Input On "Verified Member" Program

[EMTbravo 312]

Members-

After many suggestions by several members of this site, I am considering developing a "Verified Member Program".

A member would submit (for example purposes at this time only) their real name, address, email, phone number, agency affiliation and rank to me, and the information would only be available and visible to me and the member who it belongs to. Then, once confirmed, their rank on this board in their profile would be changed to "Verified Member".

The reason I am considering developing this is so that members would have a way to add credibilty to their screen names when posting, and to try and reduce the trouble caused by those who hide behind a screen name.

Some incentives to encourage participation in the "Verified Member" program would possibly include access to more features then regular members, and access to a forum where more "open" discussion would be permitted.

Any thoughts? Good idea or useless? Would anyone participate?

[IzzyEng4 427]

Good Idea

[JM15 386]

I also think that it is a good idea so like you said people arent hiding behind a name, and they can take responsibility for what they say. Both good and Bad

[BIGRED1 71]

i would be for it.

[Porsha911gt3 8]

I think its a great idea, and may I suggest that you also would display in a members profile, the members:

Rank

Affiliation

and Years of service

Just a little food for thought

Edited April 5, 2006 by Porsha911gt3

[irishfire2491 24]

i am in

but do you have to do phone number and address ( if posted)

I like real name, email, agency affiliation and rank to me., years of service

and is that info being posted for every one to see oris it just for you on the side???

If it is for you only then i am in with the address and phone number

[JohnnyOV 2]

Great Idea! I like the idea of a more open discussion...any more information on that?

[Cutty630 37]

I think it's a great idea!!!!!!!!!! If you have nothing to hide there shouldn't be any problems with it!!!!!

[ems-buff 81]

I'm in but one thing

just you as the Admin. would be able to see this info. correct?

[JScott128 41]

Suggestion- if you need an address and phone #, can we use our work's instead of home? As a cop, I'm very hesitant to give out any personal info to anyone.

Scott

[CPAGE 2]

That is a great idea do it as fast as you can.

Chris Page = CPAGE

[IzzyEng4 427]

i am in

but do you have to do phone number and address ( if posted)

I like real name, email, agency affiliation and rank to me., years of service

and is that info being posted for every one to see oris it just for you on the side???

If it is for you only then i am in with the address and phone number

←

If you go to any of the newspaper forums or other news site, many of them require it for verififcation. We had a problem down here with the New Haven Register years ago about an incident and it made it into the forums. At that time there was no verification system and anyone under any name could post. Needless to say this turned into a nightmare (also for me because I was acussed of something that I would never think of doing and needless to say my lawyers and the city's got involved). As soon as the verification system went in, the form died.

Having all the info should be there for protection but I do not think that your address or phone number should be posted, unless you wanted it to be. It should be only accessable to the system admins to verify who you are and it is really you, not Joe Q Jerk posing as you to start trouble.

Joe

[cas2383 22]

Great idea as long as the security of the information is guranteed. Who knows what someone would do these days with some info like that... like I said again, great idea.

[mfc2257 464]

In my extraordinarily unimportant opinion......

In a online forum such as this, where nobody's life is placed in danger by the information that is exchanged, you shouldn't be able to hide behind an anonymous screen name.

If you've got something to say, then you should be able to stand behind your statements, opinions, praise, and criticism with your real identity.

That's why my signature includes my real name. This eliminates confusion of people's identity. For example, my screen name is mfc2257 because when I opened an AOL account 5 years ago I was Millwood Fire Company's 3rd Lt. with a County Identifier of 2257. That was the name I used to open my EMTBravo account. Since then I held the office of Captain 2254 until Feb of 2005, now I'm merely a FF living out of state, and by April of 2007 I'll have to drop to Associate Member because I won't have accrued the points needed to remain active.

WELL what does all this mean... It means that my comments can easily be confused with those of the current 3rd Lt. in Millwood if I didn't have my real name listed on my signature.

Just my thoughts...

[firemoose827 324]

I agree with that idea, and I am all for it. When and where do we go to submit the info to you?

My name is in my screen name also. I have nothing to hide. m_bjones.

