Denying Access to Profile pages for unregistered users

[ronocnikral]

Other forums I am a member of won't allow unregistered users to see their "profile" page. While annoying to those who lurk, there is no real downside to those who actively participate.

I think making this change, if possible, is a good idea b/c it somewhat allows control over who sees the somewhat personal information some choose to share with those of the community.

I only bring this up b/c of "Dan."

Just a thought and curious to see what other members/admin has to say. I'll be in the process of scrubbing all personal information from my over 1300 posts. sigh...lesson learned.

[KdLaneJr]

Nothing quite like FUD for the paranoid, is there...

[WarrenG]

Way too easy to get information off the web... I do not think the profile is a major factor....

[revjvegas]

I guess I missed something.

Could you elaborate a little on the lesson learned?

Sincerely curious.

[auddii]

Originally Posted by revjvegas

I guess I missed something.

Could you elaborate a little on the lesson learned?

Sincerely curious.

A couple of people got into an "argument" about unsolicited critiques of a photo. The instigator with the critiques gave the photographer a bad review on a wedding photographer's review website (although only brides who used the photographer are supposed to be reviewing their photographers). That website is investigating, and someone randomly replied "banned" to the thread, so he may have been banned from TPF. However, he then switched to emailing the photographer directly, and I guess it was assumed that he got her email from her TPF profile.

[ronocnikral]

No problem John.

First, I would suggest you read through this thread, if you haven't already done so. Skip to the last page if you are interested in the heart of the matter.

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...eterday-2.html

My take away is to be a lot more cautious with the info I divulge on the interweb...

While the person in question is undoubtedly a troubled individual, I can't help but think how many other's are out there? I scrubbed links to website etc a long time ago, one could go through all my posts and find them if they so desired. I guess a lot of people put their info in their sig. But, it would be a simple barrier (admittedly easy to overcome) to info in the profile, and what would it hurt?

[revjvegas]

Ok, wow.

Just read the whole tread and now I get the big picture.

Basically a freaky cyber-stalker type.

[ronocnikral]

i should add, i have no idea how difficult it is to make this change i am suggesting. so, while i said, "what would it hurt?" i do realize that it may be anything from finding and selecting something from a drop down to re-coding the entire website. and this would play into the decision to make this change.

my point is, if it is something that is easy to do, why not? i understand you can google names etc, but, it eliminates "easy" access to the info here. i found these types typically to be indolent.

[jeffkohn]

I'm not sure what your requested change would have accomplished in this case, though, since "Dan" was not an un-registered user?

For that matter how this could ever accomplish anything when registering is so easy? Even if somebody gets banned, they can always re-registered under a different name. They may not get away with it for long if somebody recognizes their posts, but it would be long enough to render the change you're proposing ineffectual.

[ronocnikral]

Jeff, I understand where you are coming from. But, it seems IP addresses and what not can be looked up by admin when someone logs on? furthermore, as I alluded to earlier, these types of people tend to do what is easiest, creating an extra hoop to jump through could be enough to make them go elsewhere. maybe not. but assuming there is little hassle on the implementation side, what's the downside? could there not be a little benefit?

[mmuhlenkamp]

While the "Dan" incident is a bit unsettling I'm not sure how this step will help. If you want to be found by potential clients you have to have your information out there. Kind of an assumed risk I think. I would say keep any physical addresses out of the public knowledge if possible, that way you only deal with a cyber bully/stalker rather than a real-life one.

[ronocnikral]

Originally Posted by mmuhlenkamp

While the "Dan" incident is a bit unsettling I'm not sure how this step will help. If you want to be found by potential clients you have to have your information out there. Kind of an assumed risk I think. I would say keep any physical addresses out of the public knowledge if possible, that way you only deal with a cyber bully/stalker rather than a real-life one.

sig line. not all here run a business. not all here promote their business. profile for what you want to share with the "Community" only.

just a suggestion. nothing more. won't loose sleep over it if others disagree or it nevers get implemented. just trying to help.

[mmuhlenkamp]

I understand where you're coming from, I just don't know if it would really help to avoid this type of situation again. It couldn't hurt though like you said in the first post.

[ggeen]

I am sure the the OP has good intentions. In reality this is the typical let us pass more gun regulations after a shooting incident. While the do-bad broke 12 laws on their rampage, some seem to think that just one more rule will stop them.

I understand your request but ask that you think about what you are trying to accomplish and will/would this change have made/will make a difference.

If the overall intent is warm-fuzzies, then at least let us have that conversation. Thank you for at least looking out for the welfare of others.

[Abel]

I am very familiar with situations like the one you speak of and at one point I had the entire forum locked down where only members could view it. that in turn hurt us in regards to getting indexed with search engines and in the end... those people I was trying to lock had found their way in anyways.

There's nothing absolute in regards to keeping someone off of the forum... They just get sniffed out and banned again in due time.

I hope that helps