# Moderators Viewing Email Addresses
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-viewing-email-addresses/66731
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [July 24, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-viewing-email-addresses/66731 "2017-07-24T17:28:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Martin\_Cash](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Martin_Cash)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-viewing-email-addresses/66731/1 "2017-07-24T17:28:49Z")
Just FYI,
I know this has already been discussed a few times. Not to beat a dead horse, but my use case is…
I have to be PCI compliant and giving non-employees the ability to view/export email addresses is a security problem that restricts me from adding moderators. I’d like to use this feature so mods can see reports and such, but viewing email addresses is a no-go for me for me.
> [@Remove moderator ability to view users email addresses](https://meta.discourse.org/t/remove-moderator-ability-to-view-users-email-addresses/30261):
>
> There were some excellent changes to mod permissions as per this topic [Permission Changes (moderators have less)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/permission-changes-moderators-have-less/12522). I feel removing the ability for mods to view email addresses should be considered too. There are several reasons for this: Data Protection - In the UK there are laws governing digital personal data and I feel that there isn’t sufficient reason to let moderators (who are usually unpaid volunteers) view people’s personal email addresses (somebody in the thread mentioned it helps with…
> [@Moderators can view emails and export user lists](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-can-view-emails-and-export-user-lists/55114):
>
> This is… insane. In any forum, moderators can see the emails of users and even less the possibility of exporting them and downloading them to a csv file. This is a huge security hole. While promoting someone as a moderator means that you have confidence in that person, but it is crazy to think that that person can have access to a list of users with data and even that you can download them.
---
### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-viewing-email-addresses/66731/2 "2017-07-24T17:53:24Z")
Do your mods perform tasks that TL4s couldn’t execute?
---
### Author:  [@Martin\_Cash](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Martin_Cash)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-viewing-email-addresses/66731/3 "2017-07-24T20:28:59Z")
Thanks, @HAWK, really it’s not that big of a deal for me. It would be nice to allow them to view reports to monitor the health/growth of the community.
Also congratulations. I read over on FeverBee that you’ve taken on a new role at Discourse. I’m sure Jeff and team are glad to have you on board. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-viewing-email-addresses/66731/4 "2017-07-24T20:35:42Z")
> [@Martin\_Cash](#):
>
> It would be nice to allow them to view reports to monitor the health/growth of the community.
For sure – I think it’s really impt that they have visibility of that stuff. It ensures that everyone buys into your growth strategy and has a degree of accountability as part of the team. That said, you can export reports without including email addresses. What reports do you regularly generate.
> [@Martin\_Cash](#):
>
> Also congratulations. I read over on FeverBee that you’ve taken on a new role at Discourse. I’m sure Jeff and team are glad to have you on board.
Thanks! Yup, this is day 2. So far so good – I’ve been on my very best behaviour. 😉
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-viewing-email-addresses/66731/5 "2017-07-25T01:52:36Z")
Yeah I would recommend TL4 for this, then document what pain points they have as mini-mods with TL4?