WinterSky Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 May I suggest that perhaps profiles and member lists be hidden from the public? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
confused12 Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 I like your suggestion WinterSky Confused12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 I'm open to considering this, but would like to better understand what the concern is. People are posting anonymously or at least have the option to do so. I'm not sure that I see a real enhanced security angle to hiding this stuff, but please correct me if I'm missing something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Rutledge Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 (edited) deleted ..... Edited October 28, 2009 by John Rutledge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterSky Posted December 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 I like your suggestion WinterSky Confused12Thanks Confused! I'm open to considering this, but would like to better understand what the concern is. People are posting anonymously or at least have the option to do so. I'm not sure that I see a real enhanced security angle to hiding this stuff, but please correct me if I'm missing something.I understand we are posting anonymously. But folks might (I might) want to share more information with others here, but might not want to have it out there for the whole world to see.We could always post a poll to see what others think if you want. As far as personal profiles go, people have the option of sticking with ones that give away precious little about themselves, if they so choose. Take mine, for example. It is not exactly revealing. Of course, it shows my name - but are you sure that it does ? Try Googling it (bearing in mind that I am not exactly uninterested in legal history) ...This here tells me that if we need to "stick to a profile that gives away precious little about ourselves", we definitely need more security if we want to build trust here in this environment. And I am talking about the environment we experience when we interact with others. I mean, why are there profiles to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ASchwartz Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 I am with John and Mark, in that I am not sure I see the point of hiding the profiles since it's all anonymous anyway. What I do wonder is if people are feeling afraid or vulnerable?Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightfalls Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 I feel vulnerable here in that anyone can read openly without even being a member. That is just a opinion, and unfortunatly I think that I will not be posting much anymore because of this feeling. I do think security could be tightend with having to be a member to view at all. Either way I still VERY much appreciate that this comunity exists even if I'm afraid to use it anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paula Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Yeah I agree with Wintersky. It would be better if our profiles are private to the public. On other sites the public can only view forums, blogs etc & can not gain access to member's profiles. They have to become a member to reply in any of the forums, blogs, & to even view any members profiles. Thats only if the members remain to keep their profile public!Some members decide to keep their profiles private, only allowing friends on their friends list, to view. Which then its entirely up to them who views their profile and the information contained in it? Could we not have ours like that? Not that anyone would want to view mine anyway! But will stick with the members views on this, as I can see their point of view! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Rutledge Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 (edited) deleted ... Edited October 28, 2009 by John Rutledge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustTrying Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Call me paranoid... but that is why I changed from gabby to justtrying... i googled another name I use and some of my posts came up.. I use that name on the CB radio and a lot of people know me by that.. somethings are just not their business. NONE of my posts from this site came up... but from a drinking site.. no big deal everyone kows i drink.. But the stuff I say on this site I would like to keep between us.... ok.. I am off subject.. i will go check.. but i think... I have no identifying info in my profile ,... not even my email I think... But no i do not mind for you all to have it... just not someone who wants to torment me...JT/Gabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paula Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Thank you John for the lovely welcome! It's nice to be back! How long, god only knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterSky Posted December 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 I appreciate everyone's point of view here. Thanks for responding. I thought I would pose the question because personally, due to the personal nature of the content in this community, I wouldn't want to share any information in the profile; and if the profiles are not being used, then what is the purpose of having them.It buys us nothing to leave it open. It does buy us something if it is decided to lock the profiles down and limit them to members only. I would be willing to share more about myself if profiles were more secure. And also I would think that it would be desirable to the membership to keep the member list locked down as well.Whatever is decided here, I won't have a problem with it. I'm glad we've had this discussion. Very constructive I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
confused12 Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 I would like to use my profile a bit more but do feel vulnerable knowing that anyone has the ability to look it up. I would be happier to pick and choose who had access to it. As I spend more time within this community I feel like sharing more with those whom share with me but the idea that people who are not members of the community have access to the same information stops me from adding to my profile. I guess although anonymous to some degree the idea of the level of which we relate in a relationship still exists in cyber world.Oh .... I hope I am explaining this in a way that is comprehensible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Well - I think I was not understanding the problem very well, and this discussion has helped me to get a better understanding. l don't have a problem with looking into restricting access to the profiles. I'm no vbulletin expert, but I will look into making that happen. The forums themselves need to remain open though. I appreciate that some people would like them to be entirely private, but that doesn't fit with the larger mission of the Mental Help Net website. Part of these communications are for those people making them, and the other part is for those people who are lurking and who may benefit from these discussions without directly participating in them. In order for that to happen, the community needs to remain more or less open. But profiles aren't the center of the communication, so I don't have any problem making those more private as the software allows. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 For those people who want a closed mental health support community run solely for the benefit of active members, I can recommend the Mental Earth Community, which is currently run by Eros, who is also a clinical psychologist. MEC is the original Mental Help Net community - we ran it for years, and then split it off from the main site many years ago. It presently operates entirely independently of Mental Help Net. Last I was there it was a wonderful place, and I encourage people who are looking for an alternative to this place to explore there. http://www.mentalearth.com/Not that I'm hoping people will leave here for there, but everyone should know about MEC and participate there as they see fit.Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 I've done a little research and vBulletin does not support this behavior (private profiles) natively. There are some hacks that are supposed to implement the behavior, and I'm in the process of looking into getting them. They are for verision 3.5, and we're on 3.7, so they may not work, and vbull makes it very difficult to get a hold of code extensions, but in a little bit, if all goes well and the code still works, this can be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Okay - I've set up the "profile privacy" modification and hopefully it will work. To use it: - click on the "User CP" link to enter your user control panel- click on "edit your details". - you will now see three choices: Profile Privacy This option controls who can view your public profile on the forums. Public (anyone can view) Private (registered members can view) Friends OnlyBy default, I believe all profiles are public. What i'd like to see happen is if some of you can set your profiles to private or friends only, and make this known, and then others we trust can go try to view the profiles, and see if they can do it. If they can't (from a logged out position - if set to Private, or from a logged in position but when the two accounts are not yet "friends") then this modification works. Please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterSky Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 That is terrific! Thank you Doc! I can't see my profile when I am logged out but can when I am logged in. Can y'all see my profile when logged in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
confused12 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Thank you Mark,WinterSky I can see your profile when I am logged in. Not so when I am logged out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterSky Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Thank you Mark,WinterSky I can see your profile when I am logged in. Not so when I am logged out.Cool! Thanks for checking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustTrying Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Thankyou mark.. Sounds like a good thing.JT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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