I have followed you from place to place over the last 4 years, and now back
to here. You never intended for the groups which you occupied in the past,
and never previously for this group, to be private. You always gave all of
us a way to receive your posts. Your contributions to keeping us sane and
with a smile on our faces have been huge and in the tradition of all the old
groups of the period 2000 onwards. But in recent weeks this group of yours
has become something which was never your intention, something which you
never wanted, I am sure, and that is a group where we are locked out, a
group which serves a minority of us who one way or another have got access.
When your previous access method was revealed here a couple of months ago,
you promised that the new access method would still be available to those
who followed your instructions. You arranged wth a member of this group, and
gave your permission, for that member to supply information to us so that
all of us could receive your posts, and the posts of others who used your
access method. That is what you wanted, but that has not happened. The
member who you trusted has let you down.
The result is that against your wishes and instructions your group has
become another one of the hated private groups. This is no longer your
group, you are now just one of the "customers", and other "customers" like
the group member you trusted with providing us with the access method to
your and others' posts, have set up an inner membership, and they are now in
control.
It would be good for all of us if you could return to your old philosophy of
benefitting all of us by your activities in the groups at the same time that
you gave an opportunity for other posters to add to what you posted, which
benefited you in turn.
You don't know who has the new access method, you don't know who it has been
passed to by those who got it, and one of these unknowns is the weak link in
system. For that reasn, the new access method is just as weak as the
previous one. I agree that these two methods were better than a simple
password. It should always be necessary for someone who wants to access the
posts to intentionally download and keep on their computer the files needed
for access. This way means that they incriminate themselves if they try to
act against the group. LEAs will always easily be able to get access because
they have "stuff" to buy their way in with. LEAs don't want to kill a group
because this is a net they can catch people in. Posters and lurkers must
ensure they are invisible to LEAs, and have nothing that can be found if
someone comes knocking.
But locking the posts up doesn't keep posters or lurkers safe, doesn't
guarantee the existence of the group. The group becomes another one of the
private groups, most of which have been the means by which LEAs have made
arrests. The locks on this group don't keep danger out, they keep out needy
friends. Used in the way that I think you intended, and you have been
opposed by the inner membership, your access method threatens troublemakers
with self-incrimination, but leaves open the possibility of all of us
receiving your posts, without danger to themselves or the posters if they
ensure that their identities cannot be seen.
I hope you let your old voice be heard again in your group.
With thanks and best wishes.
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