How about Email This Profile to a friend feature?

[dwh]

:D

[Wayne Luke]

Don't you think that would violate your member's privacy?

[Fusion]

Originally posted by wluke
Don't you think that would violate your member's privacy? I most certainly would.

[dwh]

Not sure what you mean. This page is public:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=868

so what's wrong with an Email This Profile to a Friend button?

Like if you have a forum about Linux and Linus Torvald registers and you want to let a friend know about it you go to his profile page and Email to a Friend.

Maybe I'm missing something but I can't see what the problem would be...

[dwh]

Originally posted by Fusion
I most certainly would.

Hmmm. maybe I AM missing something...to me, if a user doesn't want their profile public, they should use a handle...if they chose to give their WWW and real name or whatever, then why not.

Like I've said before there are many forums for many reasons. If it's an option (turned off by default) that the administrator can set in the CP, let the admin decide if it fits their board.

No biggie anyways, it was just a thot.

[Fusion]

Originally posted by dwh
Not sure what you mean. This page is public:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=868

so what's wrong with an Email This Profile to a Friend button?

Like if you have a forum about Linux and Linus Torvald registers and you want to let a friend know about it you go to his profile page and Email to a Friend.

Maybe I'm missing something but I can't see what the problem would be... Most boards require you to register to view people's profiles. Opting to e-mail that profile to anybody would violate that person's right to privacy on a fundamental level. You may protest that you can just as easily copy the info, then pass it on, but atleast then the board wouldn't be party to the violation, which is probably the very reason you're asking for such a feature in the first place. Feel free to pass along any info you are privvy to on your own time, but don't expect others to help make it easy to distribute.

[dwh]

Originally posted by Fusion
Most boards require you to register to view people's profiles. Opting to e-mail that profile to anybody would violate that person's right to privacy on a fundamental level. You may protest that you can just as easily copy the info, then pass it on, but atleast then the board wouldn't be party to the violation, which is probably the very reason you're asking for such a feature in the first place. Feel free to pass along any info you are privvy to on your own time, but don't expect others to help make it easy to distribute.

First of all, please clarify what you mean by which is probably the very reason you're asking for such a feature in the first place. Thank you.

Second, let's be clear that I did not advocate that the profile info itself should be emailed to a friend but rather the link to the page.

Now I will go on to my main response. No offense, but it seems to me that your arguments want to have it both ways. If you can display a profile once someone is registered that doesn't make it a hell of a lot less public. If a board has thousands of registered users, it isn't private. The fact that someone registered a phony name and a hotmail address doesn't make viewing another's profile any more private.

When you email a page to a friend and the profile is only available to registered members, then there will be a prompt that this page is not viewable to guests. Very simple.

The privacy issue is a non issue. On my site it is clearly stated which info is public and which is private. Our users are encouraged to not divulge personal info on the public area of the site such as their profile page. If on your site you have not done enough warnings then the mistake has to do with inadequate warnings in the registration process.

It's not that I don't see your point, I do. I just disagree. If there is in ANY WAY something IFFY about profile pages, the lack of Email this page to a Friend makes it no less iffy.

If there is a Privacy issue then the profile page is improperly implemented period. And on that point I agree. VBulletin by default does not make it clear enough what is public, what is private. Maybe upon registration just like at I think it's hotmail, they ask if you want your profile info public or not. That is most appropriate. And as a side issue to my original post, I'd like to submit as an additional suggestion that the profile page be made less "iffy" in terms of "privacy".

But once you have a profile page available to members, then I see nothing wrong with emailing that page to a friend. Either the page conforms to privacy rules or it doesn't. You can't have it both ways.

And you also didn't address the point that there are many different reasons for forums and some things are appropriate in one forum that aren't in another. That's why it's good to give the admin the power to implement a feature or not.

Finally, since you can't tell tone of voice online (and by past mistakes I've made) I want to reiterate that my post is not personal or meant as offense. Just a disagreement :)

P.S. I just went thru the registration process to refresh my memory, and here's the problem. The first section is required. Then this is the only warning in the optional section:
Optional Information All information will be viewable by other ForumTitle Forums members.

So a new user would not be clear on what is visible to the public. It would be better to have some clearer indication of what will be viewable in the profile page. Make clearer that a "handle" should be used if the user doesn't wish their name viewed in public. Perhaps even an option (configurable in the CP if you want this implemented) that allows the user to decide if their profile page will be viewable. And also an option in the CP to disable profile page altogether!!

[dwh]

Just to give you an example of why things that don't matter on one forum do matter on another. I know of a site w/ vbulletin on an intranet. It's a corporate thing and all the employees are required to be registered. There are no serious privacy issues there.

[Fusion]

Originally posted by dwh
First of all, please clarify what you mean by . Thank you.Well, why else would you ask for on option to spread a profile than, yes, to spread profiles?Second, let's be clear that I did not advocate that the profile info itself should be emailed to a friend but rather the link to the page.No, in no way did you refer to the link. In fact, you specified emailing the profile.Now I will go on to my main response. No offense, but it seems to me that your arguments want to have it both ways. If you can display a profile once someone is registered that doesn't make it a hell of a lot less public. If a board has thousands of registered users, it isn't private. The fact that someone registered a phony name and a hotmail address doesn't make viewing another's profile any more private.Well, you're assuming all boards accept phony names and/or hotmail addresses.When you email a page to a friend and the profile is only available to registered members, then there will be a prompt that this page is not viewable to guests. Very simple.See above.The privacy issue is a non issue. On my site it is clearly stated which info is public and which is private. Our users are encouraged to not divulge personal info on the public area of the site such as their profile page. If on your site you have not done enough warnings then the mistake has to do with inadequate warnings in the registration process.