I also like maybe posting your rank and years in service so you know who your talking to, I like to give respect where it is due.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea for Verified Members. Granted it will give some credibility to some people, but in come cases it may not. You may have people who have been in the fire service numerous years, and dont know their @$$ from their elbow (hopefully no one here), and there are some guys out there who have been on only a short period of time, who may have a vast knowledge of many items.

Basically though, I this it is a good idea!

Edited April 5, 2006 by xfirefighter484x

[Guest]

You may have people who have been in the fire service numerous years, and dont know their @$$ from theirelbow (hopefully no one here), and there are some guys out there who have been on only a short period of time, who may have a vast knowledge of many items.

←

I agree with the Verified Member concept with the following characteristics:

--- the e-mail address, phone would only be accessible by the Administrator; we can already all communicate through the PM feature

--- our screen names would remain the same BUT we would have to include our rank, agency (if applicable) and real name in the member's PROFILE section. Because of xfirefighter484x's comment, I would leave out length of service (don't need pissing contests as to who has the most years....)

--- I would use the distinction "Profiled Member" vs. Member under the screen name.

This would remind the user to look in the Profile section for more info and, "Verified" reminds me too much of credit card checks/PayPal....LOL

I hope this helps you,

Henry Gregorio, FF

Pelham FD, NY

[Guest KFD236]

yeah I would definately be in for this. I am a little hesitnat on the address and phone number but everyhting else I am up for

[shac 7313 0]

that sounds like an great idea.

[mlcougar2001 8]

Sounds good to me....

[Ladder44 73]

im in!!!!!!!!!!

[fyrlt17 13]

Count me in too.

This is a technique used by many websites.

The only concern is that all the information that you acquire has to be kept secure and not for sale, and that should be stated on the application.

A registerd screen name and e-mail address might be all that you need. If you have a problem with a screen name you can always block that name from access to your servers, Yes they can always get back in under another screen name and e-mail address but if you have continual problems you could block their IP address.

http://support.im1.net/hosting/block_ips.htm

[Guest tfd193]

...providing the years of service doesn't really do anything in terms of credibilty.

[llm60 0]

Go for it!!!

[ja3kfd 34]

I am in .

[DOC22 1]

I'm in!!!

[EXDC203 38]

Go for it Seth........ Im in

[Guest]

I live in Pleasantville New York, My screen name says my name (if you can figure it out, its not that hard). I graduated with Seth from the fire academy in 2005. I see no need to give out my address, or phone number. I see no need for anyone to know my phone number or address, I am also not going to list the Fire Department who I work for. My opinions here only reflect my personal opinion and not my affiliated agency, and I like to keep them seperate. Obviously I cannot prevent an individual from looking me up in the phone book or other means, but I won't give that information out unless I know you

Just my two cents

Edited April 6, 2006 by M2theAX

[EMTbravo 312]

Let me clear up a few things here.

The information will be visible to me, and me only. NO ONE BUT ME WILL SEE OR HAVE ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. The information will be used for verification purposes only, and then discarded. The point of this is to add credibilty to the name, and diminish credibilty on those who create screen names to hide behind, while still trying to maintain the anonoymous nature of the member name which I feel encourages more open discussion and makes many more comfortable posting. Additionally, some have come to be known by their screen names. Voluntary participation in this program will be OPTIONAL.

At this point, I'm thinking I will do a "verification application" type thing, which I'm still working on what to include on it. You'll email me some information, I will confirm it, and then change the members status.

I'd like to know what kinds of things you'd like to see in a "Verified Members" profile. One of the things I think would be appropriate is age.

As for the term "Verified Member", thats the most accurate depiction I could come up with. Can anyone think of another term?

Thanks for the input , please keep it coming.

[Jason762 2]

...providing the years of service doesn't really do anything in terms of credibilty.

←

I disagree with the above statement, I'd like to know if I'm talking to someone who has actually been in a fire or two or just some kid who read a book. Years of service, rank held or previously held, vol or career, are all helpful when having a debate or discussion. Which FD you work/volunteer for, name, address, and phone number, I can understand if some people may not want to give that info out. Just my ideas.