unforum

[petunia]

[MattDunn]

[geektastic]

They definitely exist. You can set them up easily either through Yahoo or Google.

http://groups.yahoo.com/
http://groups.google.com/

[MattDunn]

LOL, just took a little trip down memory lane and came back to edit my post, thanks for that. I don't really know if that's what he's looking for, and it has the possibility to really fill up your inbox, but it's another thought to throw out there.

[geektastic]

Yeah, it would certainly fill the "communicate with everyone simultaneously" requirement. They usually have options to get single digest emails every day or whatever instead of getting every single one, but it does still tend to fill up the inbox.

Something like a Livejournal community would also maybe work. I think LJ comments are much better designed than blog comments since they thread rather than just posting in order oldest to newest. Also you can restrict membership to invitation only and lock posts to Friends only which could help control who gets access to the info. It's also pretty easy to set up, though it would require people to actually have an LJ account or create one.

[MattDunn]

Yeah, I'm not too "down" with the newer blogs/journals/whatever. This place is the most I've communicated on the internet outside of a video game in over a year. If they're controllable they'd be a good option too. You'd think a predator catcher would be concerned about the secrecy, but already know about all this stuff... :-/

[petunia]

I looked at Google groups earlier.... there doesn't seem to be a way to hide your email address. (From bots, yes; people, no.) Since sending an IG email to several players at once using CC instead of BCC is considered bad form, I would likewise put such groups under the heading "No Wants" as far as ARGs go.

LJ suspended free signups for a while, and while I think they're back it doesn't sound like what Mikey's getting at. It kinda sounds like he wants a way for him to say something to all of us at once, but not necessarily vice versa.

[geektastic]

What about Twitter? He could set it so his account doesn't appear on the public timeline, and then give the username to us. Technically you can reply through Twitter, but it just shows up along with your updates on his watch list rather than going to everyone like in a ML or community.

It wouldn't keep people from checking his followers to see Twitter accounts for other players, but it wouldn't reveal anyone's email addresses or real name (provided they don't use a Twitter account with their real name on it).

Twitter is meant for short messages though, only 140 characters, so depending on what he wants to send it might not work.

[TheIllustratedMan]

I emailed him earlier asking if he would be interested in me setting up a private forum for contact. No reply as of yet.
What about facebook? He can set it up so that no one can view his profile without his approval, and he can post all the messages and whatever that he wants.

[vapor]

I'm personally not big on the idea of using any of the social networking sites. Honestly I'm not sure what to make of the fact that we are being asked to choose the mode of communication here. It kind of seems like playing checkers with oneself.

The ACME article said that players would be able to log onto a site and interact in ways they may not be accustomed to but that was after the mailings started going out; and I get the impression that it would be ACME's brainchild, not ours.

Having said that I will throw my vote into the hat and stick to what Mikey said in his email to GLOSS about a newsletter going through email.

[Dionysus]

I find it very very odd that a Private Detective obsessed with internet predation never heard of IRC.

Anyone else find that odd?

Anyway, I'm back from a week absence. Was sick and pretty much sleeping when I wasn't at work. I'm feeling much better now.

[geektastic]

Yeah, it's definitely odd. Granted, for a lot of kids stuff like Myspace or regular IM is probably going to be where most of the trouble happens, and he probably can get Novak to help out a lot with stuff so he wouldn't have to know as much. But it's still pretty weird.

[TheIllustratedMan]

I find a lot of things Mikey has (not) had experience with odd. But, if he were a super sleuth, he wouldn't really need us. So... whatever.

Welcome back Dio, glad you're feeling better.

[revsleestaxx]

Broadcast Contact

[GLOSS]

Looks like Mikey made the decision himself, and made a Google Group for us:

http://groups.google.com/group/SurryIS?hl=en

Looks like you'll need a GMail account, or at least a Google login to view this, but I think you can apply for this directly from that page. The question is, if you haven't already talked to Mikey over E-Mail, whether he'll let you join

EDIT: And here's our answer in our first message for the group: