March 15, 2022
Notes by Kathleen Charters
Our March program was an introduction to our new web-based discussion board. SMUG used to have a discussion board in the past, based on a technology called phpBB. For a variety of reasons, we can’t use the old forum site, and have moved to something that uses our WordPress site as both the website and the forum site, all in one space, using WP Discussion Board.
The discussion boards are limited to SMUG members and meeting attendees, and they must register (and be approved) to have access. This is not done out of a desire to stifle conversation but, rather, out of a desire to keep the forums from being filled with the kind of vile stuff you see in comments sections of newspapers and other web forums. We want civil discussions, focused on Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, computer security and privacy, and similar topics.
The meeting showed how to register to use the forums, how to post things, and general tips for getting the most out of what the software has to offer. If you are a current SMUG member or recent meeting attendee, feel free to register right now (see the SMUG Discussion Boards link in the right sidebar). Do note that your registration needs to be approved to gain entry, and you might have to wait a day or two.
Q&A
- OlyPen upgrade and email change – an Apple security change, HTML in a message requests an image from spammer site, tells the spammer to know you have a valid email address; if not in address book and send a graphic you will have to request it; could change the setting in the past but recommend keeping it as is; could also be bandwidth is limited and email shows text first then images as this takes more bandwidth
- Laptop 12.3 upgrade; Siri will not tell about the weather, loss of location? Harder for Siri to know location from a desktop than for a cell phone since the phone uses the nearest cell tower; Wavecable has a switching center in Kent, and sometimes Siri uses this location for weather, other times gets Jamestown weather; less precise location from a laptop than from a cell phone because laptop location is determined by DNS
- DNS = Domain Name System; identity of machine local to home, router that talks to WAVE uses different numbers; list of numbers and what they talk to; if type in number can get name of the Website, runs fast, WAVE ties to capture the DNS by cache address (temporary file, may take up to 7-10 days to update; can force an earlier update; at first this was simple (70 addresses) and now there are billions of addresses and several millions of DNS servers
- Maintenance of the Internet; Vincent Cerf – Computer Scientist, 40 years ago, concept “sender pays all”; similar to the U.S. Postal System; when you pay your ISP, you pay for the Internet; spam hijacks other people’s machines so spammers get free service; Spam filters are important; some companies are trying to change this
- Apple Program last Tuesday: Lawrence did a blog entry; most notable: new Apple Studio, a spiffy machine; watch to see how information is presented, credits tell how they did the presentation
- E-mail – when selecting return, get a capital letter. Mac default is… if type 2 spaces, then assumes a period and the next letter is capitalized; Enter key has a different meaning than a Return key; if type a long line, it will wrap
- Cookies – The US has no privacy laws when it comes to companies; Europe has privacy laws for the EU; global American companies use the same format for all countries, customized to protect privacy and for navigation; cookies = Code telling a company who you are; necessary cookies are needed to make the website work
Business Meeting
President Sabrina
Treasurer : 6 paid memberships for income of $144; expense of upgrading Website for Forum $305.77; Balance $1,077.72
Tip: Can rename self on Zoom and can remember this setting for future Zoom sessions; go to the upper right-hand corner of the image of a person to … and select rename
Strait Mac Website and Discussion Board
When register: generates requests to Lawrence to approve new users; gmail client Kiwi (free version); link to Website to see users on a list, pending if have a request but not yet admitted; limits issues with Internet trolls; allows removal of users not behaving according to the rules; Welcome to Discussion Board choices: user can submit, write, author (can make change and does not need approval); everyone has to be approved and is made an author; access is by Strait Mac VP (Admin) and Lawrence as personal account (for testing); Kathleen can edit; takes 8-10 hours of training to be an Admin; in event of emergency who has access?
Admin sees:
Boards (and can order manually), how the computer tracks each board
Topic categories – set to match discussion boards
Tags – add tags to Boards to allow the search function to find things
Must be signed in as a member to read the content (not made public), but anyone can search and see a few lines
Liability issues: libel in a public forum; allowed in a private discussion of candid opinions
Must be a registered user
Russia’s attacks on Websites are over 1,000 times more common since the Ukraine invasion; Russia is looking for ways to use US sites to attack the US government
What the user sees: SMUG Board
List of topics
When I type a response, it shows up as a topic, and there is a path of responses
Discussions can be complex
Voices are accounts doing the posts
In the News – can post a graphic, ask a question, post tidbits to shares
Buy Sell Trade Give-Away
Set up to get an email when there is a response: Select to Follow a Board
A good way to get to know one another and share interests
Select “Add new topic,” must add a title, must select a category, then select “Start Topic” to post
Is there a way to get a listing of the most recent 10 or 15 topics? Bread crumbs within a topic, but not set up for across topics
Can “See all topics” within a board; designed to grow
Post articles and rumors under the In The News topic
Recommend that members play/experiment with the discussion board; follow every board, not too big a volume or frequency; share collective knowledge, get answers sooner
Q&A
How are attacks detected? Security software
The software person, Matt, is responsive to questions about how to do things
No meeting in April unless someone else wants to host – can use the discussion board to ask questions, and others can answer
May meeting – may have a new machine to demonstrate: Mac Studio; New display 5K, fast; iPad Pro; iPhone SE; Apple TV
Created a post: enter text, then drag in graphics, select how to display, update, and view the new page on the Website
See Blog entry on the Apple Event
Future meetings
In-person: 1-2 times a year for things that cannot be demonstrated on Zoom; takes 2-3 months to book a NOLS space; explore the possibility of hybrid meetings – a bandwidth issue
Zoom for most meetings since most accessible
Class on computer literacy for seniors sponsored by Strait Mac User Group held at Trinity UMC
NOLS construction project pending – projected for 2022-2023
Q&A
- Websites locally built are at risk of attack; a site set up with WordPress can use the Wordfence plug-in and configure it for security. For example, a brute force attack can be blocked automatically
- Passwords – unique, long
- Webmaster to check on security – e-mail Lawrence
- GoDaddy provides what you pay for
- PHP is a language – how code is put together determines security