Bookwyrm has different privacy levels which let users control how public something is and who it is visible to. Do you want to share your reading with the internet, just your friends, or do you want to keep it private?
There are four privacy levels: Public, Unlisted, Followers, and Private. Broadly speaking, Public is visible to anyone; Unlisted hides it from discovery pages; Followers is only visible to people who follow you; and Private is only visible to you. There are some slight differences in how these apply to different things in Bookwyrm.
Throughout the website, you can check what something's privacy level is by the icon next to it. Public is a globe, Unlisted is an open lock, Followers is a closed lock, and Private is an envelope.
Note: Anyone can just follow you and then be able to see all things you marked Followers-only.
To limit this, go to Settings - Edit Profile - Privacy and enable 'Manually approve followers'.
This allows you to vet follow requests, or limit them just to your friends.
Other privacy settings are explained at the bottom of this page.
On Bookwyrm, statuses can be posted at four different privacy levels, which restrict who can see it and if it's promoted on public pages. Each status has its own privacy level, so you can choose when to make it Public or Private, or set a default in settings. Note that it cannot be changed once it's published.
The default option.
The exact same as Public, but:
Shelves are Public by default, but you can edit them to make them only visible to your followers or just yourself.
| User | Books on Public shelves | Books on Unlisted shelves | Books on Followers-only shelves | Books on Private shelves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anyone | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Follows you | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Yourself | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Groups have the same privacy settings as statuses and lists do, except they can't be Followers-only. Group membership always requires an invitation from the group's owner, even if it is marked Public. Note that currently, the Groups tab on a profile is only shown if the user viewing it is logged in (see #3610).
Anyone can view the Group page, members and its Lists (except for private Lists)
In the future it will be displayed on a Groups discovery page.
Found in Settings - Edit Profile - Privacy.
When enabled, you will get a notification when someone wants to follow you, and you'll be able to choose whether or not to accept it. Useful if you want to check who they are or restrict your followers to only be your friends and people you know.
Found in Settings - Edit Profile - Privacy.
By default, anyone can view the list of people you follow and who follow you. There are many reasons you might not want this, so Bookwyrm allows you to hide these lists.
Found in Settings - Edit Profile - Display.
When enabled, your account may be suggested to other users and will be on the account directory.