Shal
Sorry, I didn't intend to add any more to this topic but I just want to clarify something that was a misunderstanding on my part.
I am (and always was) perfectly happy with the distinction between the member list and the member directory, and with the fig-leafing of email addresses. But one thing that caught my attention was your statement in message #2626 that
the Member list includes member's subscription information, and in particular shows their email addresses.
I suspect most groups would restrict this list to moderators for privacy reasons.
On initial reading this seemed to me to be an overstatement, but re-reading it, I realise that you're not suggesting that the distinction between the lists is a privacy feature per se, but simply that not making the member list accessible to all is a useful privacy practice in many groups, which I entirely agree with.
Just for the record, I'll add my wish list of things I'd like to see in groups.io related to this thread:
1. Members to be able to state in their profile that they wish to remain anonymous, meaning that other members (even moderators and owners) cannot discover their email address by any means. [I realise of course that there will always be some people who have complete access to everything, particularly those who run and maintain the databases, but they are not normal members and one has to presume that they are trustworthy.]
2. A group-level policy option that all members are to remain anonymous in this way.
3. A means for members to contact other members privately without needing to know their email address.
4. A means for members to declare that they do not want to be contacted privately under any circumstances.
5. Overriding 4, a means for moderators to contact members regardless of their preference, again without needing to know the member's email address.
Having said that, with 40+ years of professional software development under my belt, I'm well aware of the difficulties of keeping a very large and diverse user base happy and prioritising their enhancement requests, and also of the effort involved in such developments. I have to say Mark and his team have done a brilliant job so far (I presume he does have at least a small team? If not I'm even more impressed!).
Richard
