Thanks for the mockups, it’s clearer now and actually I quite like it.
The only question that I have is: how can I see the users I’m following? And to answer that I only see an aspect. So could it be possible to have an predefined, not editable aspect called “Follow” where the users in it (and in no other aspect) won’t be able to see you private profile?
glad you like it.
I think that should be possible.
@jhass
I’ve made a UX proposal above:
If the proposal is accepted, i’d also propose a “following”-entry in the left nav-bar, which will show all posts of accounts you are following.
what do you mean with duplicating aspects?
there should be an option to follow an account without sharing your profile.
I see no need for this in Diaspora. It isn’t Twitter. However, I would only be happy for such a feature to implemented if a user setting was implemented enabling a user to prevent people from anonymously following their account. I wouldn’t want anyone following me anonymously.
I wouldn’t want anyone following me anonymously.
You can’t prevent someone from following your public profile. To me this goes too deep in the private data paranoia.
I see no need for this in Diaspora. It isn’t Twitter.
It is a privacy enhancement and a pretty common concept in social networks, so why shouldn’t this be included into diaspora?
Your public posts are always visible to everyone.
If you don’t want someone to follow your posts, don’t make public posts.
You can’t prevent someone from following your public profile.
No, but that’s not what I’m saying. Read my post again. If someone is following my account, I want to know that that person is following my account. That’s all.
Actually you can prevent someone from following your public posts, by removing them from the list of ‘only sharing with me’ contacts in your contact list. This proposal seems to remove that control from users.
It is a privacy enhancement and a pretty common concept in social networks, so why shouldn’t this be included into diaspora?
I always think that the policy ‘everyone else does it, so we must follow them!’ is a bad way to go about developing a network. Let’s think first and foremost about what is best for this network, not what other ones do.
I don’t see the privacy enhancement here. Currently no one knows which accounts you are ‘following’ except the people you are following. And the people you are following don’t see your public posts unless they manually look at your profile.
If you don’t want a person to see posts you make to any of your private aspects, simply put them in a separate aspect - you could even call it ‘following’. If you never share anything private with that aspect, the effect would be the same as what you’re proposing, as far as I can tell.
Would it work for you for a new aspect, ‘following’ to be included in the default aspects when a new account is created, for this purpose?
Hi, I too am not totally convinced by the follow option. I already use an aspect “followed” for that and if a contact follow me back, I switch it to “both following” aspect. This is why I am interested in goob’s point of view.
@goob : I tried «Actually you can prevent someone from following your public posts, by removing them from the list of ‘only sharing with me’ contacts in your contact list. » but I do not see where to click to do that : could you please be more specific ? thx
If someone is following my account, I want to know that that person is following my account. That’s all.
@goob One can easily subscribe to your profile, because in fact it provides an atom-feed. I don’t understand, why you want to be notified if someone is looking at things you post public on the internet.
Actually you can prevent someone from following your public posts, by removing them from the list of ‘only sharing with me’ contacts in your contact list.
I don’t think that’s possible. I can not remove an account, which is not in my aspects. Correct me if i’m wrong.
Would it work for you for a new aspect, 'following’ to be included in the default aspects when a new account is created, for this purpose?
Please read the comments above.
but I do not see where to click to do that : could you please be more specific ?
Actually it’s not in the contacts page UI: click on their profile, press ‘block’ and then press ‘unblock’, and they are no longer following your posts.
thx goob : I tried and it worked indeed ! Looks like more an hidden feature though, and even maybe an unplanned one 
!
I wonder if it actually makes you disappear from the aspect you were in, and if they get a notification ?
yes, it’s more like a bug… because people should not be able to remove your “i share with this person” state. It’s feels like other people modifying your account.
The “I have you in my aspects” -state should be totally unaffected by your block.
The “I have you in my aspects” -state should be totally unaffected by your block.
I do not agree with that : if I block someone, I would prefer that he/she does not see my public posts anymore. That makes sens to me.
That’s not possible - the person can always logout and look at your profile. Your public posts are public - hence the name.
So we should not invoke false thoughts about the visibility of posts and be consistent.
the person can always logout and look at your profile. Your public posts are public - hence the name.
I did not think about that. You are right ! And yes, that was my mistake to think public post could not be visible since they are indeed public. I thought too quickly.
Yes, I’m sure it’s unintended behaviour, but it is possible. I’d like it to continue to be possible, especially for when I attract stalkers…
@cewertowski I think D* already misses a lot of features, if we start right now to limit ourselves because of performance issues, we will never be able to compete with other social networks.
I’m not saying that we have to be like FB. I’m just saying that we need to have appealing features for the users which might have a cost and we’ll have to deal with it instead of rule it out.
@creak I’m with you. The question is: How much additional calculating power would be needed? Since I don’t run a pod I can’t estimate it. I only know that for keeping people on a website speed is important.
Maybe it is a good idea to use other concepts? Something like ‘Link up’ (in german ‘Vernetzen’) and ‘Follow’ (in german ‘Folgen’).