Using Google Drive, OneDrive, and Similar Services

[VenomElite]

Well then. I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up before. I think somewhere on the wiki, we should mention how free services such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. can be used to create profiles (except for adding a picture). There are benefits for using these, such as:

1. Time Saving: If you don't have the time to create a whole profile, you can start it in let's say, Google Docs and then come back and finish it later. This way we can reduce how many users accidentally make incomplete profiles because they thought they could save it.

2. Collaboration: For some bigger profiles, pages, or those that you just need some help on, in Google Drive, you can have multiple people working on a profile/page simultaneously, and it is a cloud service, so everything is saved on the cloud with no progress lost.

3. Save Progress: As I mentioned in time saving, this can be a way to save progress before publishing the official profile on the wiki, but it can also be used it reverse, say if you are making a major edit, and wikia starts glitching or something unexpected happens that makes you lose all your progress. You can simply copy and paste the source code to one of these services, or even a simple Wordpad installed on your computer or mobile device and that way, you don't have to do everything all over again.

This is just something I think is neat that a lot of us do, but not the majority of the community knows about, so it should be mentioned somewhere, perhaps on the Editing Rules page as a tip/note of sorts.

 

[Antvasima]

Well, I think that there is already a sandbox function for individual users, and being logged in to Google accounts tends to reveal your private identity for the entire world to see.

 

[Sera_EX]

From personal experience, it only reveal my name, not all of my information. For One Drive and Dropbox, that isn't the case. I especially agree with Word pad though. It's a computer app that most PC's have already installed.

 

[The_Everlasting]

Sera's correct. It only reveals your name (Which won't even matter if you name your account something random), nothing else.

 

[Antvasima]

Well, I do not know how to make this work in practice, and it would be extremely important that we would select a service for which all members can be as anonymous as possible.

 

[Saikou_The_Lewd_King]

Well I never use my real name for anything so it doesn't bother me for Google Docs, but afaik yeah it only shows your name.

 

[Sera_EX]

Well security is an utmost priority. It is up the individual if they are comfortable with doing so, this isn't mandatory, it's just recommended for those with limited time due to school, work, etc.

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

I support mentioning these services in the Editing Rules page, as it may let users create more detailed profiles; there's really no harm or negative effects to letting it pass.

 

[Antvasima]

Which services have the best personal security then, so we might suggest them?

 

[Celestial_Pegasus]

This seems like a good idea.

 

[Reppuzan]

I haven't tried the others, but Google Docs is useful in that you can limit it so that it's only viewable by those with the link, thus preventing information leakage to all but a few individuals.

TheEverlasting, CrossverseCrisis, and I already do this through Google Docs and we trust each other enough not to do anything reckless or harmful with each others' info.

 

[VenomElite]

@Repp exactly. Same with me. Cross, Ever, and Matt collab with me on profiles using Docs all the time. At most I only know their names and they know mine. Not a big deal considering we greatly trust each other. Sera also shares screenshots using Google Drive yet you can't trace her private info. It's secure.

 

[Amelia_Lonelyheart]

I've used google docs to help Ever with a page before, so I obviously am okay with using it.

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

I'm fine with using Google Docs as I have made pages with others before.

We should also add something like "this is your decision and it's your own responsibility to keep your private information hidden" and "this feature is entirely optional" too.

 

[Promestein]

I agree with Reppuzan, Ever and Ventus. It's simple to use these services.

 

[Sera_EX]

Dropbox and One Drive work essentially the same as Google Drive. The former is more simple while the latter is Microsoft Word oriented.

 

[Thebluedash]

I agree, Google Drive is a rather useful thing for profile making.

 

[Hop_Hoppington-Hoppenhiemer]

Hop's official name on everything is Hop. Please don't ban.

In all seriousness, yes DropBox (a good service from personal experience) is also another alternative. However G Drive is ideal for sharing information with other staff and members. Matt uses it in chat once in a while, it's helpful.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

^ I agree with this.

 

[Antvasima]

Well, I still consider it a potential disaster if the staff's personal information, such as their real names, are leaked to others, so that stalker trolls with hostile intentions are made aware of them, given that there are lots of people with strong grudges against our community.

As such, if we are going to make this an official suggestion, we definitely need to make it a service for which all of our personal information, including our names and IP addresses, can be kept entirely private.

 

[Sera_EX]

Perhaps I need to make an example. Here I made a doc. The settings are set to where anyone with this link can view it. It is my responsbility to protect my information. If I am uncomfortable with anyone seeing my name, I can do two things.

1. I can show this link to those I wish to collaborate with in private. For example, Reppu, Ever, and Cross are all admins and have ff.net accounts, they can share the link there or privately in chat and no one else will have access to it.

2. Change the settings. Using those three as an example again. Let's say Reppu made the doc. He can change the settings to where only The Everlasting and CrossverseCrisis can view/comment/edit the doc. No one else will have access to it or Reppu's info. At most, those three will only know each other's names and email. The former can be anything, the latter can be secured by blocking anyone if they began to spam them.

I use Drive all the time and use it to share screenshots. Even if you can see my name (as in the name I use on Google) and my email address, all other personal information (IP address, phone number, address, etc.) cannot be seen. Such information is not viewable on Drive. There's a risk even on wikia, where you must protect certain information. In the global profile section, you can link your personal website, facebook, twitter, etc. It is completely up to you, if you want to share that stuff. It is the responsibility of the individual user to protect themselves. This isn't mandatory.

 

[VenomElite]

If anyone clicks on that link, what do they see? Only the doc. It just says "Test". You can't see Sera's name, save for if she is viewing the doc at the same time you are. You can't edit the share list, so you can't use that to see her name either. All of her personal info is completely private and is nowhere to be found, not even her email.

 

[Antvasima]

Okay. I suppose that seems okay then.

Does anybody have a suggestion for how we should inform our members about this, and what we should say?

 

[Hop_Hoppington-Hoppenhiemer]

It would be easy to put a PM in place for everyone and have them double check if they can access it.

@Venom

yeah it works

 

[Antvasima]

Well, we should preferably place a note in some official page, not just in a talk thread.

 

[Lina_Shields]

So, if one were to pick a storage/editing program such as Google Drive and One Drive, which of the two would you guys personally recommend?

I am initially leaning towards Google Drive, as my main browser is Google Chrome anyways, plus with Google mostly being reliable in general.

Am willing to hear the pros/cons of both services however.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

I personally use Google Drive and see nothing wrong with it. By far the only problem is that you need a properly working internet connection. I've gotten by using Drive on a 512 kbps connection.

 

[Amelia_Lonelyheart]

I would recommend Google Drive. It constantly saves every edit you've preformed so your work wont be lost. It's really slow and the format can be messy at times, but its still good for saving work.

 

[Sera_EX]

One Drive is essentially the same, just Microsoft Word oriented, meaning a better format. However Drive offers more free space and is compatible with Google Chrome.

 

[Lina_Shields]

Google Drive sounds good then. Am currently registering for it/using it now.

Before this, I was actually using Notepad to type any text-related things to profiles, copy+paste the text, and add pictures/gallery directly into the source editor.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

I paste over from MS Word or Drive into the source editor myself.