It's a public site, and yes, our posts are public. Your profile won't be if your settings are to DS members only or private, but your posts will be. That's why we always recommend against using your real photo, real name, or anything else that would identify you to your abuser.

I thought we didn't use our photos and names for privacy here with each other. I used my nick name and photo I use for my e/m. Anyone who knows me from my life will know exactly who wrote that.

I don't see how to change the setting to DS members only. I clicked on the Google post and it brought up the whole thread. I need to fix this right now!

Go to 'my account'
Scroll down until you see 'who can see my profile'
Make your selection and click 'update.'

Also, if you write journals, if you don't mark it friends only or private it will be open to everyone, including non-members. BUT, if you have your profile as DS members only, it will automatically honor that when it comes to journal privacy.

Thank you My true colors, I have that fixed now. I can't change mynameit said, but I will find a new picture.

You can send in a request to change your name.

http://www.dailystrength.org/content/view/1853007#change_name

This link tells you how and gives you a contact link.

If you are worried about someone in your real life seeing your post due to the identifiable information, you can send an email to the DS admins, include a link to your post, and ask them to delete it.

I did this about a year ago and they took it down within a day.

One more thing everyone needs to be aware of. If you write a journal and either don't have your profile set to friends only or you don't lock your journal to 'just friends' or 'just me', your journal could very well show up at the bottom of the main group page!

Same goes for your photos.

And the photos &/or journals that show up at the bottom of the main discussion page are visible to non-DS members. The way you get to the main discussion page is by clicking the group link on the left of your profile or by going to the DS group page and clicking on a group from there. Once you are on the discussion page, the photos &/or journals don't show up.

Just sayin... be aware...

Seems to me when I first joined a few years ago they had a box you could check for DS only. Just went on my profile and it is not there anymore. Guess I better contact them if I can.

missd, if you go to the 'my account' link, you can choose to make your profile to DS friends only, DS members only or totally public (meaning the entire internet).

You privatize your journal by scrolling down to where you save it and before you save it, you choose who you want to be able to see it. You can go back and privatize all your journals, but it will take a while before it falls out of the various search engines caches.

Also know that if you have a profile only friends can see, even if your journal is open to everyone, only your friends should be able to see it.


Here is a copy and paste from DS help page:
http://www.dailystrength.org/content/view/1853010#private_profile

Can anyone see my profile? How do I make my profile more private?
You can set privacy options for your profile to control who can view it. You have the option to choose from three settings for your profile page:
Everyone - Allow any visitor to see your profile.
DS Members - Allows only DailyStrength members to see your profile.
Friends Only - Allows only your DailyStrength friends to see your profile.
Those who don't have access to your profile, according to the option you select, will only see your DS avatar and username.

How does profile privacy work with existing journal and/or photo privacy?
Profile privacy may override any privacy settings you have selected for journal entries or photos - when there are conflicts, we're going to go with the more private option. Here are 2 examples:
- If you have set your Profile to Friends Only but you have selected that a Journal Entry can be viewed by Everyone, it will still only be visible to Friends.
- If you have set your profile to Everyone, but a Journal Entry to Friends Only, then your profile will be visible to everyone but the journal will be friends only.

How can I keep my profile from showing up in search results from Google, Yahoo, etc.?
You can use our Profile Privacy feature to restrict search engine indexing of your profile. When you select "DS Members" or "Friends Only", search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) will no longer be able to "see" content within your Profile (your journal entries, photos, goals, group membership and your hugbook). However, search engines may still display your username, your avatar and any content you've posted publicly (for example, discussion posts, group content, etc). Also note that changes to your profile privacy setting will not immediately affect any existing search results already available through Google, Yahoo, etc. - search engines may take anywhere from one day to several weeks to update.

Can other people read my journal?
We've added three levels of privacy. You can choose to let everyone view, or just your friends, or just yourself. When you write a new journal entry, choose an option under "Who can view this journal entry?"

Can I change the privacy settings on old journal entries?
Yes. To change the setting on a journal entry, go to My Journals, select an entry, and click on Edit. At bottom of entry, choose an option under "Who can view this journal entry?"

Can other people view my photos?
We've added three levels of privacy for photos. You can choose to let everyone view, or just your friends, or just yourself. When you upload a new journal entry, choose an option under "Who can view this photo?"

Can I change the privacy settings on photos I already uploaded?
Yes. To change the setting on a photo, go to My Photos, select a photo, and click on Edit. On the Edit page, choose an option under "Who can view this photo?"

Can everyone see my RECENT ACTIVITY?
You choose. By going to MY ACCOUNT, you can choose to show your RECENT ACTIVITY to:

Everyone
Just My Friends
Just Me.

I will also add that using your own photo can lead someone here just doing a reverse image search.
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/images/searchbyimage.html

Wow! I never knew that! I guess I had better find a new photo.
Thanks, and thanks MTC for all that info...