Some privacy incoherence

[wailor]

Title:
Some privacy incoherence

Area:
Profile

Summary:
There's a way that allows people to know I have updated my journal with a filter entry (and they aren't inside that filter).

Description:
Ok so here's what I've noticed:

Imagine you have a few friends and you want to post an entry to prepared a surprised b-day party just for one of them. You don't want him or her to know about it so you'll post a filter entry right? but, if that friend is smart enough and have some curiosity, he or she could discover that I've posted a new filter entry. That's a problem because that person could feel upset about it thinking that I have something to hide to him or her.

The way he or she could discover it is by my profile page. There's some information that I can't hide that tells her or him that there's something new that she or he isn't allow to see. That information is the number of "journal entries" and the "last updated".

The example I wrote up there is just one of multiple cases where it'll be necessary to hide that information and I can't think a reason why I couldn't hide it.

So, my suggestion is to allow to hide that information as I do with other things like my birthday, my location, etc.

Poll #12623 Some privacy incoherence

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 64

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
11 (17.2%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
8 (12.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
32 (50.0%)

(I have no opinion)
11 (17.2%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (3.1%)

Comments

Does the information have to be completely hidden?

[cheyinka]

Would it work for you if the last-posted-date was fuzzier for people not the user? E.g "a day ago" "within the last week" "within the last month/two months/n months" "within the last year/two years/n years", plus "about 400 journal entries" or "about 700 journal entries" or "about 27,200 journal entries"?

Re: Does the information have to be completely hidden?

[marahmarie]

No.

But...if that was the only way to get things closer to how I want them, I guess I would go along with it (from the Dept. of Something's Better Than Nothing).

Oh, and the reason it wouldn't work? Because I hate fuzzy math, fuzzy numbers - fuzzy anything, for that matter. It's not just the imprecision involved, it's the untruthfulness of it. If I last publicly updated 3 years and 2 days ago then that's what I want my Profile to say. Rounding looks weaselly, dishonest, I just don't like it.

But again, you know, that's just me.