The Rayaan / Jacob(smooth) Situation

[pocaracas]

2) Whilst he did violate the privacy policy, he did so unknowingly.

I'm all for letting bygones be bygones...
And I have nothing special to hide from the world, although I do try to keep the internet part of me a bit separate from the work part of me.

But.... who's to say that Rayaan (or anyone else who is an admin) won't become bored again and use the information available to do some research on the people who are registered here?
I know this is a problem we have everywhere we go on the web, that's why I've always claimed that it's best to keep private stuff out of the reach of forums and other such sites.... but not everyone is that computer literate... not everyone is willing to open several e-mail accounts... not everyone is aware that they can have several e-mail accounts!

And this site, given its nature (catering to a, still, minority of the population which can, in some places of the world, become under real physical threat were it to be known that they were atheists), is expected to have some strict privacy rules in place, to avoid exactly that potential problem.
And it does and did!

But the fact that an admin with access to some private information came forward and claimed he could find much more private information about one member, leaves the invitation open for hackers and other kinds of sleuths to scourge the web in an attempt to actually dig up some info on that member... and maybe spread out to other members.
This, I think, is the most serious thing that happened here. The fact that admins can do that, is a given when you sign up anywhere. But the fact that an admin boasts about it, leaves the rest of the population a bit restless and really thinking that this admin (and maybe others) have indeed been snooping in on the members.
I guess, it's the difference between knowing it's possible, to knowing it's being done... possibly, on a regular basis...

Anyway, I hope you guys have learned your lesson.
And I hope Rayaan doesn't get bored again... although, judging by his photos... oh boy!