I can’t disagree with you. The workings and ‘mind set’ of a forum are common to you. That is not true for all end users. I am new to forums and discourse. That is why I joined this forum to learn about discourse. Until I saw this thread I never questioned or thought about whether my profile was public or private. Not knowing forum etiquette I wrongly assumed that profiles were only accessible to other members of the forum.
Discourse being used by a mental health forum may come with it’s own set of complications. Our members are looking for a safe place to discuss their lives. They feel comfortable sharing with others who may be in the same situation however they are not going to want the whole world knowing the ‘annie32’ who replied to a post about anxiety that is searchable on google or whatever is diagnosed with bipolar with psychotic tendencies that she put in her profile. I don’t know if you can appreciate the delicacy of such a situation. You may find it ok that family members know that you are at the doctor for a personal health reason however you may not want everyone to know that personal reason is testicle cancer or herpes.
Maybe I’m wrong to ask that you consider the fact that not all end-users are as versed in forums as you are and that looking to their right to privacy as much as possible could be another ‘selling point’ for discourse 