It's not that I don't see your point, I do. I just disagree. If there is in ANY WAY something IFFY about profile pages, the lack of Email this page to a Friend makes it no less iffy.

If there is a Privacy issue then the profile page is improperly implemented period. And on that point I agree. VBulletin by default does not make it clear enough what is public, what is private. Maybe upon registration just like at I think it's hotmail, they ask if you want your profile info public or not. That is most appropriate. And as a side issue to my original post, I'd like to submit as an additional suggestion that the profile page be made less "iffy" in terms of "privacy".

But once you have a profile page available to members, then I see nothing wrong with emailing that page to a friend. Either the page conforms to privacy rules or it doesn't. You can't have it both ways.You're forgetting that vBulletin-out-of-the-box is intented as an example of its capabilities. Users are encouranged to change it in any way they see fit, including, but not limited to, changing all texts, make things clearer..Sky's the limit.And you also didn't address the point that there are many different reasons for forums and some things are appropriate in one forum that aren't in another. That's why it's good to give the admin the power to implement a feature or not.Again, you're free to hack this into your own board. By asking here you're asking that it be implemented as a standard feature. I suggest you hack it in yourself first or ask at vbulletin.org to see if this feature is widely requested. As of now, such a feature has no place in the standard distribution, because of the same points you brought up yourself. The standard distribution isn't meant to set the standard for how a board should be used, which would be required if this feature were to be implemented with some sense of security.

[dwh]

Originally posted by Fusion
Well, why else would you ask for on option to spread a profile than, yes, to spread profiles?

I asked you for clarification. You "answered" my question with a question.

No, in no way did you refer to the link. In fact, you specified emailing the profile.
Sorry, I worded it incorrectly. I meant to email the link.

Well, you're assuming all boards accept phony names and/or hotmail addresses.

No I am not. I assume, correctly, that vbulletin is installed in many different environments, some of which accept hotmail addresses. I know for a fact that many do. If you want to find an environment that suits your argument, you will certainly find some. A feature suggestion which can be implemented at the option of the admin allows features to be disabled in some environments and enabled in others ;)

You're forgetting that vBulletin-out-of-the-box is intented as an example of its capabilities.

I'm not forgetting anything.
I doubt that the only intention of vbulletin is as an example. It's intended to function as a forum. ;)

By asking here you're asking that it be implemented as a standard feature. I suggest you hack it in yourself first or ask at vbulletin.org to see if this feature is widely requested.

Wrong. This section is for Suggestions and Feedback. I suggested this as a feature. No big deal.

I've hacked lots of things into my forum and this feature would be trivial for me to add for myself and not worth it to me. I share ideas with the forum to better the product. If the developers don't like the suggestion they can ignore it.

As of now, such a feature has no place in the standard distribution, because of the same points you brought up yourself.

You sound like a member of the staff. If you are, it should say so in your profile. All I see is senior member. So if you are a member of the staff, all I can say is that I think you see my points but your pride is making you argue this too far. Although I didn't fully agree with you, I saw your point and was gracious enough to admit it...

But as a staff member, you are welcome to implement or not whatever feature you wish. If you are not a member of the staff, then it isn't your place to say what has a place in the standard distribution. As a user you aren't the final arbiter.

The standard distribution isn't meant to set the standard for how a board should be used, which would be required if this feature were to be implemented with some sense of security.
Again if you're a staff member, fine. That's your decision, although I think the profile feature needs tweaking no matter who you are. If you are not a staff member, then you aren't the one to decide what the standard distribution is meant as.

P.S. geez, this was such a minor suggestion. No need to make a big deal of it. If you are part of the staff you definitely need to learn some manners to your customers. If you're just another user, you shouldn't act like you're staff.

[Fusion]

I'm a user, but not "just" a user, neither are you. I'm not "acting like I'm staff", I'm simply pointing out a few valid points. Now that we've established that you can easily hack this in yourself, I'll leave you to it. We can continue the debate if/when there's a real demand for such a feature.

[dwh]

Originally posted by Fusion
I'm a user, but not "just" a user, neither are you. I'm not "acting like I'm staff", I'm simply pointing out a few valid points.

OK, so you are just a user. No offense meant by the word "just", it is meant simply "as opposed to staff". I was very unsure of that point.

I never acted like staff. You most certainly did. Just to give you one example "As of now, such a feature has no place in the standard distribution"

Now that we've established that you can easily hack this in yourself, I'll leave you to it.

As I said and you chose to ignore, I don't care to, I simply put in a feature suggestion.

Despite this unpleasant disagreement, something else good came of it because there was a second, more important suggestion: to clarify the profile page so that the user understands better that this will appear. And also, a third suggestion that the entire profile page be an option to be turned on or off by the admin. And even a fourth to offer the user if he wants to have his profile show up in the memberlist and profile page. I think those suggestions will improve the product. You don't. It's up to the developers now.

We can continue the debate if/when there's a real demand for such a feature.

I have no desire to debate you neither when there's a demand or not a demand. I made the suggestion(s) and the good folks at jelsoft can decide for themselves. Your view is clear as is mine. If others want to pipe in they can too.

And again, if I said anything offensive to you, let me publicly apologize right here. No offense intended.

[Freddie Bingham]

Calm down.

This is the suggestions forum which means that posts are supposed to contain suggestions, not arguments or disagreements over suggestions.