Privacy issue with viewing profile

[H@ssan]

Well I am agree with phoeven, there should be option to on/off this in User Control Panel,

I have noted most of features in 2.2 is like orkut and they also have option to on/off this.

[Mat Barrie]

I agree :) with you if you argue for efficiency as far as there has been made a good choice between user customizability (is that a word? :S) and efficiency.

Anyhow, were going a little offtopic.

I hope the invisible users will be invisible too in the profile 'last visitor' option.

Agreed. Currently the only way to tell if a particular invisible member is online, is if they post or PM - so they can only reveal themselves reactively (as a result of them performing a conscious action). Now if they visit a profile, they are revealed proactively simply by the action of visiting a page, which is inconsistent with what "Invisible Mode" is meant to do.

[Antony]

How about if the user is logged in anonymously, they're profile views are not logged?

[Malefickus]

Honestly, what is the big deal? People have been able to view where you are at in the forums (with the exception of being anonymous) for as long at least over 1 year. The Who's Online, Last Click option tells me where you were at the last time you clicked on something, whether it be viewing a profile, posting a reply, or in your own UserCP. What is the big deal the someone's profile will remember and tell you someone was there?

[Matt]

Currently the only way to tell if a particular invisible member is online, is if they post or PM - so they can only reveal themselves reactively (as a result of them performing a conscious action). Now if they visit a profile, they are revealed proactively simply by the action of visiting a page, which is inconsistent with what "Invisible Mode" is meant to do.

If you're logged in anonymously, you are not added to the "Last Visitors" list.

[Michael]

Rene Descartes stated the everyone must submit all of their rights to the majority. That system has failed multiple times across history, and we don't use it today. We should protect those with privacy concerns, just as we protect the handicapped in real life. If you put up a poll, the privacy advocates will surely lose: the other people - and the privacy advocates themselves - want the other features in the new feature system. That doesn't mean, though, that their wishes are invalid and should not be respected.

We don't? What's that "voting" thing I do then to elect my senators and representatives and such? That still seems to be in use today. :whistle:

We've been able to use the Online List on the board since the 1.x series of IPB to see where members are at on the board. If they don't want others seeing what they're doing, then they can login anonymously. If the poll I take at my site (if it even comes up, privacy isn't a huge concern that anybody has brought to my attention since my board has been open) says that most people want this feature, then they get it, period. My site is about IPB, I'm not going to disable this feature if just one or two people claim it invades on their privacy.

[forums.bd]

get a clone nicke and do all the dirty doings. ;)
like viewing profiles. :devil:

[Dannyarr]

I am all for privacy and stuff, but this is taking it a bit too far. It's the internet. If you don't want someone knowing you had a look at their profile just log out and look at it anonymously as Matt said.

Seeing as it's the internet, the vast majority of the people will be using random fake nicks (well, not fake nicks.. just not their own names), and most of them will write down stuff about them that isn't true. So if someone sees me looking at his profile I can't really see where the problem is. Since both sides don't know each other's true identity and thus can't really identify the person apart from thinking "Woah, I just had max13 look at my profile." .. :rolleyes:

[wimpie]

Simply log out and then view the profile.

If you're logged in, you're fair game IMO.

if the board admin require you to login to view the forum, this doesn't work.
also statement about removing the part in the skinfiles is not a good point, a switch to turn on/off per usergroup would be the only solution that is correct.
i wonder why that isn't done in the first place, if you add a extra feature like this, its a must to be able to turn it off also.

[Matt]

if the board admin require you to login to view the forum, this doesn't work.

Then log in anonymously.

As far as I'm concerned there is a feature that allows you to visit people's profiles without leaving a 'trace' and that's called "Logging in anonymously".

If the admin removes that feature and wants everyone to show up on the online list, then you'll appear in the last visitors list too. If you really can't sleep at night knowing that the world knows you've looked at someone else's profile, then don't visit that board.

I don't see the need to make such a simple feature overly complex with settings for groups, admins and what-not.

[wimpie]

now this is something that is missing some options, first of all you need to logout before being able to login anonymous, you can't switch in usercp.
If you are board admin or moderator, its normal you look at other people's profile, and for me (and many others) i don't think its a wanted thing they know that.
i don't want to be hidden when i visit a forum i am admin on, and don't want to be forced to logout and re-login to see someones profile.
the profile page looks pretty sweet, a good improvement, but this addon is making it being a negative side effect.
to bad the way how others think about privacy is rejected.

[UBERHOST.NET]

If you are board admin or moderator, its normal you look at other people's profile, and for me (and many others) i don't think its a wanted thing they know that.

I don't care about leaving a trail, but if you do, then simply create a second account on your board which will always be logged in as anonymous (or make the account part of an invisible user group). If you use a secondary browser for your "looky-loo" member, then both accounts can be logged in simultaneously.

[rakaposhi]

Simply log out and then view the profile.

If you're logged in, you're fair game IMO.

on my board guests aren't allowed to view profiles....

[phoeven]

on my board guests aren't allowed to view profiles....

As you could have read in the topic, if you log in anonymously, your profile-visit will not be tracked.

[Will L.]

I still disagree completely. I like that I set an option and it only needs to be stored once, globally, not have every one of X members with the setting stored in their member entry. The members table is already getting too big.

In answer to your question,

we know that invisible users are still listed in the "Last Visitors" - whether it will stay that way is beyond me.

Matt I believe it was told you that invisable users are not shown in last visitors

[Ryan]

Topic cleaned up. Please stay on topic, and refrain from personal attacks.