Scubadude, welcome to our friendly threads! Sorry I wasn't as clear as I shoulda been. I realize Skype has those options. However, I initially set up my Skype account thinking it would be flexible enough to serve 3 target groups -
a) business contacts outside my local area
b) close friends outside my local area (apparently, I am the last person in the US to refuse to hook into expensive unlimited calling plans)
c) faceless strangers
I had no way of knowing Skype didn't offer sub-domains or some other form of easy to use multiple account flexibility. That was eventually confirmed by the rep.
My Skypename links my professional and personal side, perfectly okay since I've nothing to hide from business contacts or friends; but it sure discourages me from advertising that particular Skypename on forums since from that alone, anyone could eventually track me down and paint TOS Offender on the windshield of my camper.
Ideally, there should be a way to invite someone to call me at a throwaway sub-name (say, RuneSauSage), where no personal info is displayed. I could chat, then erase that link or block the person from further contact, like immediately after I chew BubbyCo out for closing a thread I hijacked. :-)
Skype's only workaround was to suggest I load multiple copies and set up individual accounts, but how would I receive calls from all 3 target groups without running 2 or 3 Skype programs at once? It seems a bit unorthodox/illogical/cumbersome. If I had my druthers, they'd reconfigure it so there's a primary account name, but inbound calls would automatically be distributed to the appropriate extension- say RuneBIZsage, RunePrivatesage and the ephemeral RuneSausage, where each displays a different profile page and nobody's the wiser. (obviously RuneSauSage's profile would be blank) Then we'd be cooking with gas.

BuBBy,

I was under the impression that, no matter what name is used, every post needs to write a valid email address to be able to post a comment. Is the email address actually checked for validity?. I am aware that people can get new mail accounts or use the one they already have (I have 3).

Are there sites that allow you to create an email address and change your name everyday? I confess I know nothing about the tools that, although legal, are used by today's script kiddies to crack, hack, spam, troll, trace, DoS attack, or whatever it is they do now.

-Mario

To RunesageMagi,unless I'm misunderstanding your concern about privacy with the main skype program,it does provide options with regards to your concerns.
1. you only have to put the minimum of personal info. in the settings.
2. you have the option to allow only those on your contact list to call you.
3. you can allow only your contacts to see if your online.
4. you can block anybody you do not want to have contact with.
There are other options,to many to list.
It sounds as if you haven’t been able to give it a good try,because of your friends not wanting to try it out.
I and several of my friends use it on a regular basis while playing Tiger Woods golf game online,it gives us the opportunity to trash talk each other during the game.
In certain war games you can also use it to coordinate your teams play.
Ounce in awhile you can experience a glitch and get cut off but it is rare.Have been on skype with as many as 9,000,000.other's online and no problems.
Hope this helps, but as said in the beginning if I misunderstood your concern,then please disregard.
By the way I to am new to the forum,and a newbie to computers.
Have been checking the site for several months now and reading your posts as well as other regular members and appreciate the advice and problem solving info you and other members so readily give.Being new at this I've learned quite a bit here.
Thanks To All

Welcome to the forum gerberette. You have a good insight for someone just finding GGOTD.

I run skype - but do you think I'm putting my contact details up... hahahaha oh I don't think so... :|

@ gerberette - (sounds like what BuBBy eats for a snack)

As for the thumbs up or down - I think it's safe to say the rating can be ignored. Over time - regular posters get a following as they are a "constant face in the crowd" that people recognize from day to day - and therefore trust (or don't).

Then there are the clowns who either post using a new name each day - or never post anything of significance and are forgotten by the end of the day.

After a few weeks you get to know who the troublemakers are - and just learn to ignore them.

Welcome to the user forums - glad to see you made it here so quickly (and posting too!) - most users even after months still haven't ventured beyond the front page - which is a big shame, because the user forums are actually where everything happens (where the good stuff is).

Hope you stick around and join in the fun.

FWIW, I downloaded Skype a year ago and still can't convince any friends to install it, so it languishes. One drawback I discussed with a Skype rep is the apparent inability of Skype to handle multiple IDs. Most people (incl me) probably don't want the whole world or even strangers on forums from learning personal or business contact info or even one's "for good friends only" aliases. It'd be nice if they could modify the system to allow for disposable IDs. The rep offered an awkward workaround - install a second copy of the program and modify certain things - but that seemed like too much hassle to bother with right now. At least Yahoo messenger (and presumably other messaging appls) now offer a VOIP option one could use with a disposable alias.

I just personally discovered this amazing website yesterday. I got the screensaver. I thought it was cool! I read the comments section and couldn't believe how hostile some people could be towards a FREE SCREENSAVER. Someone even complained that it was too big a screensaver to download if you're an elderly person living in the middle of bum-frick-egypt using a can and a piece of string to access the internet. Or something like that.

So I come back today and I'm like, "What's Skype?" I decided to read the comments to see if someone could shed some light. Boy, was that a mistake! Wow! The negative and nasty comments actually sent me looking for Skype, downloading it, installing it and then getting your freebie too. I love it! I look forward to using it more in the future too!

But it's just unbelieveable what people will say. And of course I kept reading all the comments. Even thru the whole legality issue, which is just ridiculous. But I couldn't stop. It was like watching a train wreck. I just couldn't...look...away.

