Two New Rules For Active Nairaland Members

Seun I wish to appeal on the behalf of all contrubutors to the Niraland Political Forum to please reconsider your recent private message to all Nairalanders concerning the disclosure of forum writers' geographic location in their profile and posts.

As most are well aware, discussion board administrators have access to the IP addresses of every person registered to participate in the forum.  It is also routine that those IP addresses are traced to and filed along with the GPS (Global Setellite Positioning) data which pinpoints the precise physical location and street address of the computer used by that contributor to connect to the Nairaland forums.  While a few may opt for writing to chat forums with disguised or changing (dynamic) IP addresses which do not correspond to where the writer actually resides, my guess is that most people who contribute to Nairaland have never felt the need to hide their IP addresses from the site administrator, and have thus made no atempt to do so.  

Having listened to Oga Seun's opinions on many diverse subjects, and having felt preivileged to post at a discussion forum run by such a well-balanced, articulate and comparatively open-minded individual, I am comfortable with the knowlege that Seun has (1) My IP address  (2) My Street Address and, thanks to GoogleEarth overhead imagery for those of us who may who reside in or near major European or North American cities, a free aerial satellite image of sufficient clarity to idetntify the make and model of car parked in the driveway of a house, or to determine if leaves need to be skimmed from the back-yard swimming pool.   In other words, Seun already knows where I live and potentially what my house looks like, and I am perfectly happy with that knowlege.  It is on the matter of whether I would want any and alll visitors to Nairalland to see  my town and country address, that I am decidedly UNcomfortable.

I am posting this appeal in the Political Forum for it is here that some of the most emotional and heated debate takes place, and it is not unusual for very powerful and wealthy Nigerians to be insulted and accused of any manner of either real or unsubstantiated crimes.  If all writers to this forum are compelled to post their TRUE geographical address, it is well within the bounds of possibility that the target of a particulary virulent diatribe posted in Niairalands Political Forum  may use that town address as the coarse-tuned starting point of a detailed IP and GPS coordinate search that will tell the enraged rich man which particular house or internet cafe his accuser posts from.   In such a scenario, the openly displayed town and country address affixed to the offending Nairaland post would form the basis of a decision on whether the target was within range of a revenge visit of a person whoo feels libel caion would take too long.  

The assumption referenced in Seun's circular on the posting of addresses was that an individual's current street address and geographical location  are the primary determinants of that persons world-view.  A plam-wine tapper based in the forested wilds of Ondo State in Nigeria can hardly be expected to contribute anything meaningful to a discussion on current trends in the New York Stock Exchange, but rather than force him to confess that he posts to Nairaland from a jungle clearing, wouldn't it be better to let him speak freely until he either gets bored from being ignored and leaves the discussion, or is booed away by others for the ignorance displayed in his writing ?  

In agreement with your ban in "cute" or stupid profile addresses and signatures in Nairaland profiles,  I have deleted both of mine and sicerely hope that the compromise of allowing that the address field be left blank if the poster does not wish to post a vaild address in their profile, either for fear of retribution over words they may post on the internet or out of a simple desire to remain completely anonymous to all except the forum administrator.  

You only need to state your country but neither your town, street name nor house number me thinks.

Nunu the Oga title stays in front to Seun's name unless I recieve a directive from above to replace it.     To quote Homer Simpson's First Law of Corporate Survival -  The boss may not always be right, but he is always the boss.

At no time did I make it compulsory for Nairaland members to indicate more than just their country.

Jakumo has been banned for claiming that the administrator wants Nairaland members to post their street addresses.  This is slander.

What I actually said: "therefore you are required to indicate at least your country of residence in your profile."

Seun,

I am starting this thread in response to your new rules (which i have posted below for those who have not seen it). In the past, every time i hear people complain about your arrogance and high handedness i have always thought to myself - "sour grapes". But even for an easy going person like me, i found this message very offensive.

To clarify - my problem is not so much with your rules (not that i agree with them) - but the tone of your email. This forum will not be successful without the thousands who post on it, and you need to realize that and therefore learn to address your "customers" with respect and courtesy. If you make the mistake of thinking that this is a never ending ride into success no matter what you do, then you should go and study companies like Dell who neglected customer service to their own peril, or Walmart who thought they were so big that they could do whatever they wanted.

I personally do not appreciate being spoken to as if i am a five year old just because i use your forum to connect with other Nigerians Seun. I think you owe us all an apology.

There, now that i have put in my two cents, you can go ahead and ban me for 5 days (because i will not reveal my location, as a matter of principle), or forever in fact if it suits you because this is my last post on this forum until i get that apology.

I received the following message from the site admin:

Two New Rules For Active Nairaland Members
« Sent to: (Undisclosed recipients) on: October 13, 2006, 06:43 PM »   

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Hello,

In order to make Nairaland the most enjoyable online detination for Nigerians, two new rules have just been created:

1)  The location in your profile must be the country, state or town you currenty live in - if you're active.

Your location is very important to other members of the forum, because where you live affects your perceptions and experiences.  For example, a Nigerian living in UK would know more about racism while a Nigerian at home will know more about the day-to-day experiences of a person living in Nigeria.  It has also been discovered that many topics cannot be fully understood unless one knows where the poster lives. 

Therefore you are required to indicate at least your country of residence in your profile.  If you're unwilling to indicate this in your profile, then you must refrain from making posts on the forum.

If you make posts on the forum without complying with this rule, you'll be banned for 5 days.  Locations like "in my girlfriend's bosoms" or "somewhere far away" will be punished most severely.

2)  Animated signatures, moving signatures, or image signatures more than 20 pixels tall are forbidden.

A flashy signature distracts people from the subsance of a thread and tends to lead to offtopic comments like "please remove your signature" or "what a cute signature" or "that signature is making me dizzy".  Therefore if your signature is animated or an image more than 20 pixels high, you are now required to remove it. 

If you make any post after recieving this message and a distracting signature if found attached to such a post, you will be banned for a period of five days and the signature will be removed by me.


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Remember:  Resistance is futile and will be crushed!!  Obey before complaint!!  My forum, my rules!! 

Thanks,

Needless to say, I was disappointed, extremely so. Seun, I've always regarded you as a smart guy, but I haven't seen this level of arrogance in a long, long while. This is disappointing indeed and most unnecessary. Very immature way to communicate.  . Whao, this is amazingly arrogant!!

Deleted mine the second it came  . . . i NEVER conform to rules   

HAHAHAH you got to be kidding me 

Yeah, but it could have been worded more tactfully. It sounds really tacky, you know, like a school principal talking down to his students 

 

u go first.

you caught me.

, and the bloke can kiss my arse

Saw the Admin messages too well as he(SEUN) said"MY FORUM MY RULES" so has got is rights to dictate how is forum will be run,and moreover i agree with him on his views on the signatures and your locatio.Its cool by me

He should ban you for double posting!! thats more annoying than flashy sigs. . .

Down with the tyrant