Option to not allow users to hide their profile from other members

[MaximilianKohler]

I clicked on a user's profile and was surprised to see:

Oops! We ran into some problems.
This member limits who may view their full profile.

It's one thing to hide your profile from guests/unregistered visitors, but hiding it from other registered members seems really sketchy. I strongly detest reddit's recent implementation of this ability. It appears there is no built-in method to disable it, which is surprising.

A simple "user group permission" could solve it, or perhaps an addition to the "user options" page /admin.php?options/groups/users/.

There's a template edit shared here https://xenforo.com/community/threads/users-who-block-their-profile-to-other-members.182565/, which can solve the problem. But editing templates is not ideal. And even that still allows them to effectively hide it from all/most users with the "people you follow" option, so I'll remove that too.

 

[Rene_V]

but hiding it from other registered members seems really sketchy.

Just curious, what's so sketchy about it if I may ask?

 

[MaximilianKohler]

Just curious, what's so sketchy about it if I may ask?

It's a public forum. The ability to hide one's history allows bad actors to proliferate. Mods/admins can't have 100% knowledge of everything going on. They rely on users to review and report content. So it's essential that users have the ability to review other users' activity to check for patterns of behavior or even to simply evaluate the user's reputation.

It is especially problematic on reddit since even mods can only see the user's history in their own subreddit. Reddit was already being used by many bad actors for extremely disreputable purposes; the admins making it impossible for people to track, document, and report that activity greatly magnifies the harm done, and basically gives them a green light to do whatever they want. I want nothing of the sort on my forum.

There's also the simple reason of "who is this person I'm talking to?", "what is our history of interaction?" One often has to click their profile to jog one's memory. It harms the community aspect/appeal of forums where you develop camaraderie with real people.

All these points are even more important now that bots/AI are becoming more and more prevalent.

Features like being able to easily write & view a custom user tag or notes, vote totals, etc., are similarly important for this, and give reddit+RES+toolbox a big advantage over Xenforo. XF mods have some of these abilities, but in a much less user-friendly manner.

 

[Mendalla]

I kind of agree that disabling the ability to hide a profile should be an option, regardless of how it is implemented. I like the idea of a group-level security setting.

The ability to hide one's history allows bad actors to proliferate.

OTOH, giving people control of how those details, esp. their other online identities, are displayed and who can view them is a privacy issue for some. Even if you remove the ability to globally block viewing of profiles, there needs to be a block that lets people stop individuals from viewing their profile as a replacement. Ignore as we have now does not block the Ignored person from viewing your profile, just you from seeing that person's posts.

 

[Rene_V]

there needs to be a block that lets people stop individuals from viewing their profile as a replacement. Ignore as we have now does not block the Ignored person from viewing your profile, just you from seeing that person's posts.

Should you be interested in implementing this option I've developed an add-on that will do just that.

Resource icon R

Block ignored users/A.k.a. Reverse ignore

Jan 6, 2026

Blocks ignored users from viewing your profile, threads and sending you direct messages.

• Rene_V
• Add-ons [2.x]

 

[Suzanne O]

Terrible idea. You'll lose members if you continue to be that strict @MaximilianKohler

 

[MaximilianKohler]

a privacy issue

These are public forums we're talking about. If you want to keep something more private than by using a pseudonym, don't post it on the public internet.

there needs to be a block that lets people stop individuals from viewing their profile as a replacement. Ignore as we have now does not block the Ignored person from viewing your profile, just you from seeing that person's posts.

There are simple ways to get around that (log out, use another account), and it can be easily abused (mass blocking, blocking watchdogs). Proper moderation is the ideal solution. Blocking is a last resort when moderation fails or doesn't exist.

 

[Mendalla]

blocking watchdogs

What do you mean by that? Obviously, members wouldn't be able to block mods or admins if that's what you are thinking. They can't Ignore them as it is. We found out that a former admin/mod still had their rights that way once (way back when we didn't know the system as well as he did).

Blocking is a last resort when moderation fails or doesn't exist.

But sometimes enforcing mutual ignores or blocks is a legitimate moderation tool. Neither may be outside the rules and posting good content save with regard to each other. Having them block/ignore each other may actually be preferable to a ban.

These are public forums we're talking about. If you want to keep something more private than by using a pseudonym, don't post it on the public internet.

I kind of agree that disabling the ability to hide a profile should be an option, regardless of how it is implemented. I like the idea of a group-level security setting.

I did basically support you, just added the proviso that there may be times when a individual level block is a good idea. Again, if implemented properly, you should be able to disable that, too.

I am generally in favour of more options for configuring our boards, but they should always be options so we as admins/owners are making the decision as to how something works. I might leave the ability for people to hide profiles (save from mods and admins), you might force them to always be public or always be visible to registered users (whichever you favour).