Message board

From BoyWiki
Revision as of 18:00, 31 January 2023 by Etenne (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

An online message board (also known as a forum) allows users to post messages that may be viewed by other users at their leisure. It differs from online chat in that messages stay visible for a longer period of time, often for months or indefinitely. (Confusingly, some call message boards chat boards.)

A message board may be password-protected to any of several levels. The most liberal boards allow posting to non-registered users. Others allow non-registered users to read posted messages, but require registration and login in order to post. The most restrictive disallow both posting and browsing to non-registered users. The latter group is considered a security risk by concerned boylovers because the appearance of a closed community may attract the attention of law enforcement or vigilantes.

A Boylover online message board is a type of online message board available specifically for BoyLovers to post messages, and to receive responses to their messages from others (who may or may not also be BoyLovers).

In 1995, BoyChat, a message board for boylovers, was established. In 1997, participants on BoyChat and other online resources formed Free Spirits, an umbrella organization with the mission of raising money and providing secure Internet hosting services. The Montreal Ganymede Collective was formed in Montreal by Free Spirits members in 1998 as a forum for boylovers to meet in the real world. In 2000, girllovers started their own message board funded entirely from contributions, known as GirlChat.

Forums and the right to free speech

In many jurisdictions, guarantees of free speech ensure the rights of everyone to publicly express themselves and their views and opinions. Unfortunately, some jurisdictions have begun to limit "free speech" if opinions are expressed which are contrary to the received wisdom regarding certain forms of sexuality, pedophilia or pederasty in particular.

Benefits of forums

Online forums allow a place for otherwise marginalized people to express their personal frustrations, ask for and receive support, and to generally "have a voice" to express their opinions.

Risks associated with forums

There are a number of serious risks associated with participating in or posting on message boards.

If proof can be provided by the police that someone has visited a ChildLove board, this may be admitted into evidence in court when prosecuting the person for offenses related to Child molesting or child pornography, and increase the likelihood of conviction.

Disclosure of personal information by board posters

Many ChildLovers have inadvertently disclosed personal information about themselves on boards, which has often led to either their persecution by anti-pedophile activists ("antis") or, worse, their arrest and prosecution. Personal information on posters is recorded over time, and the aggregating of small bits of information may eventually lead to a more-complete profile of the user, allowing his real-life identity to be discovered. Users who post any information on ChildLove boards which is identical to information they have posted on other Internet sites (where his real-life identity is disclosed) is almost certain to be outed and have his real-life identity disclosed by "antis" or become the subject of police investigations.

Archives of older posts

Some boards maintain archives of older posts. These archives may be read by either registered members of the board, or by the public at large. Those posting to boards that maintain archives should be aware that personal information they have given about themselves in the past may be archived, and they should be aware of this fact when including new personal information in newer posts. Information may be aggregated by "profilers", providing enough information to "out" the poster -- that is, to disclose the posters real-life identity. It remains the poster's responsibility to ensure they remain safe and secure when posting.

Archiving of posts by Google, etc.

Some boards allow Google to "crawl" their board, and make a copy of each post. This is controlled by the instructions within the "Robots.txt" file in the root directory of the board. BoyChat opened their board to be crawled by Google in 2007, in order to make BoyChat move visible to BoyLovers surfing the Internet.ref needed

IP address harvesting

Boards may "harvest" (collect) the IP address of those accessing the board, and maintain permanent records of them. If the board is compromised by law enforcement agencies, the identity of anyone who has accessed the board without using Tor browsing bundle will then be known to the police. If the user has admitted to any activities which may be legal (or even quasi-legal) the user may find himself being investigated

javascript exploits

Many boards use javascript to increase board functionality, or to restrict access to "registered members". But javascript is known to increase the user's vulnerability to disclosure of his or here personal information, or to attacks by others.

It is possible for law enforcement agencies to implant exploits into forum software, without the knowledge of the board administrators.

javascript should NEVER be enabled in the Internet browsing software when anyone accesses a site which may be under surveillance by law enforcement agencies, which includes ChildLover sites.

Law enforcement monitoring of forums

Law enforcement agencies regularly monitor boards to collect information on the users.

Forums as "honeypots"

Law enforcement agencies have been know to "capture" (to take over the running of) forums, and anyone who has disclosed personal information or visited the site without the protection of Tor is then at great risk of investigation or arrest.

See also

The following links are to articles on Free Spirits resources:
The following links are to archived copies of various forums or ChildLove sites -- many of which may now be defunct

External links

  • ! IMPORTANT !
  • The Tor browser, which ensures almost perfect anonymity:
Tor Project - Tor project proxy
  • NOTE: Not all of the following are currently active. You may want to use the http://archive.org Wayback machine to find archived copies of defunct websites.
  • Honey Pot or Legit Site? --- BlackTurtle.us blog post dated February 7, 2010 [1] Accessed: 2012-11-03. (Archived by WebCite® at www.webcitation.org)

Snapshots of BLSafetyNet from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine:

forums

Retrieved from "https://www.boywiki.org/en/index.php?title=Message_board&oldid=55369"