I am a new manager, and I am hoping someone can answer a question for me.

A member of my group chose the following profile privacy setting:
Subscription>Group Profile>Edit Group Profile>Profile Privacy>Only group owners & moderators

Then the member tried to view the Directory, and was unable to do so. Instead, she got the following message:
This member directory is only visible to members of your group. In order to view the member directory, you must change your to either Other Members of Your Group, or to Public.

I would think that the member's privacy setting choice would prevent other members from seeing her profile in the Directory. But why would that privacy setting prevent her from seeing the Directory entirely?

FYI - when the member switches the profile privacy setting back to this
Subscription>Group Profile>Edit Group Profile>Profile Privacy>Other members of your group.
then the Directory is viewable again

Thanks so much
Deb

Hi

I can’t parse out the problem, but you might check out the wiki which talks about directory vs members’ list.

/g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/Directory-and-Members-List

Frances

I believe it's a common courtesy approach.? If someone isn't willing to share their profile, they aren't allowed to see others.

Duane
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On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 02:09 am, Duane wrote:

I believe it's a common courtesy approach.? If someone isn't willing to share their profile, they aren't allowed to see others.

Duane

I suppose you could characterize it that way and by now it may already being documented that way, but it certainly isn't what I would consider an expected behavior. This certainly bewildered me when I first came across this behavior and I see many more bringing it up here.

I feel I should not have to make my profile public just to view a public profile. So, to me and many others, the Directory is useless. Well, not entirely, as I could also sign up with a "disposable" account to view the Directory.

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Gerald

开云体育

Well, in my group, there is occasionally a compelling reason for anonymity. The group members all know this and don’t mind if there are a few anonymous members, as long as the group owner (me) knows who they are and has approved their membership.

On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 10:22 pm, TASA DSavage wrote:

In any case, I will just disable the directory feature for now. And invite the few individuals who need to remain anonymous to register with a new gmail address and to use an alias as their screen name.

Getting a new email address is extreme, and totally unnecessary. Subscribers do not appear in the Directory unless they opt in.?

See Subscription->Group Profile->Edit Group Profile. On this page subscribers can change their Display Name (or "alias", if you prefer) and modify their profile privacy as desired.?

Please note that the Member's list and the Directory are not the same thing.

/g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/Directory-and-Members-List

Hope this helps,
Bruce
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Bruce, thanks. I do realize that subscribers can choose their display name and make their profile private. The problem is that, if a subscriber makes their own profile unavailable to other group members, then they themselves are also blocked from seeing anyone else's profile. Which is a problem for our group. Most group members will want their profiles to be viewable. But there are a few group members who need to be anonymous but still need to be able to view the profiles of everyone else.

Deb

On Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 07:51 am, TASA DSavage wrote:

But there are a few group members who need to be anonymous but still need to be able to view the profiles of everyone else.

Sorry; I think that (in the absence of a fuller explanation) the above is simply unreasonable. Obviously (?) it may be a function of what your group's "business" is, but I cannot see why they should have the right to be "anonymous" while being able to view those who agree to make their profile public. Furthermore, if you have members who "need" to be anonymous, then that would apply to others with the same "need". Why should someone with a hidden profile be able to view the details of someone else with a hidden profile?

You could, of course, make them all moderators who have sight of all profiles, hidden or otherwise. Perhaps clarification of the word "need" might help.

Chris

Deb,

But there are a few group members who need to be anonymous but still
need to be able to view the profiles of everyone else.

What is it they need to see that they don't want to show?

A profile can be effectively anonymous - containing only the member's
Display Name. In particular the member's email address is not available through their profile.

So I'm not sure what the concern is.

Shal


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On Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 07:51 am, TASA DSavage wrote:

But there are a few group members who need to be anonymous but still need to be able to view the profiles of everyone else.

I think I understand that. What I'm struggling to understand is how punishing those who don't serves to fix the underlying problem.

Bruce

P.S. By the way, you could make those members Moderators. Moderators can see all the member profiles.?
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On Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 03:55 pm, Bruce Bowman wrote:

On Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 07:51 am, TASA DSavage wrote:

But there are a few group members who need to be anonymous but still need to be able to view the profiles of everyone else.

I think I understand that. What I'm struggling to understand is how punishing those who don't serves to fix the underlying problem.

Bruce

P.S. By the way, you could make those members Moderators. Moderators can see all the member profiles.?
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The system Help is your friend.??/static/help

I am struggling to see any useful purpose in the Directory for normal members.

After going through the hoops to create an account to see what all of the fuss is about, I cannot see any beneficial purpose for the Directory for ordinary members. First off, only 200 of the 1,000 members of this group show up at all. As Shal mentioned, one cannot obtain actual email addresses, although it is possible to send a direct email to a listed member. But I can already do that by doing a private reply to an existing post.

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Gerald

Chris,

The need for some of our group members to have anonymity is NOT unreasonable. It has to do with legal issues regarding very sensitive issues. Our entire group agrees that it may occasionally be necessary and agree that the moderators get to decide on a case by case basis.

I don't think that making them moderators is the solution for us, but thanks for the idea.

Deb

Shal,

That's a good point. But I guess that I am now realizing (from other responses) that many group members will probably not even create a profile. Which limits the use of the directory for everyone.

Ideally, I would like an option where members who join are automatically agreeing to be shown in the directory - with their name or whatever screen name they choose. That would allow people to choose an anonymous screen name (if needed) but also allow everyone to be able to PM each other individually as needed.

Deb

On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 09:26 am, TASA DSavage wrote:

also allow everyone to be able to PM each other individually as needed.

The problem with that is that when a Private reply/message is sent, it includes the email address of the person sending it.

Duane
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