Corey McKrill 12:58 am on November 28, 2017

Removing Twitter handles from Attendees pages

Recently the question has come up of how to remove the Twitter handles that are displayed on WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. sites’ Attendees pages (or wherever else the `camptix_attendees` shortcodeShortcode A shortcode is a placeholder used within a WordPress post, page, or widget to insert a form or function generated by a plugin in a specific location on your site. is used).

Currently, as long as the attendee has provided a Twitter handle during the ticket purchase process, it will be included in the shortcode output by default, and there isn’t actually a way to prevent its inclusion. The only option is to hide it with CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site.. I suspect this was an unintentional oversight when the Twitter field was originally added.

A better implementation, I believe, would be to leave out the Twitter handle by default, but allow its inclusion using the optional `questions` shortcode parameter.

So, two questions for discussion:

Is this the best approach for addressing attendee Twitter handle concerns?
For any change we decide to implement, should it apply retroactively to all previous camps’ attendee lists, or just new camps moving forward?

If you have concerns about this or want to discuss the overall need for such a change, please leave a comment below!

Jon Brown 1:24 am on November 28, 2017

Seems easier just to indicate when it’s collected that it’ll be published. Then people can leave it blank to avoid that.

However, I don’t see anything wrong with the changes suggested.

I would not want them to be retroactive though, personally, I _want_ my handle there on old (and future) camp sites.
Ulrich 9:09 am on November 28, 2017

I agree with Jon we can make it clearer that the twitter handles will be published.

I don’t see a reason why someone would give their twitter handle but not want it published on the website.
Francesca Marano 11:17 am on November 28, 2017

I agree with @grapplerulrich, if people don’t want their Twitter handle published why would they write it down in the first place? This is not a concern, it’s an intentional disclusure of information, the field is not mandatory.
Absolutely no on applying this retroactively: as @jb510 said, I want my handle and I want to meet and connect with other people through their handle.
Asking WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Organisers to choose if they want the field to be public or not seems to me an added burden.
I think a good approach would be informed consent: a label next to the field that says “This information will be published in your Attendee profile”.
By the way, same goes for Company and website: if for any reason you don’t want them in public, do not fill the field.
Jenny 12:41 pm on November 28, 2017

If someone realises they want to change their details on the site, they can edit theit ticket and that will chaneg what is visible right?

As others have previously said – better descrption at the point of asking for the information is probably easier.

If someone wants to delete their twitter profiles later on ( i’m thinking of a case when the event has happened) is it possible for osmeone to still edit their ticket to remove their twitter handle- or any personal information? If its not the case,I guess there is cause to create it so that people can still edit their publically viewable data, but not request a refund etc.
- Ian Dunn 5:41 pm on November 28, 2017
  
  > is it possible for osmeone to still edit their ticket to remove their twitter handle- or any personal information?
  
  If the organizers have left the `[camptix]` shortcodeShortcode A shortcode is a placeholder used within a WordPress post, page, or widget to insert a form or function generated by a plugin in a specific location on your site. in the Tickets page, then yeah, the `Edit` link in the ticket receipt should still work.
  
  If not, then organizers would have to manually remove the data, either by temporarily re-adding the `[camptix]` shortcode, or by editing the Attendee post and using the `Custom Fields` metaboxMetabox A post metabox is a draggable box shown on the post editing screen. Its purpose is to allow the user to select or enter information in addition to the main post content. This information should be related to the post in some way..
Kevin Cristiano 1:15 pm on November 28, 2017

It sounds like I am of a completely different mind than the others that have posted so far.

I don’t like that the twitter handle and website are both hardcoded and published by default.

I see this as what do we publish about our attendees publicly and what data we have to print on the badges.

I do see this as a privacy concern. We are publishing information that allows for data mining. We have had people scrape attendee data and mass email attendees (after they use name and twitter handle to guess their email) , DM or tweet at attendees. The reaction I have seen is universal that attendees do not want their information used this way.

However, they do want their twitter handles and other information on their badges. We print company information on badges all the time, yet we don’t publish that by default.

I do think we should default to only showing the attendee name on the attendee page and allowing other data to be published if orgainzers want.

Currently if a problem occurs, we have to remove data from the attendee and that prevents it’s use everywhere. Removing it from the attendees page – in fact not having there by default would be best in my opinion.
- Jenny 2:18 pm on November 28, 2017
  
  I do see this as a privacy concern. We are publishing information that allows for data mining. We have had people scrape attendee data and mass email attendees (after they use name and twitter handle to guess their email) , DM or tweet at attendees. The reaction I have seen is universal that attendees do not want their information used this way.
  
  That gives more context as to why it’s being requested and in light of that it makes more sense.
  
  I think control of data shown should be both a organsier, and attendee ability.
  
  As an organiser – we need to think about why we are sourcing the information and ensuring that the reason why is clear. A rethink of how we source that information in terms of the UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. and the labelling could help.
  
  As an attendee – we should be able to decide if our details are displayed on te physical badges and/or attendees list and anywhere asking for the information should be clear on what it is being used for.
  
  I also wonder if we can make it harder to scrape information as well. Maybe using functions such as `antispambot()` function ( its just an idea )
- Jon Brown 10:41 pm on November 28, 2017
  
  I too understand the data privacy angle, but that doesn’t change how I think it should be handled.
  
  First, I believe it’s a noisy few that are concerned about data mining their twitter handles based on attendee pages. That doesn’t mean they should be ignored, just I don’t think the “fix” is a change in default behavior.
  
  Second, I think if that’s the issue that publishing ANY info about attendees becomes an issue, it’s not just the twitter handle. Read on…
  
  On twitter handles,:
  If attendees don’t want that information published, don’t provide it. It’s not required. If users are confused as to if it will be published, then add a disclosure note when it’s requested. I don’t think it’s reasonable, but there could be opt-in/out checkboxes there. Again, I think that’s excessive.
  
