Subscriber Discussion

Why Do So Many People Post Undisclosed?

DR
Dennis Ruban
Mar 08, 2018

Why do so many people post as undisclosed? Are you afraid of something, guys? It's not a Pornhub forum, what's wrong with using your real name?

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JH
John Honovich
Mar 08, 2018
IPVM

Dennis, we just had this discussion last month: Do Not Operate Under A Veil Of Secrecy, Nor Would It Ever Be Acceptable To Act In Any Forum Without Disclosing Who You Are

To recap:

  • Not allowed by their employers to comment on any social media (this is common for many manufacturers and end users)
  • Saying things that contradict their company's public position.
  • Do not want to leave a public trail of what they are working on or doing.

There are others but I think those are the big 3.

I am quite positive that we have much richer and more informative discussions by allowing people to go undisclosed. It's a small industry and IPVM provides the best place to discuss industry things in depth. I think undisclosed plays an important role in fostering that.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Mar 08, 2018

I use my real name on Pornhub.

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Avatar
Ricardo Souza
Mar 08, 2018
Motorola Solutions • IPVMU Certified

Me too, and I even have a FULL profile there....

 

(jk)...

 

Nowadays and more and more, everything you say can be used against you......and usually there is a high chance of it being misinterpreted.

especially when you work for a manufacturer =)

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U
Undisclosed #5
Mar 09, 2018

forreals!

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Mar 08, 2018

So we can make comments about Hikvision without fear of retribution.

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Avatar
Sean Nelson
Mar 08, 2018
Nelly's Security

Its a conspiracy. Truely, there are only about 10 or 15 subscribers to IPVM. The rest of the undisclosed commenters are IPVM employees.

Now that I think about it, I think John is the only IPVM employee and all the other employees are made up names with face images taken from random people from the hack map.

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Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Mar 08, 2018
IPVMU Certified

If I'm the figment of someone's imagination, that is one really boring imagination.  :)

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Avatar
Sean Nelson
Mar 08, 2018
Nelly's Security

You forgot to post as undisclosed :)

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MM
Michael Miller
Mar 08, 2018

What if everyone posted undisclosed? 

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JH
John Honovich
Mar 09, 2018
IPVM

Everyone does not post undisclosed, so I am not sure of the point of your 'what if'. Feel free to elaborate and I am happy to respond.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Mar 09, 2018

What if everyone posted undisclosed?

Oh, I know!  Then there would be no need to check the box!

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #11
Mar 15, 2018

Is that a John Lennon quote?

U
Undisclosed #3
Mar 09, 2018

All the undisclosed are Russian bots!

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DR
Dennis Ruban
Mar 09, 2018

no, they are pro-Hikvision Chinese communists!

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Mar 09, 2018

Imagine if you were to recommend a solution and your boss and co-workers had it in print, from another manufacturer. But, it was the right solution. 

Since some of us in manufacturing have worked for a few different ones, we have contacts that most won't reach to get an answer or have heard of the problem. 

If I had to post under my name, these would never be seen. 

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U
Undisclosed #5
Mar 09, 2018

...Secret AGENT MAN!, secret AGENT MAN!

 

oh and BTW, we Undisclosers want to have an Avatar.

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JH
Jay Hobdy
Mar 11, 2018
IPVMU Certified

I usually post with my name. But if it is something very specific regarding a client or any business info that a local competitor could use against me, I go UD.

 

When I took the AC class, there were 2 or 3 people in that class from my city, and I can not remember ever seeing them post. So I always post with the assumption my competitors are seeing what I am doing.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #6
Mar 11, 2018

I usually post with my name. But if it is something very specific regarding a client or any business info that a local competitor could use against me, I go UD.

I second this. I would also add that I do not always want the manufactures we do business with to see what I am saying. Sometimes I don't have nice things to say, sometimes I don't want them to know I am exploring other options. Posting as undisclosed provides me with a lot of flexibility. We've seen what posting something on social media can do to someones reputation over the last few years. I would rather not ruin mine with a vendor by talking about how I might be considering another. 

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U
Undisclosed #7
Mar 11, 2018

My reasons:

1. Some of my customers subscribe to this site. 

2. Posting with a name makes me  obligated to carry on a discussion and I sometimes I just don't have the energy to give that kind of thought to it. 

3. Don't want to give a way my ignorance about a matter....particularly when I don't know something I should (said another way to No 1). In such cases I would not post at all.

