Visibility of information and who can view information on profile page

[elizabeth_rice]

Title:
Visibility of information and who can view information on profile page

Area:
profile page

Summary:
If profile information (eg. birthday, contact information, etc.) has been set to 'registered accounts' or 'access list only', alert those users who are in the respective groups.

Description:
On my profile page, I can choose to make my information visible in the following ways: everybody, registered accounts, access list only, or nobody.

The problem with this is that people who view my profile don't know what setting I have chosen. Example, if I chose 'registered accounts' or 'access list only', logged-in users, who visited my profile, would ony assume that my information is publicly viewable. They can share my information with other users not realising that they're not supposed to do so.

My suggestion is to have a way of alerting only those users who belong to either group if the information on the profile page has been set to either 'registered accounts' or 'access list only'.

For instance, if I chose 'registered accounts' - then logged-in users, who visit my profile page, would see text informing them that my information is visible to registered accounts only.

If I chose 'access list only' - then the users to whom I have given access, who visit my profile page, would see text informing them that my information is visible to my access list only.

Poll #874

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
19 (54.3%)

Should be implemented with changes.
10 (28.6%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
6 (17.1%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[ciaan]

I don't really see "registered users only" as a high-security feature, but access-list-only is. So I agree it would be good to have some way to indicate that, so your access list doesn't pass on information they think is public and you think is private. But I do have a slight concern about a text notice of such on the userinfo page looking ugly or taking up too much space.

[7rin]

How about using the same icons that denote locked/filtered posts on an account? Not that I have a clue what icon'd work for "registered users only", but that's why I'm not a designer. :)

[ciaan]

Is a reasonable possibility.

[triadruid]

This seems fairly clean and simple.

[elizabeth_rice]

That's a good idea. :)

[kyrielle]

I like this.

[montanaharper]

+1

[cesy]

+1

[afuna]

Maybe the tiny menu swirl, or a tiny version of the Dreamwidth "d"? *G*

[triadruid]

I agree with regards to registered users, it's security through obscurity at best. Denoting what's limited, though, would be useful.

[montanaharper]

Theoretically, restricting it to registered users keeps the info off Google and the like, though, so it's not totally useless.

[elizabeth_rice]

so your access list doesn't pass on information they think is public and you think is private.
Exactly! :)

Actually, in the current design of the profile page, in the the 'about' section where the email address appears - there is a lot of white space next to it so text may not look as cluttered, but yes, an icon might be preferable as 7rin suggests. :)