Today, on Discord, we were discussing measures to make the forum/legislatorship/forum votes more accessible and one thing we noted was that people (may) have concerns about privacy and security when signing up for such a private (unknown) forum service.

Therefore I propose that we add a section to the welcome threads addressing these concerns and suggest to people to:
- use an alternate email address rather than their main one or the one used for their WA nation
- use a different password they don't use elsewhere
- research how to change their IP to dynamic with their router/ISP if they are worried about IP tracking
- clear cookies regularly if they are worried about that kind of tracking

I will see if I can maybe find a few good URLs resources to link people to so they may read further and be more willing to sign up (safely) :p

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Just seeing this.

While protecting your privacy is generally wise on the internet, to ensure the security of our region we do require a certain level of transparency from those who want to be a member of our community. This isn't a public website like Facebook, but rather a closed community with applications, security protocols, etc.

With that in mind, using proxies, VPNs, or other IP-obscuring tools isn't allowed. If you choose to use a throwaway email service (like disposable email services), that will red flag your account and you will likely have to provide some kind of more in-depth information to be approved to join the community.

Using a different password is smart. As for clearing cookies, there are no tracking cookies aside from the "keep you signed in" one. If you use Tapatalk, that app may track your browsing, but the forum itself does not. We aren't ad-supported, so we have no need for tracking cookies.

The biggest piece of advice I can give to protect your privacy is to maintain a strict separation of the game and your real life. Don't tell people your real name, don't share your social media accounts, etc.

Reply

Just seeing this.

While protecting your privacy is generally wise on the internet, to ensure the security of our region we do require a certain level of transparency from those who want to be a member of our community. This isn't a public website like Facebook, but rather a closed community with applications, security protocols, etc.

With that in mind, using proxies, VPNs, or other IP-obscuring tools isn't allowed. If you choose to use a throwaway email service (like disposable email services), that will red flag your account and you will likely have to provide some kind of more in-depth information to be approved to join the community.

Using a different password is smart. As for clearing cookies, there are no tracking cookies aside from the "keep you signed in" one. If you use Tapatalk, that app may track your browsing, but the forum itself does not. We aren't ad-supported, so we have no need for tracking cookies.

The biggest piece of advice I can give to protect your privacy is to maintain a strict separation of the game and your real life. Don't tell people your real name, don't share your social media accounts, etc.

Naturally it's wise to include this and explain why throwaway emails and VPNs/proxies are problematic for us.
As for cookies, even if a site does not actually include evil trackers, people may feel more reassured if they are told how to make sure that they cannot be unreasonably tracked. It doesn't hurt to include additional privacy information, especially if it can help people in general and it would make our forum look better.

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