4. If i say something unflattering about a product, I don't want their lawyers in my face. I never would do that however, unless I really had a case. 

5. It allows a way for employees to be critical of their own products. Did that once and found out that I was wrong. 

6. I am not a journalist or a lawyer. Some of us (not me of course) are not as good thinking things trough as others and may end up tripping on their own tongues.

 I think John is correct in allowing UD postings. Anonymity can stimulate discourse (Not sure but i think some Greek dude said that?). I have learned a lot from this site, but I would not participate as much if i could not do UD.  

Thank you

Paul P Hub

 

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JH
John Honovich
Mar 11, 2018
IPVM

#7, those are really good points. That's a good example of how undisclosed can allow legitimate industry professionals more freedom to provide feedback and ask questions they might otherwise be uncomfortable doing.

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UD
Undisclosed Distributor #8
Mar 12, 2018

Mr. H, just out of curiosity, who has access to the actual names of the undisclosed posters? Other than you of course.

 

 

JH
John Honovich
Mar 12, 2018
IPVM

#8, this came up last week - Are IPVM Employees Under Confidentiality Agreements? Here is the answer from their:

We've blocked general admin access to view who undisclosed posters are. We do need to know, on occasion, who is posting undisclosed (e.g., to check conflicts and to help), so I can't guarantee no one inside IPVM will know but this will increase confidentiality.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #9
Mar 13, 2018

I personally like the advantage of posting undisclosed. It allows me to ask questions without necessarily being associated to my company or my lack of knowledge in a particular area being associated with my company. I feel that we can have more honest professional discourse between users by preserving some anonymity between users. One of the things that I find interesting about reading posts from undisclosed posters is that i find myself not applying preconceived biases based on the posters lists of credentials. In that way, the merit of an argument or comment seems more prevalent to me. I just found that to be an interesting effect on myself that i had not previously realized. I'm not sure what the disadvantage to posting undisclosed would be given the site is a paid membership and is actively moderated. 

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JH
John Honovich
Mar 13, 2018
IPVM

I'm not sure what the disadvantage to posting undisclosed would be

I'll let Hikvision give the negative case (this is literally their position):

So, right now, Hikvision thinks that I am 'undisclosed #9' as well as, of course ,#1 - #8 and I am creating these imaginary people to defend myself.

Or, it is that it's a small industry and people are justifiably concerned about negative consequences of them stating their positions publicly.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #9
Mar 13, 2018

That is an interesting take they have. They are basically accusing you of astroturfing. Would not the same lens apply to any that support that manufacturer or any other? Anyone can cast doubt in any direction with little evidentiary support. I have to say that IPVM seems equally critical of all manufacturers. Some manufacturers have more to defend given the quality of the products they put out.   

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U
Undisclosed #10
Mar 13, 2018
IPVMU Certified

We've blocked general admin access to view who undisclosed posters are.

Previously the Undisclosed admin screen doubled as a in-house wagering system ;)

Avatar
David Warren
Mar 14, 2018
Security Network Advisors LLC

I used to do that because the politics in this industry are insanely sensitive. Now that I'm an independent factory that plays nice with everyone, I could care less what others think. Would be fun to actually know more about who we are talking to on here. I get it if you are a big end user not wanting to disclose a massive project and have 100s of people call tomorrow, but the factory guys, are you afraid of losing your job? 

@Dennis definitely more like revenge porn...That would better explain IPVM chat boards. 

JH
John Honovich
Mar 14, 2018
IPVM

but the factory guys, are you afraid of losing your job?

Yes, e.g., Hikvision Marketer Caught Spamming, Fails at Coverup, Fired or the "Hikvision Always Prevails" guy.

More generally, the fear is not always getting fired but being reprimanded or causing internal issues. Beyond that, many companies have no social media posting policies, so they would be in violation of that.

Avatar
David Warren
Mar 15, 2018
Security Network Advisors LLC

Agreed. I have set some policies in my company, but always love to see engagement from my staff online. You have to have your basic rules and and be in line with your company messaging, but content generation and controversy create clicks.Those clicks are being converted to opportunities daily. 

In the last 2 weeks with no changes to my website, LinkedIn, company social pages, my profile views are up 5-6x and my website more than doubled in traffic. Only thing I've done differently is thrown up a few more messages on IPVM, and changed from undisclosed to my real identity. Seems to be a lot of lurkers on your site. 

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Avatar
Michael Allsup
Mar 15, 2018
Critical Edge

I am officially coming out today.  Hello world!

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