Hiding online status - a matter of privacy

Hidind the online status has been discussed several times before and it was in regard to the opponents. It was discarded as not a biggie.

But I think it is a core issue of privacy. What if you don't want your parents, spouse or employer to see that you are playing chess? Leaving aside why somebody would do that, it's not the job of chess.com to expose you.

Why would you be playing on Chess.com if you didn't want your boss knowing or were supposed to be working?

Why would you hide it from your parents or spouse?

I think the OP makes a good point. Regardless of the moral standing of being online when you shouldn't be, people still do it. Nearly every site I've been on either doesn't display online status, or gives you an opportunity to hide it. Why not give the same option here? (Given the above point about how most sites have this option, I'm assuming it's not too difficult to implement in terms of site coding. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

it's on the wishlist. 

@Kohai: To answer simply, you want to hide it because you don't want other people to know that you are doing it. That is the definition of privacy.

Why do that? People have different reasons, but I don't think chess.com should first aprove of those reasons before implementing this basic privacy feature.

I was asking out of curiousity, not to approve or disapprove :)

Ok, let me give you a few examples:

• Hide it from your boss because you are doing some tactics while idle at work. You don't want to be asked to justify later.
• Hide it from your parents because you are playing chess while you should be studying.
• Hide it from your spouse because you are doing Chess Mentor while you were supposed to do the dishes.

Yes, it looks that there still are many tedious activities left in the world :-)

i'm not opposed to it at all - that's fine. its' just a matter of finding the engineering time...

that said, if your boss or spouse is at the point where they are somehow sitting at a computer refreshing your profile page to know if you are online or not, something is probably wrong in those relationships :) i mean, they ONLY way they would know is if they are specifically monitoring your actions on chess.com. and then maybe you should be letting your boss's boss know that your boss is spending all day "monitoring" people on chess.com.... ;)

Hmmm! trouble is the boss's boss may well be too busy playing chess.

Yes. The chances of being spied on are slim, but why take a chance? Better make it a perfect crime (or guilty pleasure).

:-)

Weren't we promised a webcam feed on chess.com staff - to keep them on their toes?

I honestly believe  this request should be moved from the wish list to a  must do list. 

Kohai, I do believe that that's really none of your business. People enjoy privacy and you may as well question why people want privacy as a general concept.  The particulars of why are irrelevant and as I say not your business or relevant to the discussion.  I completely agree witht he original post.

apart from being a member of staff, i am also a member of the site.. as a member of the site i was asking out of curiousity as i said. There is no need to jump on me for asking a question :)

Erik, Kohai, I believe that if there's one general critisicm of this website that seems to be up for a large plurality (if not majority) of the community it is the sense that oftentimes there seems to be a sort "nanny state" mentality amongst the staff.  In other words staff spending way to much time protecting us from ourselves.  Erik and I had discussion about this with my pointing out chilling effect on the frank exchange of ideas betwen adults and how interventions by staff should really be calmed way down, especially with the advent of the kidschess.com site. 

It seems that when staff's feathers get ruffled some are very quick (some more than others) to exercise abrupt control, but when members express geniuine concerns about privacy, being treated as adults or even regarding their personal saftey these concerns are often not seemingly taken that seriously. 

To wit:

I remember a thread from not to long ago from a woman from a middle eastern country who was afraid that people from her homeland could FIND her using this website. The staff response was overwhelming in it's lack of concern. 

I've seen many threads locked (including a couple of my own) because of seemingly arbitrary heavy handedness of censorship.  I've seen staff make comments, jokes or ask questions (as here) that really seem innappropriate, or at least unprofessional.  

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that if someone from the community asks a question or expresses a concern my hope is that it will be taken seriously.  If 1 person has a concern there are probably 1000's of others who share that concern.  And, if your name has the word "staff" next to it I should  think that there is an expectation of professionalism that should temper cheeky questions or comments.

Thanks for listening...

p.s. Kohai, I know that you're a member and not just a staff. But you should realise as the word "staff" is always there when you post everything you say will be magnified.  You are, like it or not, chess.com police.  If a cop tells you something it is taken very seriously.  If you want to make comments as just "joe person", then you should change your login or make a point that what you're saying is NOT coming from or related to your power position of being a staff...

Matter of finding engineering time?

SQL: ALTER TABLE users ADD show_online_status BOOL

code: if ($user->showOnlineStatus() == true) { // show it } else { // don't }

I am actually looking for a job. Hire me!

ah, the old ALTER TABLE... do you know what that does to a table with 3 million rows and dozens of columns ;) if we added a column for every idea anyone ever had, our site wouldn't function. 

i have no problem with people voicing concerns at all. i LIKE to hear what people think. that said, it's always a balancing act. and inevitably not everyone can be happy. 

i respect the privacy concerns 100%. fortunately there is one really simple privacy tool on the site: don't let people know who you are. 

as i said, this is on the wishlist and will be discussed next time we move things from wishlist to to-do list. 

I would like an incognito mode. Sometimes, I just wanna hang and not have chat windows popping up.

You can already do THAT, you can just shut off meebo for that.