Hiding email addresses in dashboard

Thanks Kafka! I am trying it out. I really appreciate your work.

Thanks–it hides them in the dashboard, unless you know where to look. (It also mails them to authors of the post.) I replied in full here:

https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/143772?replies=8#post-650237

I’m bumping this because one of my commenters told me he received spam on a throwaway email address he used only on my site. It’s embarrassing. Will someone please file a bug report on this problem? I don’t know how. Thanks!

I reviewed the 2.3.2 code and saw that:

• wp-includes/comment-template.php defines get_comment_author_email(), get_comment_author_IP() and other similar functions. Most of them have apply_filter calls, so a crafty plugin can control whoever uses these functions.
• Unfortunately, several WP source files access the database column directly (i.e., “$comment->comment_author_IP”):

• wp-admin/comment.php
• wp-admin/edit-form-comment.php
• wp-admin/edit.php
• wp-admin/export.php
• wp-admin/import/mt.php
• wp-admin/includes/comment.php
• wp-admin/includes/template.php
• moderation.php
• xmlrpc.php
• wp-comments-post.php
• wp-content/plugins/akismet/akismet.php
• wp-includes/comment.php
• wp-includes/pluggable.php

Someone should review these source files because any plugin based on add_filter can’t hide the commenter’s email addresses.

pluggable.php contains the code for the ‘new comment’ notification email, which asks us site admins to ask our contributors to swear by a privacy policy. Scriptygoddess and Mark Jaquith’s Subscribe To Comments plugin is better.

Until this hole is fixed, the ‘Contributor’ role can view email addresses in two places: Comments -> Comments (wp-admin/edit-comments.php) in “Mass Edit Mode” and in “View Mode”. Bushtool’s fix above missed the “view mode” part.

Until this hole is fixed, I recommend the use of the laboratoriocaffeina.it plugin. Suit the $user_level to taste. ‘Author’ is 2, ‘Editor’ is 7 and ‘Administrator’ is 10.

“nope, you can still go in through the dashboard manage and click on individual posts and see the comment email addresses.”

bushtool, I can’t reproduce this in 2.3.2. Will you care to check again?

Otto42

When you wrote:
But do not attempt to moderate other people yourself. That’s the mods job, not yours.
I was ready to report your behaviour to the moderators until I realized you are a moderator. I’m shocked.

I come to support forums looking for technical help not attitude, and you have tons of it.

You are telling members they can’t tell you what to say but you have no problem starting with this opinion:

If you don’t trust your authors and contributors, then they probably shouldn’t be authors and contributors.

We never asked for your opinion, we want to do something specific with wordpress and we expect someone to provide a solution. The last person we’d expect to dismiss the request is a moderator. I don’t care whether you think it’s necessary or makes any sense to you. In fact I don’t care about you in the least.

I am appalled that you are a moderator because you are allowed to say things like this:
First off, don’t ever tell me what to say. I speak my mind as I see fit. Saying such a thing to me in real life would gain you a punch in the nose, so I suggest you keep that in mind when telling other people what to do in the future.
That is confrontational, we are not confrontational to you. We are asking for help.

And this:

Secondly, do not tell other people on these forums what they may or may not comment on. If you disagree with what somebody says, then either say so, speak to the mods if you think it’s necessary, or leave. But do not attempt to moderate other people yourself. That’s the mods job, not yours.

you are basically doing the exact thing you are telling us not to do. You are ridiculous, not the discussion.

WordPress is open source and only exist because WE use it, not you. No one has more right to tell a moderator they are not helpful then the members. You are not in charge. You do not have a purpose in this community without us. If you cannot answer our questions properly and if WordPress the organization does not continually improve their program to our satisfaction we will go elsewhere. As a moderator you should represent WordPress with a positive and helpful attitude. We are your customers. And yes we can and will tell you how you should behave on this forum because it is we million members that matter to WordPress not you.
We are your moderator.

prodmod: I was not a moderator when I wrote those words. I have became one since then. This is a several month old thread here.

You are telling members they can’t tell you what to say but you have no problem starting with this opinion:

Stating your opinion is fine. Telling other people what to do (not to reply) and that they are not being helpful is not.

We never asked for your opinion

What you asked for is irrelevant. Other people are free to speak their opinions in this forum, and you will not tell them otherwise.

That is confrontational, we are not confrontational to you. We are asking for help.

I am sorry, but the person whom I was replying to (who was not you) was indeed being confrontational and dismissive.

There is more than one way to do things, I agree. However, these ways are not always equal. Quite often on these forums, we have people ask questions like “how do I make a list of posts from a category on this static Page I made”, and we have to explain to them that there are better ways to do things like that. We try to guide them into doing things better, not just answering the questions they asked.

This happens all the time in different ways, so when somebody asks what seems like a strange question, it’s commonplace to ask them questions or suggest alternative methods, instead of simply answering the question outright. The idea often being to make the question asker see the problem in a different way. People who are dismissive of these types of answers are therefore often the problematic ones.

So, my words stand. Do not give other people orders in this forum. Respect other people’s opinions and advice. If you disagree, then fine, you can disagree. You can even say that you disagree and why. But do not give commands. Do not tell other people that they are not being helpful. And you absolutely will not tell other people what to say (or to “say nothing”).

We are your moderator.

Not here you are not. And you are free to leave if you do not agree.

ok. then according to your recommendation I will only share my opinions because I am free to do so.

I agree with your statement
We (moderators) try to guide them into doing things better, not just answering the questions they asked.

However, in my opinion, you did not guide us into doing anything better in this thread but only questioned why we would want to.

In my opinion, moderators like jeremyclark13 and kafkaesqui actually tried to help members find a solution without the slightest hint of attitude or opinion. I cannot confirm that they are perfect solutions but they seem to have contributed positively to this thread which others can build from.

In my opinion you have spent more time reacting to members comments, tone, and behavior than providing any value.

In my opinion, as a wordpress user, I would not feel comfortable if all moderators on this forum acted and reacted to members questions and comments the way that Otto42 has on this thread. Reasons why can be explored above. Search this page for “punch in the nose” for a sample. Unless you are only 13 years old, this behaviour is a bit unsettling.

But that’s just my opinion for you to consider or dismiss as you wish.

This issue is must be taken seriously by the development team. It should be key to have a feature in which you can hide any part of the dashboard that CAN contain personal information.

I’m running a citizen journalism social site where many people can post articles and moderate comments. And everyone can post comments – even with phony names and e-mail addresses.

To give good writers even freer leash I must be able to hide the commentators details. Otherwise I must completely trust any writer which is impossible.

In our local community there is growing curiosity who hides behind the user names.

If anyone can guess the right person behind a username and spread the word the site’s credebility goes down the drain.

Addition:
We had one incident where a contributor cross references an ip-address whith a users different aliases and finally came upp with a proper email-adress that pointed out the real person.

First: Read This https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/199569?replies=1

Second: The original question from jwesseldyke is a VALID question.

Third: I have been answering computer questions for 28 years and I would NEVER cloud the issue with the BS like I read above (excluding the truly helpful ones of course).

Fourth: Don’t forget that some of the people who “control” a forum turn into TROLLS very easily.

Fifth:trig338 summed it up nicely.

Sixth: I am looking for the solution to exactly this problem, I don’t have an (easy) answer yet, but I could not resist responding to way this thread progressed.

When I find a solution I will post back here, I apologize for not having any helpful information at this point.