Posting Privacy

I have an idea for a privacy statement on posting, and I would value the
feedback of this group on it.

I have three goals for the privacy statement.
  1. I want posters to know what will be shown to whom.
  2. I do not want their flow to be interrupted!
  3. I want the statement to be discoverable, showing
     the right information at the right time.
To these ends, I am proposing putting a disclosure button at the bottom of the
Topic and Start a New Topic pages, just before the Post button. Using a
disclosure button should allow GroupServer to display both a brief privacy
summary and a full privacy statement. (In no way will this negate the need for
a site-wide privacy page.)

In its closed state, the disclosure will show one of two statements:
  ▶ Post visibility: private
or
  ▶ Post visibility: public
The former is shown if only logged in users have access to the post. It may not
be very private, if the group has got 150 members for example. The latter is
shown if anonymous users can view the post.

In its open state the disclosure will show three different texts.

  ▼ Post visibility: private
    • *Group* members will be able to see your post on the web, and
      will receive an email from you.
    • Your post on the *web* will contain your message, and link to
      your profile. Your email address will not be displayed.
    • The *email* will contain your message, your email address, and
      a link to your post on the web.

  ▼ Post visibility: private
    • *Group* members and *site* members will be able to see your
      post on the web, and *group* members will receive an email from
      you.
    • Your post on the *web* will contain your message, and link to
      your profile. Your email address will not be displayed.
    • The *email* will contain your message, your email address, and
      a link to your post on the web.

  ▼ Post visibility: public
    • *Anyone* — including search engines and people who are not
      logged in — will be able to see your post on the web, and
      *group* members will receive an email from you.
    • Your post on the *web* will contain your message, and link to
      your profile. Your email address will not be displayed.
    • The *email* will contain your message, your email address, and
      a link to your post on the web.

Only the first bullet point differs. It states the general categories of users
that can see the post: group members, site members, and anyone. I explicitly
mention search engines in the Public disclosure because people may not think of
them as belonging to “anyone”. While, groups that are visible to group members
*and* site members are not common, they do exist and I want to still support
them.

The second and third bullet points state what will be shown on the Web and in
the email message respectively. People are poor at reading (or hearing)
negation, so both bullet points sate what *is* shown in each medium, rather
than what is not shown.

The third bullet point does not disclose the whole truth for all sites. Some
sites add a link a person's profile in the footer of an email message. However,
because it is optional, and because it does not disclose any more information
than following the link to the post on the Web, I decided to leave this detail
out.

So what do you think? I am disappointed we cannot send people this data before
they post using email, but that is one of the problems with the medium ☺

Kind regards,
  Michael