Solved public visibility of profile page

I'm a nobody that has nothing to do with the forums beside using them, but my opinion is "functions as designed". My recollection is that the profiles have never been visible to non-logged in people.

I could be wrong
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: mro
Allow users to "View your details on your profile page: All Visitors" in your account settings, under Privacy, would allow all visitors to see your profile, whether online or not, as I understand the UI.

Of course, I could be wrong, despite all the visual clues. Cheers.
 
All users should see it as there is an option for members. In theory.

Account / Privacy:

Captura de pantalla 2023-09-03 190357.png
 
It took a bit of digging around, but we had the profile visibility set to 'Never' for anyone who's not a member - purely logical from a privacy POV, and no one ever wanted their profile publicly visible that I can remember.
I have set that option to 'Yes', which means that a guest or not-logged-in member can now see your profile only when you (the logged in member) have enabled that option specifically as outlined above.
I will be looking for a way to limit this option a little bit, because this is what spammers generally will want to enable immediately after registering, to have their spam crap indexed by Google et al.
This would be a good time to review the 'Allow users to' settings at https://forums.freebsd.org/account/privacy to make sure you don't give away more information about yourself than you'd like.
Note that forum rule #1 at https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/freebsd-forums-rules.38922/ applies to your profile page, so don't go monetizing that SEO on our watch.
When in doubt, ask an admin or a mod before turning your profile page into an online ad spectacle, and be aware that all changes to profile pages are reviewed.
 
I like the separation. I say things on my profile I don't prefer public. Mostly silliness.
The ability to delete posts on my profile is enjoyable. I feel I can control my profile. I try not to abuse the privilege.
 
if the drop-down hadn't told so, I wouldn't have asked.

Not being able to see the profile#about unauthenticated isn't an issue and I can perfectly understand to be conservative and keep this forum focused.

I feel uncomfortable if you changed global forum settings due to my question. That was not my intention.

I am fine with a simple "No, that setting doesn't make them public, either way".
 
Phishfry said:
I like the separation. I say things on my profile I don't prefer public. Mostly silliness.
The ability to delete posts on my profile is enjoyable. I feel I can control my profile. I try not to abuse the privilege.
Click to expand...

Note that Profile Posts are not part of the public view, only your 'about' section and your forum posts ('Postings').
The reason for this distinction is simple: people may want to write something on your profile and know that it cannot be disclosed publicly.
 
mro said:
if the drop-down hadn't told so, I wouldn't have asked.

Not being able to see the profile#about unauthenticated isn't an issue and I can perfectly understand to be conservative and keep this forum focused.

I feel uncomfortable if you changed global forum settings due to my question. That was not my intention.

I am fine with a simple "No, that setting doesn't make them public, either way".
Click to expand...

Your call.
I'll happily put it back on 'Never' if you are the only one who wants this.
The topic will just stay here for future reference in case someone else might want to have a public profile page (which, in times of a dozen social media with global reach and no barrier to entry, seems unlikely).
 
DutchDaemon said:
Done.
Click to expand...

I think signing up should be the least one must do to view others' profiles, and then after introductory delay. No doubt we'll have AI bots 'joining' for a jolly good deep scrape soon enough anyway.

I'd be more comfortable if the option to allow public profile access disappeared, or was clearly not selectable, once admins set it to 'never' globally.

2c, worth every penny. Cheers.
 
smithi said:
I think signing up should be the least one must do to view others' profiles, and then after introductory delay. No doubt we'll have AI bots 'joining' for a jolly good deep scrape soon enough anyway.

I'd be more comfortable if the option to allow public profile access disappeared, or was clearly not selectable, once admins set it to 'never' globally.

2c, worth every penny. Cheers.
Click to expand...

Viewing other members' profiles (provided these members allow viewing of their profiles, which is always their own choice) is already limited to Verified Members (10 approved posts and 10 days of membership under their belts), so an anonymous scraper has not much to scrape other than the public areas (threads).
 
DutchDaemon said:
so an anonymous scraper has not much to scrape other than the public areas
Click to expand...
At least there are then only the -- 'sleeper agents' -- as they might be called, to be concerned about. My take: Pricacy by default; but then, I'm old and set in my ways. Cheers.
 
DutchDaemon said:
… a guest or not-logged-in member can now see your profile only when you (the logged in member) have enabled that option specifically as outlined above. …
Click to expand...

Hi

1697763834491.png


1697763673918.png


Should we assume that All visitors (the most permissive option) is somehow different from NLI (i.e. the public)?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top