Limiting what guests can see

[PupDante]

So guests can currently see quite a bit of this board, and I think that should be limited more. I don't really think they need to be able to see anything besides the Rules and Announcements forum and maybe the Suggestions one. My main concerns are that they're able to see the Buddies forums and member profiles, which contain sensitive information.

[wedgieboy]

That would make it harder for non-members who are into wedgies or don't know about this site to find you as a wedgie buddy. By leaving it open to guests, Google & other search engines can more easily index content.

However, it is something I have thought about. I don't know which forums should be visible and which shouldn't.

Think I should install this plugin? https://community.mybb.com/mods.php?action=view&pid=789

[PupDante]

Hmm. I feel conflicted at best about someone being able to find my request for a wedgie buddy on here directly through Google. I can see the appeal, but also potential problems. For instance, this board is meant to be used by adults, and the registration process asks new users to provide their age. They can lie, of course, but it's at least something to try to prevent minors from using the site. However, minors could easily come on here as guests, read a request for a wedgie buddy that contains contact information outside of the site, and some sketchy stuff could potentially go down even though they never registered as a user on here. I don't know all the legal implications of such a situation, but I know it's a very touchy area.

Unfortunately I can't really weigh in on the plugin meaningfully - I'm not totally clear on what it actually does.

[selfwedgie13]

I agree with PupDante on this. Allowing non-members of the site to access personal information about members just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. At the very least I feel you shouldn't allow guests to access member profiles, especially since some members have emails enabled so other people could email them.

[wedgieboy]

I mean, it's ultimately up to you how much information you share. For the buddies section, the most a random person would know is the city you live in. That doesn't give them much information to work with.

If you display or post your email anywhere, you're kind of putting it out there by choice.

What personal information can guests access about you? Only what you post in one of the viewable forums, unless I'm mistaken...

I recommend that everyone stay as anonymous as they can (using alt email accounts created specifically for wedgie purposes, not giving out personal information publically ever, not giving out personal information over PMs, email, or other mediums until after you've established communication and taken reasonable safeguards, etc).

[selfwedgie13]

Can guests access member profiles? Member profiles have the option to email that member unless the member specifically disables that function (which is enabled by default, which I also think isn't the best idea). Either way, I think it would be best not to allow guests access to parts of the forum where members may post personal and/or sensitive information. Just because people should take certain precautions doesn't mean they will, and while they ultimately bear the responsibility for their poor choices, you also have a responsibility to protect any sensitive personal data that is entered into this website.

[Bunnygirl]

I am actually confused about the issue as well to be honest, being a registered user it does not tell you another users E-mail, checked my settings I do not have it blocked where people cannot see it, and when I click on my profile and others, and click to E-mail instead of private message it does not tell me their e-mail, just asks to put a subject and then to type whatever message I wanted to send them. Which if you are not registered it will not let you do to my understanding.

Also for the worry about underaged people contacting you to do a meet up that do not have an account, why would you randomly meet up with someone that messages you out of the blue without being on this site, and without talking and getting real information about them? This seems very avoidable and like Wedgieboy said, any information that you choose to make public is ultimately your choice, I.E ICQ Number, AIM Screen Name, AIM Screen Name, Yahoo ID ,Skype ID, Google Hangouts ID, which are the different additional contact information that you can fill out if you want.

Point being for me to reply was out of confusion and boredom and wanted to hopefully ease the worry that Selfwedgie13 and Pupdante had about the non registered users

[PupDante]

First of all, user profiles display the user's birth date by default. I had to go in and hide it after I had registered, and a lot of people haven't done this. That's a pretty big piece of information.

That's a good point about profiles containing other contact information, because that hadn't even crossed my mind. All the easier for minors to potentially get in contact with someone and meet up with them without ever registering for the site. It's true that you can remain anonymous if you want - although you have to be proactive about the birth date thing - but there's just so much potential for some major legal issues with the way things are now. I would personally feel better about posting in general if guests couldn't see profiles or most of the boards, but I know I don't speak for everyone. I really think it should be looked into though.

[wedgieboy]

Guests can no longer see profiles.

[Stretlad]

As a new member, you do have an issue with what is showing for guests.

Very few forums are shown & a lot of the individual forums that we can see, show as 0 posts.

This gives the impression that the site is abandoned or never got going in the first place. The only reason i joined as a member, was just in case there were some hidden forums that weren't mentioned.

[wedgieboy]

I have added a new modal that welcomes guests and informs them that a lot of content is hidden until they register. Maybe that will help?