The following is a sequence of emails that led to the requirement of registration as a prerequisite of being able to alter the site. Once you have registered and had your registration validated, you are welcome to add your comments to the bottom of this page.

Hi Linda,
	I've made some progress with this that I think will address
you and Dave's concerns. Please see below. I'd be very interested
if you can see any flaws in the scheme.

--- Martin Cleaver  wrote: > Hi Linda,
>	Thanks for the mail and sorry for my delay in getting back to
> you. 
> 
> The site is currently open for anyone to register and anyone to
> change anything. This is just the default way it is set up.
> There
> are four ways that the problem can be addressed.
> 
> 1) The site already provides a notification system such that it
> will periodically mail out a list URLs to the pages that have
> changed. Go to the WebNotify topic. Currently it is set to mail
> out once a day.


I've added redbournwebmasters@yahoogroups.com to the notification
list. This means that if any changes are made to the site the
webmasters get notified at the end of the day.



> 2) It is possible to introduce User groups such that only
> certain
> groups of users can change certain pages.



Now anyone can register, but to alter a page they need to be a
member of ValidatedRedbournResidentGroup.


 
> 3) With a bit of work it would be possible to introduce a
> vetting
> stage in the registration such that a person can validate they
> they know and trust a new user.



To become a member of the ValidatedRedbournResidentGroup a person
needs to be validated. They go to see a member of
RedbournWebmastersGroup who verifies that the person is who they
say they are. We can remove people from the Validated group if
they start abusing things. You, Jane Spruell, Mike Sweet and
Diane Whiskin are all in the RedbournWebmastersGroup. 

Regards,
	Martin.

 
> 4) With several days work it would be possible to have a
> working
> TWiki version and a static HTML version with an approval
> mechanism to flush up between the two.
> 
> Opting for number 4 to prevent "just plain boring diatribes
> from
> users" goes against the spirit of the notion that the site is
> there for anyone. Setting up controls such as 2 and 3 are a
> good
> idea. 
> 
> As we use TWiki at work I may be able to get my firm to fund
> someone to code number 3 as they are keen that people only
> register as themselves and not someone else. 
> 
> Comments continue below.
> 
> --- Linda Walsh  wrote: > Hello
> Martin,
> > 
> > Great improvement on the look of the site.
> 
> Thanks. I like it :^)
>  
> > However, I'm a bit concerned about Twiki.  I forwarded your
> > e-mail to Dave
> > (a computer professional like yourself), here's his comments
> :-
> 
> Perhaps you and Dave would like to join the
> redbournwebmasters@yahoogroups.com mailing list? Also, invite
> anyone else who is interested. Go to
> http://www.yahoogroups.com/subscribe/redbournwebmasters/
> 
> > Looked at the new Redbourn site, an improvement on what was
> > there before but
> > I don't like the idea of any user being able to post pages.
> > 
> > There could be many problems from simple stupid mistakes by
> > users who upload new pictures etc. of inappropriate sizes 
> > and eat up the web space in no time. 
> 
> Hmm. I agree that is a problem. Not a big job to code to check
> for picture sizes.
> 
> >Inappropriate content, porn, libellous statements or just
> > plain boring
> > diatribes from users who think they have "something
> > interesting" for the
> > rest of the world (just like the internet I suppose).
> 
> This comes down to trusting users. I guess number 3, above,
> will
> solve this.
> 
> > The site will need some sort of moderator, like they have in
> > some chat rooms
> > or discussion forums.
> 
> Certainly there is value in having someone take responsibility
> for checking what has been posted. Once number 3 is implemented
> I'd rather this was done post-fact rather than have that person
> be a bottleneck to the site staying live.
>  
> > Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it pans out.
> > 
> 
> Indeed. :^)
> 
> > 
> > That's it, I agree with him.  I've registered as a Twiki
> user,
> > it's very
> > easy to make changes, although how many people will want to
> is
> > a moot point.
> 
> > Do you check all the changes as they occur?  The legal
> > implications of
> > someone posting a libellous statement on a site that you are
> > responsible for
> > could be horrendous.
> 
> I do check what goes up but sometimes it can be a couple of
> days
> before I get to it. 
>  
> > Hope I'm not being too negative.  I realise you're moving
> away,
> > and if I can
> > help monitor the site I will, but without any legal
> > responsibilty for its
> > content.
> 
> Okay, great. Perhaps we need a legal disclaimer on the site as
> well. There are many internet TWikis and to my knowledge none
> have been abused. Of course, I have no desire for the Redbourn
> Site to set a precedent!
> 
> Best regards,
>	 Martin.
> 

-- Martin Cleaver - 16 Apr 2001