Re: [Paddlewise] Visiting Paddlers - Devils Advocate

At 05:03 PM 4/12/02 -0400, Michael Daly wrote:
>From: <Rick.Sylvia_at_ferguson.com>
>
>> P'Wisers, the following is intended to be constructive and helpful..... 
>> hope it reads that way.  If not, tell me to go back to sleep  :-)
>
>I agree with you, Rick.  I think I'd have a problem with me being
>in a database that needs to be secure.  If a public request for
>info is made on this forum, I have the option of responding or
>not and no one will have an expectation of my welcoming them 
>just because my name is on a list.  While there are many on this
>list who would be welcome chez moi, there is the possibility of
>someone of dubious character getting their hands on such a list
>and exploiting it and me.

Banks have been using databases for account information for years.

Several people have expressed concerns about privacy/security of the
information which we're trying to capture.  As is the case with most
systems like this it's just a matter of programming/design to  solve the
problem.

Although what we're talking about is a web assessible database there are
numerous ways to restrict access to the entire database or even parts of
it.  The first thing I thought of was to require some kind of registration
method just to access the site.  That means that everyone would have to
type in an email address and password to get in but it would eliminate
casual browsing by non-paddlewisers.      Addresses and phone numbers don't
necessarily need to be kept in the database.  If one does a search, on say
Corpus Christi I might return the names and email address of a couple of
paddlers.  The user could then just click on the email address to send
email back channel, and if the person in the database chooses to do so,
they can provide phone numbers or addresses back channel as well.  The
other alternative would be to maintain the address/phone numbers in the
database behind a secure port, that can be unlocked if the owner of the
information provides a key to someone requesting it.  In any case, the
default behavior could be set up such that only names and email addresses
could be accessed by people that have registered.   One other possibility
would be to restrict access to the database to those which have also
volunteered to be tier 1,2 or 3 paddlers.

I certainly understand Rick's concerns about replacing the community aspect
of paddlewise with the database and I'm not sure if I have an answer for
that one.  As some of you know I have written a kayak statistics database
that I've had running for a couple of years and have an extensive list of
links on a personal paddling page.  I get requests very frequently from
outfitters and other vendors to add their site to my list.  I've thought
about creating an "outfitters" database and a "paddling locations" database
as well.  Maybe just  adding a search feature that allows searching by
location to the who's who list might be all that is needed for the
"contacts" database.

And thanks to Nick for offering to host the system.  I''m not much of a
perl programmer but I have had some interest in PHP even though were pretty
much a Java shop at work.   

I also have worked on several open source projects which have had people
from all over the world contributing code.   I could set up a CVS
repository if it turns out that several people might be interested in
contributing.
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