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  • Author Author: Former Member
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mysteries of followers/followees, round 2

Former Member

made the suggestion at: https://www.element14.com/community/message/199862/l/re-are-followingfollowers-supposed-to-be-private#199862

that

Admin users followers and followees are public to all logged in users. Non-admin users followers and followees are private to all but the user themselves and to administrators.

 

This struck me as strange, that the factor that determines whether your followers/followees are public is whether or not you are an Admin.

I tested this theory by looking at the 44 Top Members and found that a number of them have public followers/followees, despite not being Admins.

This appears to refute Dudley Nelson's claim.

 

But it only deepens the mystery.  What could be the determining factor?

Could it be their generally high ranking?   Could it be their generally high numbers of followers?  Could it be some common person they are following?

 

If you are concerned that your own list of followers/followees may be public for all to view, you are welcome to post a comment below requesting that I check for you.

If your lists are public, you can suggest for example that I name the n'th person on your lists, or however you would like me to demonstrate that.

 

Note: the E14 privacy policy:

https://www.element14.com/community/static/legal/e14fullterms?ICID=footer_privacy#privacy

says:

Your comments, postings and actions will also be public. This is an intrinsic feature of the element14 community.

 

I don't see any policy that directly addresses privacy of followers/followees.

  • in reply to Former Member

    I always work on the basis that everything that goes outside the 4 walls of my works onto the internet will eventually become public - sometimes by dramatic hacking events and sometimes by slow diffusion.

    I'm sure that E14, Jive, the banks etc all try to slow this process down but it still happens - I think it's the entropy of information.

    I don't care who sees anything of mine on E14.

     

    MK

  • If you are concerned that your own list of followers/followees may be public for all to view, you are welcome to post a comment below requesting that I check for you.

    No, I am not concerned at all.

  • in reply to jw0752

    Totally agree with you John, I have not yet wrote something and now it is the worth to stop following some delirant statements.

  • in reply to jw0752

    You are welcome to stop following this thread, but I'll take the opportunity to respond anyway.

    You wrote:

    I see no reason to question Dudley's truthfulness. Dudley has no motive to tell you anything but what he believes to be the truth.

    I didn't question Dudley's motive.  I questioned the factual correctness of his unambiguous statement, after having had time to revise his earlier statement, that the contacts of ordinary users are private.  This is factually false, and I am happy to demonstrate it to anyone who asks.

     

    There is no conspiracy.

    I didn't allege any conspiracy.

    If the staff of E-14 were not there the site would collapse like a house of cards.

    I agree completely.

    Lets not worry too much about privacy or the lack thereof. Everyone today knows the risk that is taken by just turning the computer on.

    Here's where we disagree.  e14 has a privacy policy.  Jive has a privacy policy. They make a huge deal about how much their privacy protections can be trusted. Users are entitled to truthful answers about what aspects of privacy they can reasonably rely on, including

    whether their membership in private groups is private, and whether the names of members they privately communicate with are kept private.