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If this feature upsets you, then if you use Flare, you shouldn't enable the
feature. It's not on by default. You have to turn it on when you create a
target in Flare.
If you do turn it on, it will attempt to "phone home" to the server you
specified in Flare. Which would be your server. The one you should have
installed Feedback on, if you have Feedback.
Robert, no one is making you use this feature in your help. If you chose to
use this feature in your help, then perhaps you should let your users know,
if you think this is a privacy issue for your users. It's up to you to that
because you decided to use that feature.
I am passing along to Mike that there should be a way for users to turn this
off. But really, if you wish to use this feature and the privacy issues
upsets you, then I don't know what to tell you.
sharon
Sharon Burton
MadCap Software Product Consultant
Managing your content, one topic at a time
www.anthrobytes.com
951-369-8590
IM: sharonvburton -at- yahoo -dot- com
Twitter: sharonburton
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2009 10:26 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: RE: Follow-up to question about getting feedback from users
If a user installs a .chm or other help created with MacCap Flare with
the feedback feature enabled, it will attempt to "phone home" with the
data it collects on topics viewed, terms searched for, and context IDs
invoked without asking the user for permission.
The tech writer who generated the help would have no reason to enable
the feedback feature if their company didn't have a copy of Feedback
Server running, or a subscription to MadCap's hosted service, but
that's irrelevant to the privacy issue.
It would be possible to hack an opt-in by generating two versions of
the online help, one instrumented and one not, and giving the user a
choice during installation, but MadCap really needs to add an opt-in
routine. Frankly, I'd hesitate to buy tools from a company that's this
clueless about security and privacy.
On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 8:47 AM, Sharon Burton <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>
wrote:
> And without Feedback server on your server, nothing happens. It's a 2 part
> process - you have to enable things for Feedback in Flare *and* you have
to
> have Feedback on your server.
>
> If you have Feedback on your server and you didn't enable the Feedback
> features in Flare for that output, then nothing happens.
>
> In other words, Feedback is necessary but not sufficient. Enabling the
> features in Flare without an installation of Feedback gets you no where.
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
