How to change the privacy setting of all my members?

    • 57 posts
    October 6, 2017 11:58 AM EDT

    Ok I'll open a new topic! But I've noticed another problem! 

    If I set my privacy profile view to "My Friends", you are not able to view my profile but you can't add me as a friend because this message appears: "You do not have permission to view this private page". 

    It wasn't like that before. It opened the profile with the photo and the menu to be able to send the request for friendship!

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 6, 2017 12:34 PM EDT
    SE iBT said:

    Ok I'll open a new topic! But I've noticed another problem! 

    If I set my privacy profile view to "My Friends", you are not able to view my profile but you can't add me as a friend because this message appears: "You do not have permission to view this private page". 

    It wasn't like that before. It opened the profile with the photo and the menu to be able to send the request for friendship!

    Yes this is how private profiles work for non-friends. This was to fix the privacy issue where private profiles still showed. It can be improved later with a feature request but it was the only way to solve it for everyone when we did it. Privacy is a hot topic. Much of the feedback was that if a user wanted their profile private, they didn't want anyone to see it at all unless they meet the criteria (only friends, etc).

    They can add the member in the member browse page where it shows to Add Friend. 

    • 57 posts
    October 6, 2017 1:06 PM EDT

    And then all we've said before is useless! Because I can't change the privacy of my members if this message appears! This certainly discourages the connections! I hope you solve this problem as soon as possible! Because for me it has the priority souled!

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    October 6, 2017 1:25 PM EDT

    ==>"They can add the member in the member browse page where it shows to Add Friend. "

    So, this may be a solution to the issue? 

    What I'm getting at is that if you/me have Setting = Friends Only (whether we made the setting or ADMIN did as per this ticket) then you/me can't initiate a Friend Request from each other's profile page because we can't access it (which is the point of the privacy).  But if you're statement above is saying that you/me will still appear in the Members Browse Page with the option to Add Friend, then we can still initiate the Friend Request from there, correct? 

    In other words, the Profile Privacy Setting controls who accesses my Profile, but I will still appear in the Members Browse page regardless of this setting?  And someone may still initiate a Friend Request to me from there?

    The reason for the above is to clarify to me (and possibly @SE iBT) that Users with Private Profiles may still become friends.  If so, this provides Privacy as expected, and still allows connections which it seems is what @SE iBT is aiming for, but correct me if I'm wrong.

     

     

     

     


    This post was edited by gs at October 6, 2017 1:27 PM EDT
    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 6, 2017 2:54 PM EDT
    gs said:

    ==>"They can add the member in the member browse page where it shows to Add Friend. "

    So, this may be a solution to the issue? 

    What I'm getting at is that if you/me have Setting = Friends Only (whether we made the setting or ADMIN did as per this ticket) then you/me can't initiate a Friend Request from each other's profile page because we can't access it (which is the point of the privacy).  But if you're statement above is saying that you/me will still appear in the Members Browse Page with the option to Add Friend, then we can still initiate the Friend Request from there, correct? 

    In other words, the Profile Privacy Setting controls who accesses my Profile, but I will still appear in the Members Browse page regardless of this setting?  And someone may still initiate a Friend Request to me from there?

    The reason for the above is to clarify to me (and possibly @SE iBT) that Users with Private Profiles may still become friends.  If so, this provides Privacy as expected, and still allows connections which it seems is what @SE iBT is aiming for, but correct me if I'm wrong.

     Yes, this is the solution to the issue. Adding friends from the member browse page for those members that want to be there. They can also choose not to show there. These days, many users will leave a site, or even sue in some areas, over privacy. Some members will not want people to add them as friends, they prefer to initiate the friend request.

    I have users on my own site that stay private to themselves. They have their public author profile and their private author profile. The private one they share only to other authors. The public is open for fans, authors, etc of the site. 

    We have clients who have adult sites, dating sites, etc. Many of their members want to remain private and initiate contact with others. If their privacy were breached by allowing their profiles to be seen when they say "friends only," that could be a major lawsuit for some of these bigger sites. Same for medical sites, counseling sites, etc. 

    So the solution atm is to allow members to make friends from the member browse page if the user profile is set to friends only or other private settings (if the member allows their profile to show in the member browse page). 

     

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    October 6, 2017 3:26 PM EDT

    ==>"...(if the member allows their profile to show in the member browse page). "

    Question#01 So there's a separate setting for this?  I apologize but I'm using a 3PD Plugin which has a setting for exclusion in searches/browse-members/online as well as a setting for Profile Privacy so I wasn't sure if SE had similar settings to these 2 independently.

     

    Question#02 Let's say 2 (non-friend) Users have the following settings: A) Exclude from Search/etc; and B) Privacy = Friends.  If they wish to be friends, am I correct that there's no way for this to occur unless one of them changes a setting (at least temporarily)?  I'm just making sure how this would work so I create my knowledgebase accordingly.

    Thanks.

     

     

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 6, 2017 5:24 PM EDT
    gs said:

    ==>"...(if the member allows their profile to show in the member browse page). "

    Question#01 So there's a separate setting for this?  I apologize but I'm using a 3PD Plugin which has a setting for exclusion in searches/browse-members/online as well as a setting for Profile Privacy so I wasn't sure if SE had similar settings to these 2 independently.

