Hi! Being really new here, I don't exactly know what I'm doing yet, so sorry if this is covered already.

I understand that our reviews and comments on discussions threads and other pages are probably public anyway, but can we please be given the option to keep our profiles invisible to people outside Booklikes? (i.e. as is the case on other platforms like goodreads and facebook for example).

I'm not too sure I 'm comfortable with sharing my entire page with the web to be honest.

Thanks.

ps: I thought privacy issues could be discussed separately from the "Future Requests" thread. If not, please let me know.

I'd second that. I'm less worried on my own account, but I have friends whom I would very much like to see joining BookLikes as well, and who told me that they are currently reluctant to do so because they feel that privacy options, inter alia for our profiles and in discussion groups, are not yet on a level that would make them feel comfortable.

I understand that private groups are bound to come, but what would chiefly also be necessary, at least according to what I am hearing from those friends who are not ready to join at this point, would be an option to better protect our blog profiles as such from non-members -- and to stop other members from following us (either by blocking them or in whatever other way seems feasible) without, as currently seems to be the case, having to follow them first.

Reply to post #3 (show post):
I agree with you, that's why I was not referring to secret groups and private profiles from other users here. I am referring to some, basic in my opinion, level of privacy from anything outside Booklikes. In any event, I think it's reasonable that users should be given privacy options.

Reply to post #3 (show post):
I second the response at #4.

Nothing to do with sock puppets and "off screen whispering" or such things. I acutally even have friends who, althought they hate what is happening at GR, chose to remain there and not migrate to BookLikes solely because GR -- unlike BookLikes -- allows them to set their profile to "private" and, thus, block other users from accessing it (or them).

I was referring to private groups only to say that while I understand BookLikes is has announced they will be introducing certain privacy features, whether or not one may feel they're a good idea for other purposes, what is currently being planned simply doesn't answer to the key concerns of those chiefly interested in maintaining a certain level of privacy attached to their ID/profile as such. Having had to get rid of an online stalker myself a number of years ago, I can certainly understand that concern, even though CURRENTLY this doesn't happen to be something I have to worry about as well.

Reply to post #6 (show post):
It's not about not seeing reviews. It's about being able to trace a person through their activity in connection with their blog profile, so you can identify them in real life. The point is, the friends who have this concern feel safe with the profile privacy settings Goodreads offers -- and have been feeling safe there for years. (This may change, the way things are going. But the way GR has handled it so far actually did work for them.) They are, however, not feeling safe with the "Follow" and [to members and nonmembers alike] necessarily public profiles we currently have here.

Existing booklikes members have also made comments that all the sudden influx of "strangers" following them has made them uncomfortable. I'm surprised more of them aren't agitating for privacy settings.

Partly I suspect because they forget (or joined before if that was not always a signup requirement) that signing up for a booklikes accounts makes you follow 25 random people you are not likely to know.

Partly, unfortunately, with all the junk science style of pr out there saying that goodreads (prior Sept. 20 policy and this sudden influx of gr escapees) ever used to allow abuse/hate-speech/threats, etc.)--that we are all a bunch of trolls, bullies, and out to destroy author careers.

Doesn't help when the fact-resistant sociopaths over on that site we don't mention or drive traffic to make hate lists of anyone on booklikes following or being followed by their usual targets -- those whack-jobs don't care that some relationships are just randomly made.

And I can't personally blame existing booklikers for not wanting to be involved in all that mess even if they don't think we're the bullying, rape-threatening gang members that speshul snowflake site portrays. I'm surprised more of the senior members at booklikes aren't agitating for private profiles.

Exactly. I was also surprised when I saw it wasn't requested anywhere on groups here.

I haven't been involved in the bullying issue on Goodreads at all, but I was shocked when I found out that there are actually sites (one site apparently) dedicated to stalking and, even worse, posting information about reviewers' activity on Goodreads, pictures and sensitive private data. This is beyond inappropriate, suffice to say a breach of the Terms of Use. Did the Goodreads team do anything about this?

Anyway, on Booklikes: I didn't think I'd get too excited about the blogging aspect, but I registered here like a week ago or less and I like it already. The book recommendations and cataloguing system is not as handy as the Goodreads one, but the interface is well... prettier (yes, of course it matters!), staff seem very helpful and they release updates every few days, so we'll see. Hopefully they will think about offering some privacy options as well.

