# "This user's public profile is hidden"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-users-public-profile-is-hidden/932836>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 13, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-users-public-profile-is-hidden/932836 "2021-02-13T15:04:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-users-public-profile-is-hidden/932836/1 "2021-02-13T15:04:51Z")

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I clicked on someone’s profile (I enjoy reading that member’s posts, so I check their posting history occasionally ) and right now the only thing visible is “This user’s public profile is hidden.” No post activity can be seen, no private messages can be sent, nothing. Then I went looking through my own profile to see how to do this (which I don’t want to do, I’m just curious) and can’t find a setting to hide myself.

Anyway, what’s up with a profile that shows as “This user’s public profile is hidden” ?

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**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-users-public-profile-is-hidden/932836/2 "2021-02-13T15:26:14Z")

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From Preferences choose Interface and scroll down to check off the hide profile box.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-users-public-profile-is-hidden/932836/3 "2021-02-13T15:31:53Z")

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Many users have hidden profiles, even those who didn’t deliberately hide their profile on Discourse. My guess is that we had a hidden profile setting on VBulletin that worked differently but carried over when our profiles were migrated.

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-users-public-profile-is-hidden/932836/4 "2021-02-13T15:45:10Z")

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> [@squeegee](#):
>
> no private messages can be sent,

Are you sure? You can’t send a message from the poster’s profile, but if you click on your own profile in the top right corner, and choose the “Mail” menu, you can send a message by filling in the poster’s name. (At least, it looks that way to me. I checked by using the name of a poster with a hidden profile, and it auto-filled in. I didn’t want to bother that poster, so I didn’t click “send”, but it sure looks like you can send a message that way.)

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**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-users-public-profile-is-hidden/932836/5 "2021-02-13T15:45:52Z")

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Huh, good to know, thanks