    Yes these settings exist in default SE script.

    Question#02 Let's say 2 (non-friend) Users have the following settings: A) Exclude from Search/etc; and B) Privacy = Friends.  If they wish to be friends, am I correct that there's no way for this to occur unless one of them changes a setting (at least temporarily)?  I'm just making sure how this would work so I create my knowledgebase accordingly.

    Thanks.

    Yes that's correct. 

    • 57 posts
    October 7, 2017 2:43 AM EDT

    In my site the page "Browse members" is not there!! Now I will be forced to insert it by entering a banner in which I have to specify that only from that page you can send requests for friendship..... I find this a very very very "expired" thing.... I understand the reasons complained by other customers, but I hope that That taken from you is not the definitive solution! 

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 7, 2017 4:52 AM EDT

    Are you saying you removed the "Members" page?

    • 57 posts
    October 9, 2017 9:27 AM EDT

    Yes! In my website has never been this page! I removed it before opening it to users!

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 9, 2017 10:22 AM EDT

    There may be more options with the advanced member plugins for now then. I am not sure as I don't use them. Only other thing I can think of is allow members only to see profiles (keep them private from guests). 

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    October 9, 2017 11:38 AM EDT
    This isn't an SE thing, but a logic thing. Users can't befriend others if they're hidden.

    I guess I don't see how this can be accomplished unless Users 'meet' outside the site and then send a special friend-request-email-link that works behind the scenes.

    The primary issue is caused by ADMIN initially locking Users into friends-only before they even have a chance to make any friends.
    • 57 posts
    October 10, 2017 5:07 AM EDT

    It would be much easier if you went back to the previous state. That is, you can open the profile page and see a limited amount of profile information (name, surname, photo, etc.)

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 10, 2017 6:49 AM EDT
    SE iBT said:

    It would be much easier if you went back to the previous state. That is, you can open the profile page and see a limited amount of profile information (name, surname, photo, etc.)

    We had many clients that didn't want it like that due to strict privacy laws in some areas or in some fields. We had to go with majority in cases involving privacy. However, you could make changes or have them made in order to remove the fixes if that's better for your niche. I would imagine just check the code for the user profile index page and work from that on a development environment.

    • 57 posts
    October 10, 2017 7:03 AM EDT

    Yes, apparently I'll have to do just that! I have never acted on the code of the profile index page, where can I find it?

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 10, 2017 8:03 AM EDT

    I haven't either but would suggest to look in the module folder. In this case the User folder. Then go to views and then scripts. It has various folders. One is the index folder. If that doesn't work, you may need to check the controllers and see if it's set there. 

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    October 10, 2017 3:39 PM EDT

    ==>"It would be much easier if you went back to the previous state. That is, you can open the profile page and see a limited amount of profile information (name, surname, photo, etc.)"

    Yes, in a way that makes sense.  The issue becomes who decides what 'limited amount' is displayed (SE? ADMIN? User?)?  I suppose a way around this is rather than an on/off, instead allow each User to decide what info they wish to 'expose'.  This way, each User can determine how private they want to be and if they wish to be befriended (ex. only display my Name).  I'm no legal expert, so I don't know if allowing Users to decide may create a legal issue or not. 

    For example, having a checkbox next to various Profile Info/Fields to allow display of this particular information.  Then this may get complex since some Users may wish to display certain info to Friends, Friends-of-Friends, Everyone, etc. so now it's not as simple as a single checkbox for each Profile Field.  Oh well - just looking for options that could be implemented to address this issue in a more flexible way that doesn't compromize a User's choice of privacy.

     

    • 57 posts
    October 24, 2017 7:16 AM EDT
    Donna said:

    I haven't either but would suggest to look in the module folder. In this case the User folder. Then go to views and then scripts. It has various folders. One is the index folder. If that doesn't work, you may need to check the controllers and see if it's set there. 

    Thank you Donna! 

    I have checked the ProfileController.php and I've changed it from this: 

    $viewer = Engine_Api::_()->user()->getViewer();
    $this->_helper->requireSubject('user');
    $this->_helper->requireAuth()
    // ->setNoForward() // for showing image and name irrespective of privacy
    ->setAuthParams($subject, $viewer, 'view')
    ->isValid();
    }

    to this: 

    $this->_helper->requireSubject('user');
    $this->_helper->requireAuth()->setNoForward()->setAuthParams(
    $subject,
    Engine_Api::_()->user()->getViewer(),
    'view'
    );
    }

    And now, on my website if you set as privacy profile view "Just Friend", and you aren't my friend, you can just see my name, profile pic and pubblic feeds! 

    Thank you so much!!!

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    October 24, 2017 7:40 AM EDT

    Great!Thanks for posting your solution

    • 57 posts
    October 24, 2017 9:35 AM EDT

    You're welcome! I believe in the community!

    • 66 posts
    October 24, 2017 10:13 AM EDT

    just use a mysql query to change all existing members profile privacy settings to public or whatever level you want.

    • 57 posts
    October 24, 2017 12:34 PM EDT

    Yes Casey I've done this.