Remove "All new profile comments are now private" for image flagging

Letting others see the comments helps them understand why an image has been flagged (or why someone has voted against flagging).

Actually it would be an advantage if we could make comments to spamming authors public so they don't get lots of the same.

>2 MarthaJeanne:

That's true, too. Although currently some people intentionally make them private - not sure why.

I wondered why the setting for comments is now private. I try to remember to uncheck the box when I leave a note for authors.

Is this new? Was there an announcement somewhere? I don't care for it.

>5 norabelle414:

Yes, I'm sure it's new.

>4 2wonderY: For a while it was just that the message was private if you didn't uncheck it, but the last time I didn't see any way to make the message nonprivate.

Are flagged images definitely affected by the privating of new profile comments? I ask because there are three images flagged in the last 24 hours showing at https://www.librarything.com/gallery/flagged and I can see one comment on each, then the next oldest flagged image is from the 8th Mar, also with one comment visible.

Thanks. We'll look into this.

LibraryThing is moving away from the MySpace "wall" approach—toward private comments only. Image comments complicate that. Thanks for noticing.

T

>9 timspalding:

Yes, image comments are really a different issue, because they are directed not so much at the person who uploaded the image, but to others, as an explanation. Similar to the "warnings" for tag combination/separation.

>9 timspalding: Uh that complicates dealing with spammy authors as well, though, because they may get multiple "hey don't spam" notices if people can't see that they've already been told and it hasn't been noted in the spam thread.

>11 gilroy:

Solution?

Leave the check mark option.

I really don't think LT needs to do much to make the lives of spammy authors easier. If they annoy 10 people enough that the people bother to go and leave a profile comment, which means they probably annoyed 100 people, then they deserve those 10 profile comments.

>14 lorax:

But sometimes the authors are responsive, and those are the ones I'd prefer not to piss off / chase away.

>14 lorax:, >15 lilithcat: Also, if the author was left messages about being spammy in the past, they are treated differently than a first-time offender

We don't flag them in the hope that it is 'a teachable moment'.

If we can't see what other messages they may have received, we probably should go to the suggestion on the spam topic, and instead of sending messages ourselves, contact staff.

Much of the above discussion seems to be about profile comments connected with spammy authors. But why are all comments now private, and why can't we have the option of making them public again?

>18 John5918: I think you have misunderstood the discussion above. Comments are no longer public because LibraryThing has decided that it doesn't want to be that kind of social media platform, with private discussions taking place on personal profiles, but open for everyone to read. They have not been closed because of spammy authors. It's the other way around, some members want comments on the profiles of spammy authors to be public, so we all can see whether they have been informed of their violation of the ToC or not.

If you have a reason for wanting them to be public other than because you like it that way, you should state it.

>19 anglemark:

Thanks. I suppose everybody uses LT in different ways. I don't really have "private discussions" on my personal profile, but I often see comments on my or others' profiles which are not private and which might be of interest to others. If I want something to be private I click the "private" box; if I have no objection to others seeing it, I don't. That option is no longer available. From my own experience I don't see any problem with the old way, but from what you say it may be that others have had bad experiences, hence the change. I don't feel very strongly about it, but my first impression is that this change is an unnecessary and restrictive imposition.

Maybe the middle ground would be for profile comments to default to private but retain the possibility to make them public when necessary.

>21 SandraArdnas:

Thanks, yes, I would have no problem with a default to private with the option to make them public. I just don't understand why that option has been taken away from us all of a sudden.

>21 SandraArdnas: That would definitely be my favoured behaviour.

I agree with John5918 in that I too saw comments on other's profiles that sparked a thought or made me add a book to my to-read list. Basically I think comments should go back to the way they were with the option to mark private when necessary.