BTW, are people allowed to rate the software without actually having downloaded it? Just wondering how many of those negative ratings are from people that didn't actually give the software a test-drive. I don't think they should be allowed to rate it unless they use it. Maybe that's something that's been discussed before, but I'm too scared to go searching for that in the forums. I'm afraid of what else I'll read. :-)

And I would have said all of this in the comment section, but that would just be adding fuel to an already insanely huge fire.

Thanks to you BuBBy and your crew!!! From someone who appreciates free stuff!

P.S. Someone brought up yesterday's screensaver in the comments today again. I think you should put up a Skype-logo Screensaver for download tomorrow. Then just sit back and watch the train wreck unfold. LOL!

Archangel, you are correct. The comment section is for stating your own experience of using the giveaway software.

Everyone is sick of reading how individuals don't have a need for "this program", or criticising the comments posted by other users (or criticising the criticism), telling the world how they would prefer "a different giveaway", or how it "looks good" and they will "check it out later", or how "screensavers are a curse from yesteryear that contribute to climate change".

Some posts are moderated in an effort to keep the comment section "on the rails".

Personally I'd set a filter to delete all comments saying stuff like "Looks good", "Will download later" ect. which was contained in a post. Isn't the comments section for those that actually have downloaded and installed the software to "Share" there experience?

Recently there was a very expensive piece of software that was given away. People alleged problems. Out of curiosity I checked the comments section after a complaint had been made here in the forum. I was looking for a comment about the software being "To advanced". LOL I'm still looking.

While I agree that some changes would be an improvement - I think the Giveaway team are already extremely busy and some changes might take "a while". If the changes require only minimal modifications to the existing site, or can be implemented using more substantial code "mods" that have already been developed and tested (to an extent), the changes are more likely to appear.

I think what I am saying is, a lot of these ideas for change are very good and have a lot of merit - but it might be a while before we see them implemented here.

Having separate threads about the same issue is inefficient and makes reading about some issue that you are interested about more complicated than it should be. Please, search for previous articles that may be related to what you want to discuss. Maybe by the time you are done reading all of the ones you have found, you won't need to open a new thread anymore!

This issue was raised two weeks ago in this same forum in a thread called Comment Filters.

In that thread there is an excellent post made by BuBBy (who seems to be able to read all posts) in which he states that useful comments are almost impossible to predict. The thumbs system is not only useless, but it can mislead the less computer savvy into thinking a GAOTD is exactly what they need when in fact it is not even close.

But this is the Suggestions Board so I would like to make a few. Some of these suggestions depend on whether GAOTD keeps a database of all comments and the email address that each comment was sent from.

I would like to suggest having more control on how to sort the entire set of posts at any given moment. The time at which the post was made public can be useful. For example, some people wait to see what other people think before deciding if they want the GAOTD.

Maybe this concept can be extended a little by giving readers the ability to order all comments written about the day's GiveAway in a number of different ways, kind of like the 'details' bar in Windows Explorer. In this fashion, a comment reader could simply click on the particular information bar and all the comments would be organized based on the chosen criteria.

The types of information I have in mind right now include "time the post was made", "rating", "name of author","size of post", "seniority", and a few more simple ones. There could also be some more complex ones like the "number of comments the author has made during the entire life of GAOTD" or the "average number of thumbs per comment that posters have since the thumbs system was implemented".

This is a set of items that my simple brain can think of. I am sure that the more knowledgeable folks can improve the list or show how ridiculous my idea is.

Peace,

-Mario

I agree with the hammer. Seen the same thing. Best thing would be to read for "Harmful" stuff and judge for yourself.

Hello triphammer, Thanks for your comments on this.

I can see your point (a rating can be down to personal preference) but I think generally when a comment starts getting below say minus 5 it is a good indicator that the comment is not regarded as useful to the majority of people. The grading of comments, from what I've seen, does seem to follow a pattern of posts such as "I can't install this" (which should be in the forum) being marked as negative whereas the well-written reviews tend to get much better rating. I would rather just see the well-written reviews.

I agree with you that it would have to be a setting in the preferences though so that users can decide at what rating threshold they want to view comments at or whether that want to view all of them.

Jonathan

You'd have to make it personal to each individual user. You're idea puts a filter on something that I'd have individual preferences for. I've seen comments that I thought were very good but had a negative thumbs rating. And just the opposite as well... I've seen comments with a positive thumb rating, where I thought the guy was a clown. I'd rather see it all. Customizable filters would be possible if GOTD incorporated our profiles along with preferences as to how we wanted to see the site. That way you could set yours for -5 and I could set mine for 0 so I would see it all. PPL should be using their own judgement as to whether a comment is useful. The thumbs up and thumbs down is useless. It's pretty easy to see who puts an effort into making a thoughtful comment and genuine review of the giveaway.

Hello,

In regards to recent discussions about "un-useful" information being posted in the comments section of the software page - why don't you make it so that comments collapse (are hidden) if a comment receives more than a certain number of negative "votes/points". The reader could have the option to expand collapsed comments. Like they do on youtube.

That way the readers also do the moderation in a way and it reduces the amount of "un-useful" comments visible to the reader.

Jonathan