# Privacy settings on the user's profile page
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [April 22, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960 "2014-04-22T05:53:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@diff](https://meta.discourse.org/u/diff)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/1 "2014-04-22T05:53:05Z")
As an example, here’s [Quora](https://www.quora.com/settings/privacy) privacy features:
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/2 "2014-04-22T16:58:25Z")
This image is kind of useless without an explanation by you.
- What features are you talking about here?
- Explain why they would be useful to you on Discourse?
- Provide specific examples where they would be useful in a non-Q&A environment?
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### Author:  [@dpritchett](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dpritchett)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/3 "2014-04-22T17:03:13Z")
A lot of these look like misfeatures for a forum! Disallow replies is right out, adult content seems likely to be a per-forum social norm than a per-user preference, and while I can see your personal interest in a `nofollow` bit that’s not going to help the long-term health of the forum. There’s always pseudonyms…
HTTPS everywhere seems like a sane default but I don’t know of a reason to involve the user in that decision.
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/4 "2014-04-22T19:48:28Z")
I would be interested in not showing my Public Profile to the world at large
IF
I had to use my real name and didn’t want it to be known (eg. my boss Googles me and sees I’ve called him a \*\*\*\*)
My email address was visible to all and I feared a deludge in my Inbox
I do think Public Profiles should be non-visible (except to Staff) for non-accounts however.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/5 "2014-04-22T21:15:00Z")
What are you talking about? Emails are never visible.
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/6 "2014-04-22T21:29:39Z")
Sorry, my idiosyncratic abuse of the English language to convey meaning it wasn’t intended to be used for at fault here.
i.e. the big IF
If I don’t don’t want my real name to be Public, I don’t have to have it there.
My email address is _not_ publicly visible.
Therefore
IF == false
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### Author:  [@diff](https://meta.discourse.org/u/diff)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2014, 8:56am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/7 "2014-04-23T08:56:10Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> This image is kind of useless without an explanation by you.
I opened this thread to think/argue for the requirements that a user needs to control on his profile.
For example, getting indexed on the web makes some users to be careful on the reality of their thoughts!
- I edited the title.
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/8 "2014-04-23T11:43:47Z")
So you mean a “keep all of my posts hidden except to logged in users” setting?
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### Author:  [@diff](https://meta.discourse.org/u/diff)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/9 "2014-04-23T13:58:07Z")
> [@Mittineague](#):
>
> So you mean a “keep all of my posts hidden except to logged in users” setting?
Nope! I mean “keep my name hidden from google, impartial crowlers, etc”.
- Allow/Disallow search engines to index your name
- Allow/Disallow others to see your public profile
- And more…
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/10 "2014-04-23T14:23:48Z")
So more like
“make all links to my Public Profile nofollow noindex” ?
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### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 11:10am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/privacy-settings-on-the-users-profile-page/14960/11 "2025-12-04T11:10:04Z")