Privacy profiles can help easily set default usages.

[teddevito]

Title
Privacy profiles can help easily set default usages.

Short, concise description of the idea
On the privacy tab of the account page, offering profiles of privacy settings will help users like me setup my blog easily for my intended use.

Full description of the ideaI compare the idea to privacy settings in internet explorer, where there are

Comments

[azurelunatic]

There's already something a little like this: when users under a certain age create a journal, their settings are different from when an adult user creates a journal. So there's a precedent.

[the_cynic]

"Default Entry Security" is already an option on the Privacy tab; what exactly are you looking for?

[azurelunatic]

This sounds to me like it would be not just selecting that, but a one or two click ability to select default entry security, conceal one's email address, minimize search engine visibility, and all the other settings to make one's LJ as private as possible short of installing one's own installation on a private server in one's basement that's got no internet connection -- just pick a master setting and watch all of the related settings change. I believe there's a FAQ or two that says "to ___, pick these settings" -- this would skip the "and you have to pick this, and this, and that" part.

I can see how it could become a pain to maintain and support, but it could also be useful.

[the_cynic]

Because selecting multiple ticky-boxes is hrad.

Perhaps people who can't work with the existing interface should just stick with easier to select things? Guaranteed that whatever "default" security selection you offer, someone will come along and say "when I select $FOO, I want all the pieces except $BAR", and then we'll be explaining how to set the individual selections again, or you'll be fielding suggestions about "I can set my privacy settings this way, but I really want them that way".

A single checkbox for modifying multiple parameters is bad UI design.

[trempnvt]

Can you be more specific?

[lied_ohne_worte]

I think this is problematic because there are no real "default usages". The only two I can think of are "keep everything as private as possible" and "make everything as visible as possible". Everything in between are shades of grey. There are people who have public journals but don't want them to be indexed by search engines; there are people who don't care that everyone sees their location on their profile page but would never give out their true age, but there are also people for whom it is the other way round

[azurelunatic]

To do it right, you'd want a massive study of common use cases and settings across LJ

[azurelunatic]

I'm apprenticing myself to brilliant people and applying what I learn. (This is a direct result of having worked in consumer research and D having done the user card sort to build the Dreamwidth menus: why have people with preconceptions guess when you can mine your data and do a survey? Then you can let your experts out.)

you got the idea

[teddevito]

I think you guys are onto something with this profiles discussion. Really impressed here. Good job.