[members-discuss] Database Abuse

* Tim Armstrong <t.armstrong at nerdalize.com> [2017-09-05 10:36]:

> I hate to bring this subject up again, but is there really nothing
> structural we can do about this? 
> At a minimum we could occlude e-mail addresses from the public DB,
> instead having public complaint submitted via a webform on the NCC
> website, requiring the uninitiated to realise this is an abuse /
> complaint contact, not a sales opportunity.

I understand the problem (and get those pitches myself nearly daily). I
have no alternative, simple solutions. I also haven't thought this
through in detail. :-) However, and despite all that: I'd oppose the
idea of hiding/obfuscating emails and centralising/limiting feedback
loops to the NCC website. I'm concerned about the operational
consequences of limiting the opportunity to collect emails and build and
maintain lists of contact points (potentially) important for operations.

And if we remove just emails, we'd probably have to do the same with
phone numbers. They're calling from time to time as well.

Again, I haven't thought this through, but it's the knee-jerk response
anyway. Perhaps naming, shaming and blacklisting the offenders might be
a better way to go. Perhaps verified members could get regular database
dumps (including contact info) from other sources, or authenticate
against the db to get the whole lot. I don't know. I'm not sure the
problem is big enough to warrant any major changes.

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