Boyland
Boyland online (other names: BLOL, Boyland) is an online message board for boylovers founded by Mark Baker in December 2006. It was hacked in August 2008 resulting in a loss of all user data[1][2], and in 2011 it was forced to reset resulting in a second loss of data. In 2017, BLOL released a large board upgrade and made the old board a read-only archive only accessible to previously registered members.
The main board contains discussion forums for various subjects in English as well as French, Spanish and German, in addition to some image galleries. A chatbox (requires JavaScript) is also operational on the site homepage.
BLOL regularly makes efforts to ensure that it is safe, and informs members when new security problems that may affect them are discovered. The site operates using an SSL image proxy and secure link redirector, to preserve member privacy when dealing with external content or links. They also regularly communicate with the board owners of other message boards in order to share information about security to make sure one another's board is properly protected. This collaboration has already resulted in removing and reducing threats to the community.
Boylandonline is in active partnership with BoyPlanet.net and Jungs.wtf.
History
BLOL was founded by Mark Baker in 2007, who sadly passed on December 27, 2011. When BLOL first opened, the following text was overlayed on top of an image on their homepage: [3]
“ Welcome...
To a board that offers Friendship and Guidance.
A board that offers a chat room, 3 galleries, an arcade and much more...
Welcome to...
BoyLand”
On August 18, 2008, BLOL was hacked. All user info was lost and the board databases crashed. The IP addresses of users were not compromised, and all past users had to re-register at BLOL in order to continue participating. An announcement regarding this was posted on the BLOL homepage on September 3, 2008, after the board was rebuilt by staff.[1][2]
Since 2011, BLOL has been run by three administrators from different parts of the world who keep the spirit of the founder alive and at the same time implement new features.
Starting on December 7, 2017, and extending onwards for several weeks, BLOL administrators started building a new board for BLOL in order to keep up to date with Internet standards and to ensure that user data was the most secure it could be. Prior to this was four weeks of careful planning and discussions amongst the administration and management team in order to determine which direction to go and what board software would be best suited to the needs of BLOL.
On December 19, 2017, BLOL administrators announced a fourth administrator joining them in maintaining and operating BLOL.
On December 22, 2017, BLOL released a major site update which included a large scale visual redesign of the main forums. Old members were required to re-register at the new board, and four weeks later the old board was turned into a read-only archive. Registrations on the old board were disabled, thereby ensuring a truer read-only nature.
BLOL currently has 50 to 70 visitors each day of which +50% participate regularly. That does not sound impressing, however, longtime members enjoy the familiar atmosphere and new members are amicably welcome.
On May 24, 2018, BLOL administrators updated the site-wide privacy policy in order to become more transparent in response to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) laws coming into effect across Europe. The content of the policy was not modified, but its wording was expanded on considerably.
Security and privacy
BLOL has been strict with their concern regarding member privacy, dedicating to a privacy policy which states that they collect absolutely no information about their users, except for what they provide in registration. While the registration form asks for a birthdate, it is noted that this birthdate is not kept and is used to verify that users are older than 16 years of age as per their membership requirements. [4]
A note at the end of the Social Experience section of the BLOL rules states that IP addresses are not logged to any database or logfile. Social Rule 4 prohibits the posting of any information which could be used to identify a member (including pictures), and and Social Rule 6 forbids any member asking for personal information or images of any member under the age of 18. [5]
A status checker for boylove resources hosted by BLOL lists various security-related features regarding site safety. In this, it is stated that BLOL forces any externally loaded pictures through an image proxy, safely handles external links, has a minimum age of 16, and does not block any Tor or VPN users from using their site. Additionally, BLOL runs with an active SSL certificate and encryption.[6]
Miles the owner and administrator of BLOL interview on WEIRD Radio
We miss those who died; we keep on as they would want it.
BLOL is alive. Become a member today! ;D
Pour afficher le lecteur audio,
activez Javascript
Miles the owner and administrator of BLOL interview on WEIRD Radio from April 9, 2016
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 What Happened with BLOL.com (Internet Archive, 2008-09-03 @ 13:02:01) Retrieved on April 23, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 BLOL.com (Internet Archive, 2008-09-14 @ 21:37:11) Retrieved on April 24, 2018
- ↑ BLOL.com (Internet archive, 2007-01-03 @ 21:37:11) Retrieved on April 23, 2018
- ↑ BLOL Privacy Policy Retrieved on June 13, 2018
- ↑ BLOL Rules and Guidelines Retrieved on April 23, 2018
- ↑ BLOL Status Checker Retrieved on April 23, 2018
External links
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