Should we remove the Cybersecurity category from the front page?

Meta
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We (@moderators) are considering removing #cybersecurity from the front page of the forum.

The problem with #cybersecurity is that the name suggests ANY security news of a cyber nature. A few months ago, we (@moderators) had a discussion about this and decided that we needed to limit the Cybersecurity category to specific SAFE-related topics that explain how SAFE will help so we could keep it on the front page.

Otherwise, we could put anywhere between 10 to 1000 topics a week in #cybersecurity since SAFE will solve ever so many of the current Internet related security issues. This in turns takes the focus of the front page away from SAFE and into a security forum.

We’ve been trying to enforce the rule mentioned above, but it’s not very intuitive and in many cases we have a hard time deciding if a topic fits or doesn’t fit in #cybersecurity.

Option 1

We think the best solution would be to remove #cybersecurity from the front page. Topics that are directly related to the SAFE Network could still be discussed in categories such as #development, #features, etc. But if people are just posting links to general security news, it’s probably better to put them in #cybersecurity.

We think it makes sense to hide #cybersecurity from the front page because this forum is mainly about the SAFE Network. There are lots of privacy and security related news every day and we can’t possibly discuss all of them on the front page.

Option 2

Another solution could be to restrict #cybersecurity to a single topic (or a few topics), just like we did for #safecoin:price and #local. This could enable community members to discuss the latest cybersecurity news without taking too much space on the front page. We could start with one topic (e.g. “Cybersecurity News”) and then divide it in multiple topics if necessary (e.g. “Cybersecurity Videos”, etc.).

We could probably leave the existing #cybersecurity topics where they are. But we could change the settings of #cybersecurity to only allow moderators to create new topics and encourage people to post in the main topic(s) (e.g. “Cybersecurity News”).

Please let us know what you think of this and feel free to suggest other options :slight_smile:

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I like how this discussion is very open :slight_smile:

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I haven’t been active enough as a moderator to have a good feel for this, I guess. If the active mods think so, then we should do #1.

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I favour #1.

Cybersecurity topics will still visible in the links at the of each topic, so not hard to stumble on. We also keep multiple topics in this area which I think it’s useful generally - helps understanding and discussion of a complex and very active subject - rather than one or two threads for everything.

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It seems like most of us agree with Option 1 :slight_smile:

I just removed the Cybersecurity category from the front page. I think it’s the right solution for now. We can always revisit this decision in the future if necessary.

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I hate that all the good stories where we could discuss how SAFE can actually make a difference are forced into this Cybersecurity topic, which is basically a shadowban, since you can post all you want, but nobody will read it, as it doesn’t appear on the front page.

Such a shame, all the fun discussions we could have had.

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It has only been off the front page for about a week, so there was nothing stopping those discussions. See the Meta category where changes were mooted and discussed.

To discuss I suggest either reply on new topic or on that existing topic in meta, so we don’t pollute this thread.

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That’s just not true. At least as far back as Dec 16, Cybersecurity did not appear on the front page. I know, because I have an email thread between myself and neo about it. Sorry to pollute this 8 post thread, but really, it’s an 8 post thread, which is my whole point to begin with. Nobody knows it’s here because Cybersecurity category doesn’t appear on the front page.

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Well, according to Francis above it was moved four days ago:

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The Cybersecurity category had been on the front page since its creation (August 2015). We only removed it from the front page about 4 days ago.

During the last few weeks and months, we (the mods) had various discussions where we were discussing issues and potential solutions for the Cybersecurity category. But it’s only about 2 weeks ago that we started to agree on potential solutions (see Option 1 and Option 2 in the first post of this topic).

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On Dec 16, I posted about Signal’s use of domain fronting as a means to break through national firewalls, I thought it was a good thing for us to discuss as something SAFE might use.

That post was moved to Cybersecurity by neo, where-upon it promptly vanished from the front page. When I asked him about this, on December 21, he said the following.

.> Yes, basically the mods & @frabrunelle decided that the category is not on the front page because this is a SAFE forum and if have non-SAFE topics on the front page then it dilutes the appearance for those visiting.

In essence if it is SAFE then it will be on the front page. If not SAFE then its not on the front page

So why does my version of history not match yours?

When ever you admit that you did it, the point remains the same. If it’s not on the front page, it doesn’t get seen and doesn’t get discussed by most of the members here. Since every topic that makes people excited about SAFE is given the category of Cybersecurity then hiding that category makes us not get to discuss the very reason that we’re interested in SAFE in the first place.

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At the time, this topic was moved to #related-news (which was a category hidden from the front page). This was a category we created a few months ago, but it ended up being too similar to Cybersecurity, so we removed it about a week ago. In the process of removing it, I moved your topic back to Cybersecurity.