Making my picture visible only to people I can chat with

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been trying to get more information about how to make pictures
visible only to people I can chat with. The documentation at the Help
Center says "Pictures can be configured to show to all users who you
email or who email you, or they can be limited to only those users who
are able to see when you're online." and there's a link saying that if
you block a contact he won't be able to see when you're online. So, I
assume that if I block a contact he won't be able to see my picture. I
tried testing it a few days ago by blocking one of my contacts, but
the blocked contact can still see my picture. Is this a defect or am I
misunderstanding the documentation? How can I limit my picture to
contacts I haven't blocked? Thanks!

[Zack (Doc)]

I've never allowed someone to chat with me then blocked them so I
don't know. Perhaps they have a cached picture that won't be updated
if/when you change it. Perhaps it takes a while before the block
status makes their picture go away.

[Anonymous Coward]

On Feb 5, 4:02 pm, "Zack (Doc)" <z...@tnan.net> wrote:
> Perhaps they have a cached picture that won't be updated
> if/when you change it.

I don't think it has to do with the cache. I have access to the
blocked contact's account (I'm using it for testing purposes) and
tried clearing the cache. I tried changing my picture and removing my
picture; the blocked contact can see the changes more or less
immediately, so I doubt it's a problem with the cache. But since the
contact is blocked I thought he wouldn't see changes to my picture at
all just like he can't see changes to my online status.

> Perhaps it takes a while before the block
> status makes their picture go away.

I tried blocking the contact first then adding my picture. I thought
the blocked contact would never see the picture in the first place,
but he can. Plus, this has been going on since at least last Friday.

I hope my additional comments help. It sounds like blocking the
contact should prohibit him from viewing my picture like the
documentation seems to say. So, is the behavior I'm seeing a bug? Or
have I done something wrong or misread the documentation?

[Zack (Doc)]

OK... since I don't use that feature, you made me DIG to figure something out.

I believe you're reading correctly, but the help is in two completely
different parts, so it's difficult to be SURE what they mean. Here's
something I found that could be where you're getting it.

The first section is under "About Google Pictures", and a key point is
that it says "configured to show to all users who you email or who
email you, or they can be limited" I think you may be missing the
"limiting" part.

Under "Selecting your Google picture"
<http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=35529&ctx=sibling>.
It mentions a setting to "select whether you'd like all Gmail users to
see your picture, or only those who you've allowed to chat with you".
I'd check to make sure you'd limiting it to only allowed to chat with
you vs all GMail users, prior to filing a bug report.

[Anonymous Coward]

On Feb 5, 4:42 pm, "Zack (Doc)" <z...@tnan.net> wrote:
> Under "Selecting your Google picture"
> <http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=35529&ctx=sibling>.
> It mentions a setting to "select whether you'd like all Gmail users to
> see your picture, or only those who you've allowed to chat with you".
> I'd check to make sure you'd limiting it to only allowed to chat with
> you vs all GMail users, prior to filing a bug report.
>

Thanks Zack! Yes, those are the same instructions I eventually found
and followed last Friday. I just double checked, and I definitely have
the settings for "My picture" set to "Visible only to people I can
chat with." However, my picture has still been visible to a blocked
contact for days. So, if this is a bug, how do I file a report?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, do you think the Gmail folks are watching this group and are
already aware of this problem? Is there some other action I should
take to bring it to their attention?

I really do hope this gets fixed, actually. "Social networking"
functionalities like contact pictures could cause a lot of stress on
users if they think they have some privacy or control over what they
post but in fact they don't due to an unaddressed technical issue. At
a minimum, if the current behavior is the desired behavior (i.e. my
picture is visible to all my Talk contacts, blocked or not) then the
documentation should be updated so that users can be accurately
informed. Right now, a user following the online instructions could
have the impression that she is not sharing her picture with people
she blocks when in fact they can see her picture without her even
knowing it... and that's not cool.

[balikitty]

If you are really needing a quick bandaid, download a picture of
anything to put in the position. Or of course, leave it blank.I have 2
different pix, one that is public on groups, one that is hidden on
chat, and it does not show up.. But, have not blocked anyone from my
chat contacts either. Dont know if thats the problem, or if you dont
want anyone at all to see it in the chats.Things are frustrating, but
we are learning!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks balikitty. But user's shouldn't have to "learn" to work around
discrepancies in software and its documentation in order to protect
their privacy. That would be a horrible standard of quality for Gmail
users to accept. Besides, I'm sure the Gmail team doesn't intend to
frustrate users in the first place, especially regarding the privacy
of user data. So, I'm just trying to make them aware of the issue so
that either the documentation can be updated or the apparent defect
can be fixed. I'm not looking for a bandaid. I'm looking to restore my
confidence in the integrity of Gmail as a system; i.e. the software
does what the documentation says and the documentation says what the
software does. Obviously, this issue with contact pictures is
particularly important to me, but I'm sure it's also important to the
Gmail team to inform users of what user content is public, what is
private and what control users have over their content's visibility,
especially something personal like a picture. So, if anyone has
suggestions for what should be done to inform Google of this issue and
get it resolved, please let me know. Thanks!

[Zack (Doc)]

As always, the only way to ensure contact with the GMail team is to
submit a bug report. Make sure to include as much detail as possible
as you have with the first few posts in this thread. Perhaps even
include a link to this thread.

If you've forgotten how to submit a bug report, just search this forum
and you'll see it mentioned several times. No Google Employee
officially reads this forum.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks Zack! I followed the troubleshooter at the bottom of the
"Selecting your Google picture" help page. The feedback submission box
only allowed 100 characters - too small to say anything other than the
instructions don't work. I sent a second feedback submission with a
link to this thread. Hopefully, they will put the two together. I
couldn't find a way to submit a more detailed bug report. Thanks again
for all the help and hopefully the Gmail team will address this
problem soon!

On Feb 8, 11:46 am, "Zack (Doc)" <z...@tnan.net> wrote:
> As always, the only way to ensure contact with the GMail team is to
> submit a bug report. Make sure to include as much detail as possible
> as you have with the first few posts in this thread. Perhaps even
> include a link to this thread.
>
> If you've forgotten how to submit a bug report, just search this forum
> and you'll see it mentioned several times. No Google Employee
> officially reads this forum.
>

[Zack (Doc)]

yeah, unfortunately, depending on the problem you're reporting, the
bug report offers differing levels of detail/required information.