information shared. Anyone can pay $120/year and view all that information. I just don't feel that is safe and secure, but it's also under your discretion.
I plan to seek development of a custom Xenforo addon which allow one to set Trust Levels associated with various levels of detail about themselves that they are willing to share online with other users.
To start, here is the built-in method for adding custom fields (screenshot below of the section of the Xenforo Admin Control Panel for creating Custom User Fields). I'm not wanting to change this - I'm just showing this so others understand what is possible with this software out-of-the-box in this regard.
If you already have registered, you may not have seen changes that I already made to the registration process using this tool. Try logging out, then try to register a new account. You will see additional fields. While logged, in, go to your Account Details and you'll see these fields (empty, if added after you registered).
I can add similar field to what SKAN has added, which only takes a few hours to implement, configure, and test. I do plan on doing this, but only for Trust Level 1 (the outermost circle of trust). I am hesitant to add these fields until the trust levels are established, as I do not want anyone to add "too much information". At the same time, I'm not trying to create a nanny state here - live in peril if you wish!
My concept is this:
Each topic would allow users to enter multiple levels of information, with each level being a deeper Trust Level / Circle.
Level 0 - not really a level. No user information (except for your Username) is visible to anyone who does not have a registered user account.
Level 1 - visible to Registered users
Level 2 - visible to Verified users
Level 3 - visible to Certified users (I just made that up - could be someone with X number of people vouching for them? something like that)
Level 4 - visible to Tribal Leaders
Level 5 - visible to Your Tribe (optional: all members of all tribes)
Level 6 - visible to your only those you manually select
For each field of profile information, you can choose how much detail you wish to reveal.
The level system would have a default method for who sees what (the "visible to X" groups).
Potentially, but more complicated: If the default method wasn't to your liking, you could override that system and manually choose a level for each individual member.
This could be taken to another level with Locations and the Member Map system. This is where this concept shines on a critical pathway that is very specific to Observers and adheres strongly with the traditional Prepper mindsets previously mentioned.
Users could granularly apply locations that are more and more precise with each level. Such as:
Level 1 - country
Level 2 - area (midwest, northeast, etc, allow multiple for people who are in crossover territories)
Level 3 - State / province (similar to Level 2, with crossover areas allowed)
Level 4 - county or geographic section of state/province/territory
Level 5 - city
Level 6 - address
The overall grand concept of "finding your Tribe" has critical hurdles to overcome when it comes to safety, security, and trust. People should not have to choose between having to share all of their information with everyone in order to find the best Tribe for them, and sharing none of their information and being forced to do it "the hard way". There's nothing wrong with the latter, but all the current systems (that I have seen or heard of, at least) do not have anything like this incorporated.
Secondary to this are the Verification and Certification systems, which also warrant development to make sure they are robust and reliable. Those systems will be the cornerstone that makes the Trust Levels system work optimally.
Bud
Some of the basic rules of traditional prepping are that you:
- do not tell anyone else you are a prepper
- don't tell anyone else what you have, and
- don't tell them where you and your supplies are located.
This is one of the reasons I backed away from publicly viewable introduction threads. But this needs to be taken another step further.
Enter what I am currently calling either Trust Levels or Circles of Trust
DISCLAIMER: I'm going to directly refer to SKAN in this context - but only from a perspective of raising awareness in general. I respect SKAN for what they have accomplished. Remember - we decided to keep this site free so that there is "no skin in the game" or any "bruised egos" if something else better comes along, or if people choose not to join here. No battles intended - we all have to work together. I do, however, have issue with the Circle platform and the forum software module they use, but that is a completely different discussion - which also may be limiting their ability to implement what describing below. Who knows, maybe we'll all join forces someday - I welcome that, so I want to keep the air clean.
I noticed on SKAN that recently they made a change to the Profiles, allowing people to enter all kinds of information about themselves. While this is great, I believe that caution should be taken with the information shared. Anyone can pay $120/year and view all that information. I just don't feel that is safe and secure, but it's also under your discretion.
I plan to seek development of a custom Xenforo addon which allow one to set Trust Levels associated with various levels of detail about themselves that they are willing to share online with other users.
To start, here is the built-in method for adding custom fields (screenshot below of the section of the Xenforo Admin Control Panel for creating Custom User Fields). I'm not wanting to change this - I'm just showing this so others understand what is possible with this software out-of-the-box in this regard.
If you already have registered, you may not have seen changes that I already made to the registration process using this tool. Try logging out, then try to register a new account. You will see additional fields. While logged, in, go to your Account Details and you'll see these fields (empty, if added after you registered).
I can add similar field to what SKAN has added, which only takes a few hours to implement, configure, and test. I do plan on doing this, but only for Trust Level 1 (the outermost circle of trust). I am hesitant to add these fields until the trust levels are established, as I do not want anyone to add "too much information". At the same time, I'm not trying to create a nanny state here - live in peril if you wish!
My concept is this:
Each topic would allow users to enter multiple levels of information, with each level being a deeper Trust Level / Circle.
Level 0 - not really a level. No user information (except for your Username) is visible to anyone who does not have a registered user account.
Level 1 - visible to Registered users
Level 2 - visible to Verified users
Level 3 - visible to Certified users (I just made that up - could be someone with X number of people vouching for them? something like that)
Level 4 - visible to Tribal Leaders
Level 5 - visible to Your Tribe (optional: all members of all tribes)
Level 6 - visible to your only those you manually select
For each field of profile information, you can choose how much detail you wish to reveal.
The level system would have a default method for who sees what (the "visible to X" groups).
Potentially, but more complicated: If the default method wasn't to your liking, you could override that system and manually choose a level for each individual member.
This could be taken to another level with Locations and the Member Map system. This is where this concept shines on a critical pathway that is very specific to Observers and adheres strongly with the traditional Prepper mindsets previously mentioned.
Users could granularly apply locations that are more and more precise with each level. Such as:
Level 1 - country
Level 2 - area (midwest, northeast, etc, allow multiple for people who are in crossover territories)
Level 3 - State / province (similar to Level 2, with crossover areas allowed)
Level 4 - county or geographic section of state/province/territory
Level 5 - city
Level 6 - address
The overall grand concept of "finding your Tribe" has critical hurdles to overcome when it comes to safety, security, and trust. People should not have to choose between having to share all of their information with everyone in order to find the best Tribe for them, and sharing none of their information and being forced to do it "the hard way". There's nothing wrong with the latter, but all the current systems (that I have seen or heard of, at least) do not have anything like this incorporated.
Secondary to this are the Verification and Certification systems, which also warrant development to make sure they are robust and reliable. Those systems will be the cornerstone that makes the Trust Levels system work optimally.
Bud
