Robert Hsiung’s “Psychobabble” community, running a very old online message board script from Matt’s Script Archive (WWWBoard, which isn’t acknowledged anywhere on the Psychobabble site any longer), was recently hacked for all of its users passwords, compromising his member’s privacy and security.

This, to me anyways, is a sign that people — even well-meaning people — shouldn’t run a community as a part-time hobby or something they’re not willing to commit serious time and responsibility toward maintaining (and keeping current). You don’t have to look very hard to find exploits for Matt’s WWWBoard, which was originally written 12 years ago (in 1995!). Providing any resource online relied on by hundreds or thousands of people means respecting those people’s rights, privacy and security. After all, they’ve entrusted you with something valuable — their time and building relationships with others in your community.

Because online community — doing it right, anyways — is hard. A lot harder than most people realize. I’ve talked to supposed “experts” in online community who really had no clue as to the complex psychological and sociological relationships that are built and weaved as a community grows. Reliable hardware and software is one tiny part of the equation and really should be a given (e.g., that’s the easiest part!).

Thanks to one of Psych Central’s community members for pointing the Psychobabble hack announcement out to me.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 16 May 2007
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