What Is SOCIAL ENGINEERING?

Glis more or less nailed it. I have never had a discussion with the owner of another large-scale site like EP was, so I'm hesitant to discuss what they meant, what they did, or what they could have done better. I think we can learn a lot from their experiences though... it's just a matter of getting the right messages.

To be blunt, and again, this is an assumption, but I personally feel like their letter is a cop out. I have posted the Alexa rankings from them before- I no longer have a screen shot that shows it and the site doesn't go that far back, but you can see the same data on Google Trends: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=experience%20project

In short, the popularity of EP was tanking. Not just a little. They had been in a downward spiral for three years when they closed. This really pairs well with the other discussion on why Q&A sites close down. I don't know why EP's popularity dropped. I only have first-hand accounts from members who talk about the good days of EP... prior to that drop. It's my understanding that they switched more from a hands-on moderation approach to using technology to manage things. i.e. "Bad" content wasn't handled by a person. If a certain number of people flagged it, it came down. That let them manage a massive community with fewer people, but it also made it possible to game the system. People would open up multiple accounts. Groups of people would band together. Some members would have their stuff taken down for no reason, just because of this wolf pack mentality. I don't know if this is part of the downfall. I only know this was probably one of the biggest complaints I heard from members.

Then, you get into the obfuscation aspects. It is possible for someone to pretend to be anyone from anywhere and the tools to do so are free and readily available. EP's admittance procedure was automated, so a person that got kicked out could be back in 30 seconds using those tools. In other words, there was no way for them to keep "bad apples" out. Trolls, spammers, stalkers, duplicate sock puppets, even those doing illegal activity could have a a new identity and be back on the site- undetected- in less than a minute. It didn't even put a hitch in their step to be booted.

Government agencies and privacy is a whole other beast. To be blunt, when I started seeing what some people from EP were bringing here, I would go check out their EP profiles. Many I linked to child pornography- still up on EP. Images that had been there for months and years. Yeah, EP had some serious legality issues. Parts of it were very, very dark. I will say this here and now, and I have said it repeatedly, that stuff will not be tolerated here. Anyone caught engaging in illegal activity will be reported to the appropriate authorities. I'm not waiting for a warrant. I will hand you over to them with everything I have on you and getting booted from this site will be the least of your worries. I don't just want you off of AM- I want you in prison.

Does that affect your privacy on AM? The fact that I'll hand you over to law enforcement if you're doing something illegal? Maybe. It is part of the TOS/ Privacy agreement. I don't hide it. I think my openness about it keeps the amount of filth that shows up to a minimum and I believe that, if you're not doing anything illegal, your privacy should not be a concern. I don't go looking for stuff. I don't snoop. I don't share your information, sell your email addresses, or anything. Heck, even the mods don't have access to any sensitive info. If law enforcement made a request, even without a warrant, I would give them what they asked for. I have seen first hand how bad it gets when red tape stands in the way of an investigation. In some parts of the country, it can take months for officers to identify a suspect- even someone who is actively abusing a child and bragging about it online. That is horrific and unforgivable. I will not have that on my conscience. If law enforcement requests something and I give it to them and their investigation turns out the person is innocent, nothing happens. Those are the real alternatives. Why anyone in their right mind wouldn't just give the information is beyond me. Yes, your privacy is important to me. Yes, I will fight tooth and nail to protect you. But, if law enforcement is coming to me because they think something is going on, safety trumps privacy every time. My goal is to keep those people off the site to begin with, and that's part of the reason why I'm so vocal about how I'll be the first to hang them out to dry. I think that makes a big difference in the number of law enforcement requests and administrative time I spend on legal issues, but the fact that I cooperate fully with all investigations means that I maybe lose a day or so for each one and then it's done. There's no back and forth. No courts. No subpoenas. It's "Here you go, officer," and I'm done. Will that ever affect someone like you, Virginia? Probably not. Unless you're secretly a hitman or dealing child porn, your privacy is not at risk. Many people won't agree with me on this, and that's ok. I value privacy and loathe the idea of a Big Brother, but when it comes to safety, I draw the line.

This is a very long winded way to say that, yes, government regs and law stuff applies here too, and, yes, I manage it alongside other site stuff. The same is true for the "bad apples." I don't have to deal with it to the same degree that a massive site like EP did, but I'm very hopeful that the protocols I've put in place, and my vocalism about cooperation with law enforcement, will continue to keep those kinds of issues more manageable as we grow.

I think we're very much like EP was in terms of spirit. I love what the creator tried to establish and our goals are much the same. So, I'm not knocking on EP at all. However, I sincerely hope that I am learning what I need to from their downfall and applying it to make us stronger in the long run. When we have a million or more members, hopefully I will not be eating my words. lol I truthfully do know know what they did or tried to do. I have no access to data about them that is not publicly available. But, I'm very much aware of some of the things that nailed them and hope to avoid the same fate. I should also add that my goal with AM is probably different than most sites. I'm not worried about profitability or running a business- just doing the best I can by the people who are here.

"A Clockwork Orange" explains it well.

Beautiful question Virginia and awesome answers too.....I dunno what else I can contribute!

Beautiful question Virginia and awesome answers too.....I dunno what else I can contribute!