Okay this is probably a really good idea. Also it may not be actually working yet. So, after joking about the forum so secret I can't read it, I thought about this a bit. What if... Useful? So I have made a forum called the memory hole. In theory, if you post there, you can see that you made a thread. You can't read the thread, though. No one can. You also shouldn't be able to see other posters' threads at all. So why? Because people sometimes want a way to have records of things. And they don't necessarily want to see those records, or be reminded of them. They don't necessarily want anyone else to see them. But if you really, really, needed those records retrieved, we could in theory change things so an admin could see the titles of threads by other posters, and move those threads into a different forum where you could see them. And find out whether your memory matched the stuff you thought you were experiencing back at the time. But the steady state of the forum is: No one, not even me, can see that you posted threads. You can see that you posted threads, but no one can read the contents of threads, not even posters. Use it or don't. I won't know.
I posted a test thread in there! It's a poll where all the options say Testing, because I thought it was funny.
but what happens when you forget that you posted something in the memory hole so you can't cross-reference with your memory because no one knows you posted there
... okay see this is why that whole section of the forum is labeled "mad science". But thinking about it: You can see that you posted threads, I think. You can't see their contents, but you can see the titles of your own threads.
i posted a bunch of mudkipz because memery hole (also seebs teeeeeeeeeechnically you can see that people posted threads because there's always SQL)
There's also "changing the forum permissions", sure. But in terms of what's visible to me through the software in general? I can't tell.
Now that the forum has a memory hole to match mine (I can never remember the contents of what I said, either) I feel a kinship with it!
So, a followup: I used SQL to find out how many threads there are in the Memory Hole, there's 42. I haven't looked to see who/what, and don't plan to, but apparently it's seeing some use. Also we did science: If you're on post moderation, your posts to the memory hole are not shown to moderators, because you can only moderate posts you'd be able to see if they got approved. So they just sit there unapproved, which is harmless enough I guess? But if you're worried about privacy, apparently the software does the right thing.
