[HN Gopher] GitHub: Private Profiles beta
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       GitHub: Private Profiles beta
        
       Author : judge2020
       Score  : 16 points
       Date   : 2022-04-21 21:52 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.blog)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.blog)
        
       | lmc wrote:
       | S'alright. More granular controls would be nice.
        
       | MaxLeiter wrote:
       | The screenshot in the post mentions hiding "leaderboards". What
       | are those in the context of github? Google isnt showing anything
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | I took that to be these kind of things:
         | https://github.com/mysql/mysql-server/graphs/contributors
        
         | martinwoodward wrote:
         | Martin from GitHub here. The "leaderboards" are actually what
         | you see as "Most Helpful" tables in GitHub Discussions (see
         | https://github.com/github/feedback/discussions for an example).
         | We should probably change the language on that settings screen
         | - thanks!
        
           | ushakov wrote:
           | i'd like to ask a question about the "Include private
           | contributions on my profile" feature
           | 
           | if i'm a member of private org does it count my contributions
           | too? and if i'm no longer a member of the org are my
           | contributions still counted to my profile?
        
             | martinwoodward wrote:
             | Yes, and I think yes but I would need to test it to be
             | sure. I do know the contributions disappear if you only
             | have public contributions enabled and then turn a repo
             | private but if you have private enabled then as long as the
             | contributions still map to your ID it should show up. Does
             | it not work that way for you?
        
               | ushakov wrote:
               | the first one i can confirm, but the second one i
               | actually do not remember
               | 
               | the scenario is the following: somebody invites me to
               | their org to do some work on their private repo, then
               | after the work is done they remove me from the org
               | 
               | what i expect in this case is that my contributions are
               | still counted as long as the repository is on GitHub,
               | even when i'm no longer a member of the org
               | 
               | it's a very minor feature but a very nice one for
               | contractors like me who want to show some progress!
        
               | martinwoodward wrote:
               | Sounds good - LMK if you find it's not working that way
               | for you.
        
         | nitrix wrote:
         | On a similar note, the screenshot should probably put emphasis
         | on the first bullet point "Make profile private and hide
         | activity".
         | 
         | What jumps to the eye right now is that second option checked,
         | as if that's the new feature.
        
       | dhzhzjsbevs wrote:
       | I just discovered r/overemployed. And my biggest concern was the
       | fact my j1 is mostly open source on GitHub.
       | 
       | Thank you Microsoft? Eugh nope. Still weird.
        
       | Shadonototra wrote:
       | Great! one thing that made me move away from github and actually
       | self host gitea was how invasive their social features were
       | without being able to opt out
        
       | ushakov wrote:
       | how is this feature good for GitHub as a community?
       | 
       | GitHub has always been a social coding platform
       | 
       | i remember what happened when VK allowed people to make their
       | profiles private
       | 
       | everyone just made their VK profile private and now you can't see
       | beyond a person's name and avatar
       | 
       | which sucks, because it makes VK look like a ghost town
       | 
       | edit: why am i getting downvoted for asking a question?
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | reidjs wrote:
         | I think this is a great idea. Some people may choose not to use
         | the social aspects of github and prefer using it only as a
         | personal source code repository.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | GitHub is using enterprise features as a revenue driver,
         | especially appsec tooling. There is a large cohort of users who
         | will need a GitHub profile for using GitHub, but the social
         | aspects would be a net negative.
         | 
         | I personally love this feature and have been waiting forever
         | for it. Default to privacy over social features.
        
         | jreese wrote:
         | It also sucks when terrible people abuse public profiles to
         | harass and intimidate people. Privacy should always be an
         | option for those who want or need it, otherwise we indirectly
         | force marginalized people out of these spaces entirely.
        
           | ushakov wrote:
           | well social networks are _per se_ public profiles
           | 
           | if make your whole profile private this would exclude you
           | from the network
        
         | encryptluks2 wrote:
         | Translation, how is privacy a good feature for users?
        
         | textadventure wrote:
         | Choice is generally good in my opinion. Considering what the
         | majority of Github is as a community I would very much doubt
         | that the majority is going to be making their profiles private.
         | Making it private makes no sense if you collaborate and
         | contribute with open source projects (or host your own), and it
         | doesn't help with having a public profile that you can
         | potentially show off to companies you want to be hired by.
         | 
         | So who is this feature for? Those who have no interest in the
         | social aspects of Github and want to use it privately. I'm sure
         | that's going to be a minority.
        
         | charcircuit wrote:
         | I never use github's social features. They aren't useful to me
         | compared to their features like source code hosting, issues /
         | pull requests, wiki, and version release.
        
         | martinwoodward wrote:
         | FWIW we have a quite a bit of history of allowing people to
         | protect their privacy.
         | 
         | https://github.blog/2020-12-17-no-cookie-for-you/
         | 
         | https://docs.github.com/en/account-and-profile/setting-up-an...
         | 
         | In this instance we don't think it will hurt the social coding
         | experience of open source and in fact might encourage folks who
         | would otherwise be put off. But we are testing this particular
         | feature and will keep iterating on it depending how things go
         | and what the feedback is.
        
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       (page generated 2022-04-21 23:00 UTC)