Option to Disable Stats?

[Zapusto]

To IPB Staff (IPB staff only please)

I know this is likely counterintuitive to those who runs forums for profit. But it is somewhat important from a privacy point of view.

Is there an option to disable the tracking of statistical data (reactions, searches, etc) like you can do with emails?

Quote

Sorry, you do not have permission for that!
1C395/1 Email statistics are not being logged. In order to track and view statistics for emails sent, you must enable email statistic logging first.

For the better part of 20 years that we've run on IPB, one thing we've prided ourselves on is absolutely no tracking. No Google, invited members only, no social media tracking/usage,  etc. While again, I understand the reasoning some/most forum admins will find it advantageous, I'd prefer to fall on the side of respect for people's privacy.

Thus, is it possible to completely disable tracking -- and display in the admin, of statistics for the new searches feature (in particular)? I'd also like to see an option to disable other tracking, like Tag Usage, Keywords, and Reactions.

Thanks.

[Marc]

There is a difference here between email stats and reactions etc. Email stats dont actually need to be kept, as once they are gone they are gone. Reactions etc however are by very nature attached to the user in question. There is no way in which to switch these off unfortunately.

In short, these stats are nothing more than what you can see on the front end of your site anyway.

[Zapusto]

Marc: Yes, I understand. I also understand reactions can be disabled entirely. I used that as an example.

Does this ability exist to disable it for other things, such as search stats? To simply not track what people are searching for? That is neither shown on the public side, nor is it something that is disclosed to the user that their searches are being tracked. I think it should be an option to either allow users to optin to being tracked, or the ability to disable tracking their searches entirely. I appreciate IPB making it an option to track emails, and appreciate the option to disable things like badges, reputation, etc. But I could not find the option to disable tracking people's search queries without their consent.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Zapusto

[Zapusto]

41 minutes ago, Marc Stridgen said:

Reactions etc however are by very nature attached to the user in question. There is no way in which to switch these off unfortunately.

Actually, these indeed can be disabled by disabling the entire reputation system and/or excluding the groups. IPBs devs built in the ability to disable Reputation and Achievements entirely. But did not include the ability to disable tracking people's searches without their consent. That's primarily what I am asking here, to have that ability.

[Daniel F]

The email stats are created by data which are literally logged only for the stats, while almost everything else is just generated by analyzing the existing data like the topics or posts table.

Search logging can be disabled via 

And for everything else, just remove the ACP permissions to view stats for all your admins so nobody visits it.

[Zapusto]

Daniel: Thank you. I did not think to look under the Content Discovery section to disable search tracking. I was looking under Statistics / Activity /Searches / Manage Search Tracking Settings.

To be clear, it's not about hiding it from admin view. It's purely about respect for one's privacy. If we're tracking user's searches, I just think users should be able to optin to being tracked, or at the very least, consent and acknowledge that their search activity is being tracked.

Thanks for your reply.