Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-5732937-20130524065621/@comment-7472785-20130525071114

I already said I wouldn't object a protocolling function, though I so far still don't see the imminent NEED. I'd even go with it being automatic for convenience of handling.

That said I'd still be interested to know how long these automatic records are kept - not seeing a need for anything longer than a week - and who gets the right to access it (I recommend it to be an admin function only).

Quote:  "Well if privacy is a concern, you shouldn't be posting things in a public chat where literally anyone can show up at literally any time. Having a bot record things is no different than any user who may come on and hit copy on his computer. The only difference in this case would be that the bot's logs would be guaranteed to be accurate and not manipulated, unlike a text log or screenshot from a user, which can very easily be modified."

That is true, similarily anywhere in the internet, however IMHO that doesn't mean that it should be fatalistically accepted that everything and anything is logged anywhere and be able to be exploited in ways the original poster/user has no idea of. As I said, a matter of principle - not a paranoic persecution complex.

A complex which, by the way, is already displayed by suggesting to implement such a log 'just in case' for instances of mal-behaviour... (Though I concede that the world being as it is, this may be based on previous bad experiences)

After all, on any forum there is at least one Admin who is the ultimate end boss and has the ultimate power (to ban or not) - basically without a real need to justify it to anyone else. If such power is ever abused, the only choice a user has is to stop contributing and leave. In joining we all have accepted this power, and no democratic rule will take it away.

Admin very much is a position of trust, and as respect, that, even considering a certain advance credit, has to be earned. In reverse a community also deserves a certain amount of trust and not be put summarily under a putative suspicion.

A technical question though - the chat obviously already logs, as you can scroll back into conversations that you weren't yet a part of, or absent from. How far backwards does that go, and can this time be edited? Basically a day would suffice, as in that time anyone can send a note to an Admin to secure any event for further reference.