How do you disconnect advertisements from following you? I have Westhill everything, this that and the other Group, real estate companies, consulting companies, law firms and other that have zero to do with books, zero books shelved, and are basically using their blog to post a presumably unpaid advertisement for their business.

I don't want spammers or corporate entities following me. I have clicked under followers tab what I though was the "block" symbol (the circle with diagonal bar like you see over "no smoking" signs) but Westhill and Blue whatever groups keep bloody coming back. So how do I permanently prevent them in my followers?

I hate having to scroll thru all the bogus groups they make that do nothing but post the same advertisement and clog up the discussion room list.

Hi,
Thank you all for your remarks. When it comes to comments by guest, you can decide whether to let non-BL members to comment your posts - the ability is added in Settings/Blog. We're also working on new options for discussion rooms for those who wish to discuss in a separate not so public place. We'll be also considering other options for blogs and discovering other members.
Sorry for any inconvenience, they were not intentional and thank you for all suggestions.
Please do mail us if you have any further questions or concerns: contact@booklikes.com

Until/unless I am able to set my page to friends/followers only I'm not going to be using Booklikes much. I also expect to be able to control who comments on my posts, and whether or not they can be reblogged.

I also expect to be able to block people without following them first, or them following me.

Additionally I should also be able to control who is able to message me.

I should be able to set my blog to private, and my reviews as well.

Reply to post #13 (show post):
@ Auntie J: Thank you for all the suggestions and sorry for any inconvenience. When it comes to the privacy issues, for the time being the Terms of service, Privacy Policy and the BookLikes Community guidelines are available for all Booklikes community. As we mentioned in our email and previous note we do consider adding new setting and updating the existing ones. We also appreciate all remarks and the ideas for the future improvement.

For the time being there are several solution that you may find useful on BookLikes, please consider the following:

1. You can switch off the Blog on your public webpage. This can be done in Settings/Blog, scroll down and turn off the Blog as a visible site and Save. The link to Blog will be gone on your public webpage, and your texts will be visible for your Followers on their Dashboards.

2. You can block blogs that started following you. You can do this on Followers page, hover over the blog and click the little round icon, once it goes red the blog will be blocked and will not see your writings on his/her Dashboard.

3. If you leave Blog page reveled (if not point 1), you can switch off comments for non-BookLikes members, then only BookLikes bloggers will be able to leave a comment under your posts.

4. If you wish to store your reviews and texts and make it visible only to you, you can save them as Drafts, they will be invisible for others. You can make them public any time you want. The Draft timing is unlimited.

5. You can decide from whom to receive Private Messages on BookLikes, the Messages Settings are available at the Messages Page (http://booklikes.com/messages).

6. We're aware of the "reblogged reviews" issue and we're working on the suitable solution for them.

I understand what the current privacy policy is - non-existent.

What I have done is post a request to have this changed so that users have the ability to choose for themselves what to share and with whom. I consider telling me what the policy is now unresponsive to my request for changes.

Additionally, switching off the blog on my page completely defeats the purpose. There would then be no reason for me to post anything, and my followers would be unable to communicate with me. So, it would be pretty pointless for me to even be here.

Yes, I can block people AFTER they follow me, which is complete stupid. What I have requested is the ability to APPROVE followers before they can follow me. As it is now I have to check my followers daily in order to ensure there is no one unwanted on the list. This is tedious and it is not user friendly, nor does it ensure me any actual privacy. Since a follower would be able to see, comment, reblog anything on my page until I was able to notice they are following me, remove and block them. This delay puts me at risk.

Storing reviews "as text only visable to me" is also completely worthless and pointless. What I expect to be able to do is post reviews my approved followers can see, and others cannot. Posting reviews no one here can see at all gives me no reason to copy my reviews here from Goodreads. I already have a place where I can see all my reviews just fine. That isn't a "solution" that gives me any reason to add content value to your site.

I don't want all Booklikers to be able to see, much less comment, on my page, so telling me I can block my page from non-Booklikers isn't especially helpful.

I do expect to be able to control my own privacy. This includes who sees my page, who can comment on my page, who can reblog my posts, who sees my reviews.

I also expect BL to stop spamming me with the pop up asking me to select the genres I like. I'm not going to do that, particularly in light of the complete disregard for my privacy and my safety.

Reply to post #14 (show post):
Thank you for all the suggestions. We appreciate all the remarks and ideas for the future improvement, and take them all into consideration.