  Personally, if another attendee wants to reach out to me the preferred way for me is for them to hit me up on twitter. I want them to see my name on the attendee list and reach out via twitter if they feel like it.
  
  I don’t really care either way about my twitter handle being on my badge… that doesn’t do anyone much good. Are people I’m talking to face to face supposed to see my twitter handle and write it down for later reference? Is the expectation they’re more likely to recognize me by my twitter handle than my actual name?
  
  Yes, there are tools that scrape pages (reference the mobile app WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. 2017 fiasco among others). The twitter handle isn’t a big deal in that scraping I’ve seen. They usually take the first name and the domain name and use that, then first.last. After all that maybe they grab twitter. And, that information is elsewhere on the internet, like their twitter page… it’s not confidential.
  
  However, it all brings up what I think is a better question and solution:
  
  Should we allow attendees to opt-out of being listed on the attendee page at all?
  
  It would make more sense to me to ask “may we list you on the attendee page, yes/no?”. That would be a new field. Going forward the shortcodeShortcode A shortcode is a placeholder used within a WordPress post, page, or widget to insert a form or function generated by a plugin in a specific location on your site. would check for that and hide people. Retroactively it shows up and if a user wanted to log in and change it, or have an organizer change it they conceivably could.
  - Ian Dunn 5:44 pm on November 29, 2017
    
    > It would make more sense to me to ask “may we list you on the attendee page, yes/no?”.
    
    I think that’s a good point. We already have a way for people to hide people from the Attendees page, but right now it’s only accessible to organizers, so attendees have to use the contact form, and then organizers have to manually modify their Attendee post.
    
    Making that option accessible to attendees during registration seems like a simpler solution than adding new questions that are specific to Twitter handles.
    
    It would also help in much more important situations, like when an attendee has been the victim of abuse or stalking, and doesn’t want their abuser tracking them down.
    
    I also agree that it should be opt-out, rather than opt-in. The Attendees page is a helpful way to connect people, and I think the majority of attendees are fine with their public information being there. It would help to add a disclosure notice, though, just to make sure everyone understands the implications of entering their information.
  - Cheryl LaPrade 5:00 pm on December 7, 2017
    
    @jb510 – On twitter handles,:
    If attendees don’t want that information published, don’t provide it. It’s not required. If users are confused as to if it will be published, then add a disclosure note when it’s requested. I don’t think it’s reasonable, but there could be opt-in/out checkboxes there. Again, I think that’s excessive.
    
    @jb510 – However, it all brings up what I think is a better question and solution:
    Should we allow attendees to opt-out of being listed on the attendee page at all?
    It would make more sense to me to ask “may we list you on the attendee page, yes/no?”.
    
    These quotes sum up my thoughts on the matter quite nicely… so just adding a quick 💯!
bennyhigh 7:50 pm on December 1, 2017

a very nice idea!! JAMB
Sherie LaPrade 4:58 pm on December 7, 2017

I have nothing really new to add to this discussion, just wanted to share that I am also against removing twitter handles retroactively from previous camps, and am also in support of keeping twitter handles on attendee pages by default. The attendee page is the #1 way that I (and many others) connect with other attendees … as @jb510 stated above, it’s not very practical to try and see/retain twitter handles from badges when meeting people in person. A full opt-out option for future attendees to be hidden from the page makes the most sense to me.
Corey McKrill 7:37 pm on December 8, 2017

Some good points made here. Allowing people to opt themselves out of the Attendees page altogether (rather than having to ask an organizer to do it) is definitely a good idea. In fact, there’s already a ticket for it in the CampTix GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ repo:

https://github.com/Automattic/camptix/issues/184

However, that doesn’t really address @kcristiano‘s specific concern: what if an attendee wants to have their Twitter handle included on their badge, but not on the Attendees page? Is that worth accommodating, or is that a fairly narrow edge case?

Personally, I think trying to create a UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. where the ticket purchaser could choose where specific pieces of information could appear would be really difficult, and probably cause a lot of confusion. One low-tech alternative might be to have sharpies on hand at the event so attendees can add their Twitter handle to their badge themselves if they opted not to include it in their ticket registration.
- Corey McKrill 8:14 pm on December 8, 2017
  
  (And I agree that we should add a note to the Twitter input field that clarifies where it will be shown.)
Shawn Hooper 4:36 pm on December 13, 2017

Just adding my 2 cents here. I think a disclaimer on the registration page as to how your Twitter handle will be used is sufficient.

In my opinion, if someone is going the list their twitter handle, it’s so that people CAN interact with them (be it before, during or after the event). Unlike email, which is required for organizers to reach out, receipts, etc. and is often kept more private than a Twitter username due to spam.
Josepha 8:18 pm on January 18, 2018

I think this was requested for two reasons:
1. We don’t clearly specify what information we will be publishing
2. We are experiencing some site scraping at larger events.

Perhaps the winning combination here is to add help text, or otherwise be clear about what we publish at the time of ticket purchase, as well as add specific mentions of CAN-SPAM, CASL, and GDPR to our terms of service.
- Corey McKrill 11:35 pm on January 18, 2018
  
  Here’s a new MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. ticket for adding the help text:
  
  https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/3394
- Gary Jones 1:07 pm on April 16, 2018
  
  otherwise be clear about what we publish at the time of ticket purchase
  
  While adding clarification is good, it’s still the wrong approach. Privacy by Design shouldn’t be that folks can opt-out of having their Twitter handle shared on the site/badge but it should be opt-in. Share nothing, unless you have the explicit permission to do so.

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Removing Twitter handles from Attendees pages

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