A new online forum for Wilders Close residents

Dear Wilders Close Residents,

A web site is presently being built for Wilders Close residents to hopefully discuss and share a range of topics, activities and ideas relevant to our area, community and street. All ten properties will be shortly invited to join the residents forum.

Treat it as our virtual street presence on the Internet. Although various touches are still being put in places, the web site is actually operated by all of us so is expected to develop over time. The collective and main objective is for residents to constructively share information in a safe and secure manner for the benefit of the residents of Wilders Close. The site allows every resident to post issues, comment on what others are saying and express pretty much anything they deem appropriate to share with their neighbours or even friends. Some quick words about ‘best practices’ and ‘safety’ of this web site – a topic which I shall be elaborating upon in an Online Tutorial soon.

Safety first

As a qualified web designer and computing expert who has constructed countless Internet sites for many businesses, government agencies and individuals for over 20 years, I am well aware of the expected standard when it comes to private forums, data protection and online safety. As Internet users, we all know the online world is not always a safe place – just like the real world. Yet with some basic precautions and common sense, we can make sure we and our information stays safe. To give you some background, this web site is using a product called WordPress which is a popular and successful blogging software company. It is running on a server which is located in a secure data centre facility in Maidenhead. I am able to access the server remotely to make changes to the site’s content. In fact so can you! Access to the server is protected by an account name and password which I have created for all ten properties. The data is backed up nightly and cannot be accessed by anyone unless you disclose your account information. The server is actually owned by myself, so legally speaking, the data on is also owned by myself. I ask you to place trust in me and rest assured that I will not misuse any data you post on this web site, sell it or give it away to anybody, or do anything with it which may upset or offend you. I have only just moved into the area and am not going anywhere fast!! 🙂 On a serious note, the whole point of a residential forum is really based on trust – so if we don’t have that, then pointless having a web site.

Simple rules of engagement

Although this may appear to be a harmless residential forum, I have some simple rules I would like you to consider when using the web site. This is for everyone’s benefit really, and also we do not want identity thieves or third party marketing companies targeting any of us. Before I mention the rules, I just wish to highlight one point. There are two types of access to this web site:

1) Access which the whole world can see and is accessible without logging in, and

2) Access to sensitive content which only residents can see – which is highlighted by a ‘padlock’ symbol and requires residents to log in with a username and password first.

As soon as I have all your email addresses – I will be emailing you log in details individually with a link to a quick Online Tutorial. Now the simple rules which are actually common sense:

1) Do not mention in your posts date of births, telephone numbers, email addresses, your vehicle registration marks, bank account numbers, or any private or sensitive information which may help someone build a fuller identity of yourself or your family. Mention of birthdays are fine but refrain from mentioning year of birth.

2) Try to avoid using resident’s surnames in your posts. First names are fine but even better is if you can refer to residents by their property number. So instead of Matthew, we could say ‘no.12’ (to use a fictional example).

3) Residents should not use their personal email addresses anywhere on this web site – as it may disclose their full name. Instead, every property gets its own resident email address and it is yours to keep as long as you remain resident at your property. This email address will secretly point to your personal email address which nobody will ever see. So if you wish to email a resident you simply send an email to their resident email address.

(Furthermore, other residents living in the same property to the same resident email address. So in my fictional example, emails sent to ‘no.12’ can go to both Matthew and his tenant Kate who lives at the same property. The whole point of this method is to protect your real email address as well as to hide your name when sending email.)

4) Needless to say but worth mentioning is that no form of abuse, profanities or rude behaviour will be tolerated on the web site. Residents should always try to ensure a good standard of English and grammar is used in their posts and comments.

5) If you spot something you are not happy with then you should speak up. You can Contact the Administrator, or post in the ‘Help and Suggestion’ category should you have any concerns, tips or suggestions for this web site. Please be constructive and help build this web site up to a usable and pleasant experience for all.

Next steps

You will be receiving an email with your log in details and a link to the Online Tutorial soon. In the meantime, if you know of any residents of Wilders Close who would like to join this forum then kindly Contact the Administrator and forward their house number, name, and email address.

Thank you for reading. Wilders Close residents look forward to seeing you participate on your online forum in the near future.

Warm regards,
WildersClose.UK Administrator