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Asha
Starting Member
39 Posts |
 Posted - 05 May 2003 : 07:37:23
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It'd be nice to have forums where one could assign write-only access to classes of its users.
It was suggested in another forum that the discussion (http://forum.snitz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44009) about this feature be moved here, so here's an excerpt from something I wrote in that discussion, for possible discussion here.
quote:
For the original write-only submitter, there is nothing to respond to. All the submitter needs is access to the "post new topic" interface.
After the post is made, the people that have read access to the forum (say, the admins) can read and respond to the post as they wish. They can have a private discussion about the post in the forum in which it was submitted.
The user submits something out of the blue. It is easy to think of examples where this is useful. Try it. Here are a few.
- Here's how your web site can be hacked.
- Such and such player is cheating at your game.
- I have a suggestion for your product but I don't want anyone else to know that I made it, or even that I use your product.
- I admit to bad behavior and I don't want to know anyone else to know.
Some systems have had write-only forums. For example, the PLATO notes system (a predecessor of newsgroups) allowed the owner of a notesfile (a forum) to specify that a class of users have write-only access. This feature is very nice to have.
Yes, email can be used, but email is less convenient than write-only posting, and much more error-prone. Email requires that the person writing have an email address. Sending email leaves a trail that the submitter may not want. The person submitting the email will not get confirmation of the email receipt, or if he does, he has to trust that confirmation occurs in a way that preserves his anonyminity. This means that confirmation email will not work, since it may travel through the submitter's email system, which he may not want. Or what if the email bounces, and ends up at the corporate dead email office? The person also has to decide who to send the email to. These things discourage people from using email to submit comments, and will reduce the amount of useful information received in the forum. In the cases where an email comment is received, the person receiving it has to decide what to do with it. They could hoard it and not show it to the other people that have access to the forum. They might simply forget to do something with it. If the receiver does decide to post it, they have to take a manual step to post it.
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