Private forums

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 19 Mar 2006, 11:29

There are a number of private, hidden forums on Portobello Online. There is nothing sinister about this. The number of forums you see will depend on your individual permissions. For example, there is a private forum to facilitate discussion between moderators. Site Development has its own forum. A forum was set up for volunteers in the Scotsman Digital Archive project (must get back to that).

A forum is a much more useful means of communication than an email distribution group, for example, and that is why a private forum was set up for PFANS. This facility exists for any local group that would find it useful - you only have to ask. Only invited members and administrators should, in theory, have access. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee this. It is possible for someone to use the access given to an invited member for their own ends. When direct quotes from a supposedly private forum start appearing in public then that forum has lost its purpose.

I will be discussing the issue of privacy on Portobello Online with my fellow moderators in the near future as I feel that some clarification is required all round.