Northwest Indiana Discussion

I came across an unsafe link provided OTOB and here is my comment posted over there regarding that experience. I think this post bares reading to remind us all of the obvious that we sometimes forget.

As we know this board has been crippled by abusive posters who use the report abuse function to remove posts for any reason that strikes their fancy. Some have said they would never report ANY post as they favor free and unrestricted debate. Others say they would report only for a gross TOS violation such as posting porn or pro-child abuse types of things.

This morning I am faced with a small dilemma. You see a poster provided a linky that is apparently an internet threat.

Reported Attack Site!

This web site at archive.democrats.com has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.

On any sane board this is exactly the type of event that SHOULD be reported to the Admin for disposition. But as we know lately sometimes the reports are reviewed and other times the posts are either just returned to the board unread or left in limbo indefinitely or just plain killed off. So even if I report this post as a threat it still may not make the waters safe!

I am not accusing the poster and not naming the username because I understand how we all get anxious to make a point and seek support from unknown links found on search engines. I do not believe the poster had any nefarious intent in posting the link. But this does serve to remind us that it's a sick world out there that you constantly invite into your living room or office or wherever you happen to surf the world wide web. I'm old enough and have been a part of the internet community long enough to remember when it was a generally civil place to interact. But as our own NWI Interact board has demonstrated in recent months the medium has changed much for the worse.

So I did not report this post in question. I merely posted a warning. I feel the warning will serve a far greater purpose today than merely removing a single post, perhaps only temporarily at that, only for someone to get caught by such a landmine at some point in the future. So keep those anti virus and spyware checkers up to date despite their sometimes being a PITA to deal with. It's been quite a while since you could feel safe leaving your front door unlocked and things have only gotten worse despite some modern countermeasures.