Administrative team update - the Faces thread

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All -

Following a report in the Faces thread and an internal Administrative Team discussion, we have updated the respective thread with a notice/warning about internet safety and sharing ones' pictures online and edited the thread title. The new text in the original post is below, and the original user's content has been spoiled:

All -

The Faces thread has long held a tradition of sharing our faces and personal pictures with each other as a way to build community. It's a completely voluntary action where you decide how much you want to share. Some people share a lot; some people don't share anything at all.

As your administration team, we do all we can to safeguard this community – but many important steps can be taken by you to safeguard yourself. Usually adults have more experience with navigating privacy and personal safety on the internet, so while it is important for everyone to exercise caution when sharing online, we especially urge minors to take extra care with posting in this thread and ideally to avoid doing so at all. Exposing key personal information, including your likeness, comes with certain risks. If you have any doubts about posting, don't.

Some things to keep in mind when deciding whether to share a photograph in the Faces thread are:
  • This thread is in the Republic Square subforum, which is visible to any member with an account on the Europeian forum, not just Citizens.
  • Photographs sometimes contain personal and private information you may not mean to share. Before posting, it is always a good idea to double-check that your photograph does not reveal any information you intend to keep private, e.g. through items in the background of the photograph.
  • If you decide at a later date to edit your photograph out of your Faces thread post, it might still show up in posts that quoted yours. If this is the case and you would like the photograph removed from those posts, you can reach out to an administrator with links to the posts in question, and they will remove the photograph for you.
  • If someone is pressuring you to share your photograph in this thread or in general to reveal personally identifying information, do not do so. Contact an administrator about the issue.
Please safeguard your information online and help us protect you.

Signed,

The Europeian Administrative Team
Current Administrative Team (January 2024): See here

Edited: October 2024

While this is specific to the Faces thread, we also encourage caution and discretion with personal information shared on the forums, Discord, and other Europeian-adjacent tools/platforms, such as things like linking personal social media accounts or using a personal email on Google-hosted EBC polls. Those are two examples, but there are more of course.

Signed,

The Europeian Administrative Team
 
A good and smart statement.
 
Would it not make sense to move the Faces thread to a citizens only area for additional security?
In short, no.

A common concept that has been present here for quite some time is that there is a firm line between our 'region' and our 'community'. Our 'region' involves the game that is NationStates and the way we play it: elections, op-ed articles, citizen activities, law making, and who we decide to PNG or not (sometimes known as 'IC'). Our 'community' is about the players behind the screen, about people who come together to play a game (sometimes known as 'OOC'). The faces of the players in our community sit firmly in the latter camp, which is why the thread belongs in the Republic Square, and the Republic Square belongs where it is. We have had long-term participants of our forums and Discord who were not citizens... it would make little sense to restrict their access to the Faces thread, as they are just as much a part of our community as anyone else.

ADDENDUM: The purpose of mentioning that the Faces Thread isn't Citizen Only is that some people are unaware of the access level of that thread, or really, which subforum it's even in. (As an aside, people really should use the index more... if all you ever do is follow links, you never know where you are, and what forum you are in when reading a thread is important. Take it from someone that has had more than a few blunders posting in places that he shouldn't have.) The additional information can be an important piece for some when making these kinds of decisions.
 
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Would it not make sense to move the Faces thread to a citizens only area for additional security?
In short, no.

A common concept that has been present here for quite some time is that there is a firm line between our 'region' and our 'community'. Our 'region' involves the game that is NationStates and the way we play it: elections, op-ed articles, citizen activities, law making, and who we decide to PNG or not (sometimes known as 'IC'). Our 'community' is about the players behind the screen, about people who come together to play a game (sometimes known as 'OOC'). The faces of the players in our community sit firmly in the latter camp, which is why the thread belongs in the Republic Square, and the Republic Square belongs where it is. We have had long-term participants of our forums and Discord who were not citizens... it would make little sense to restrict their access to the Faces thread, as they are just as much a part of our community as anyone else.

ADDENDUM: The purpose of mentioning that the Faces Thread isn't Citizen Only is that some people are unaware of the access level of that thread, or really, which subforum it's even in. (As an aside, people really should use the index more... if all you ever do is follow links, you never know where you are, and what forum you are in when reading a thread is important. Take it from someone that has had more than a few blunders posting in places that he shouldn't have.) The additional information can be an important piece for some when making these kinds of decisions.
I do understand and fully accept that answer. I considered this line of thinking myself before asking my question, and I'm glad there's clarification that this was the admin team's thinking. Ultimately I would have reached a different conclusion, but I'm still happy to see this statement and for the openness of answering my question and laying out the thinking involved.
 
I would prefer if Republic Square was restricted to any user group (Citizens, Diplomats, NVMs/Ex-citizens). Having it open to all registered users effectively makes it public, rather than dedicated to the community, since anyone can sign in with any email address.

I have similar qualms with the EBC/media forums being visible to guests. I personally avoid commenting there since I don't want my persona all over the public internet.
 
I have similar qualms with the EBC/media forums being visible to guests. I personally avoid commenting there since I don't want my persona all over the public internet.
Out of curiosity is there anything about your online persona that points back to you and your private persona/personal details? Because otherwise unless someone  knows RL you is online Rand I'm not sure why you're concerned people will know a user named Rand has thoughts on a poll for an online political simulator or input on a private media article
 
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