# Hide email address from other members not set by default



## ian turner (8 Sep 2010)

Just noticed this after getting somewhat suspicious of various new users with a standard indian first name followed by digits
asking dumb questions one at a time rather than as a full post(why would we know about bike availability in mumbai ?) and suspecting this may be trawling for email addresses.
This is the sort of issue that facebook have bungled somewhat publicly.


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## Shaun (8 Sep 2010)

I'm pretty sure I set email *addresses *to _not_ display as default.

Also, the link should produce a "no permission" error.

[EDIT: Hmmm ... seems like this affects recent registrations. I'll get IPB on the case and should have this fixed very soon ... apologies.]

Shaun.


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## Krypton (8 Sep 2010)

If I look at random members I can't see any actual email addresses (not to say that they are not there or anything) I just get a link that says click to email someone and then a no permission warning when I click on it. I get some that say private in italics as well.

Where did you see this


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## Shaun (8 Sep 2010)

Ian, I've looked into this a little further and cannot see email addresses when I use a standard user account.

I can see the "click here to email me" links, but not the actual addresses themselves, and haven't been able to contact anyone by email via the forums as a standard user.

I'd originally confirmed it but think I mistakenly checked with my admin account which has permission to see them, apologies for any false alarm I might have raised.

Is there a specific area of the forums, members list, profiles, etc. that you've seen this or are there certain user accounts you've noticed this on (PM me if you wish to retain people's privacy)?

Obviously I want to retain people's privacy, but need to confirm the problem so I can act in the right way to resolve it - if, indeed, it is a problem.

Cheers,
Shaun


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## ian turner (8 Sep 2010)

Hmmm
Was going on the basis of my personal settings.
Would settings be the same as prior to the site update ?
Or specific to the new site format ?


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## Shaun (8 Sep 2010)

The only people who can see the actual email addresses in profiles are the admin team - me and the moderators. (_We can already see that info in the user control panel anyway, so there are no additional privacy issues_).

Everyone else sees one of two things, depending on how you have your setting in your user account:


Hide my email address (unticked) [*the default setting*] - This shows a link "Click here to email me" which directs you to the forum controlled contact form that allows for user-to-user email contact _without_ revealing your email address.
Hide my email address (ticked) - This shows _Private_ where the email address field is in your profile.
At the moment I have the user-to-user email system disabled, so clicking on the link will just throw up a permissions error. I don't particularly want people using emails via the board anyway - that's what the PM system is for, so I may remove this altogether from the profile page when I revamp the layout.

Some of this is hard-coded into the software and beyond my control, but rest assured that respecting your privacy isn't something I take lightly, and if anyone does find anything they think breaches that trust, please do let me know.

Cheers,
Shaun


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## ian turner (8 Sep 2010)

aaah okies.
Still wondering what those nonsensical posters are upto.
This one for instance (note earliest clone is july)


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## Shaun (8 Sep 2010)

Possibly link-seeding (_registering at forums to place links in posts, or add links to signature_).

If you suspect someone is spamming or link-seeding, use the Report button and the mods will look into it (we have tools to help us identify spammers, and where they are found we can add their details to the IPB central forum spam repository so that other boards are alerted to them too).

The mods do a pretty good job of keeping CC spam free, so when spammers do visit their posts tend to stick out like a sore thumbs and are often swiftly reported ...  

Cheers,
Shaun


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