Option to disable display of OS and Browser on posts?
 

I just did a post and noticed it now shows my browser (Firefox) and the OS (Windows XP) I did it with below the "about me" information.

On doing a test from my CentOS box I saw it correctly changed the OS to Linux on that test post.

This appears to be a feature introduced today.

On checking the options I didn't see any option to remove or hide that information.

Please either delete this feature or add an option to allow users to not display it in their posts.

Yea I think an option to enable/disable would be nice. However it seems to be only limited to this part of LQ, since I don't see these two images in the general forum, where I have posts. :jawa: Weird, and now it won't even show it. :scratch:

I saw it in other forums before, but perhaps now it is being tested on a more limited basis.

Personally I see no problem with reporting the OS and browser publicly, but I am sure that not everyone will agree. It should certainly be an option, but I think it is safe enough to default it to "on".

Hrmm, I noticed on another post though, it doesn't always show the penguin indicating Linux. For example. On one of Jeremy's posts, it shows the ubuntu logo. So do you think that Jeremy will add the logos to each distro? Or to only the widely known Ubuntu, leaving all other Linux distros with the penguin? Someone should post in a *BSD, and Solaris. I wonder if Jeremy will add logos to those too. Heh. :D


[edit]

I am running Slackware. So I wonder if we get our Slackware logo.

I have seen Fedora and SuSE icons too. I assume it is pulling that information from the user agent string, but I wasn't aware that distributions actually modified that.

I like the idea. I'm posting from OpenBSD and Lynx.

Edit: Two question marks, I'm incognito. :)

Neat is this something new? I think its a good idea.

@bsdunix, there is no image though. Only question marks. :doh:

I was surprised to see that appear, so I jumped over here to start a thread about it (I guess I'm pretty slow).

I'm still trying to decide whether to be annoyed at this invasion of privacy. I'm certainly surprised by it.

It really isn't a big deal beyond the surprise of it suddenly appearing, but my opinion on this new feature is still tending negative.

Posting from Mac OS X and Safari.

Hrmm. I thought the Windows logo would just imply all versions of windows. However looking at johnsfine's post, it shows an older Windows logo. Are you running 2000?

@bsdunix, yep, now we see some logos. Neat. :D

[edit]

Oh, you can also hover your mouse over the logos. This helps. The old windows logo shows up at win98_nt, and the other one as xp/2003.

Thanks for the feedback. We introduced this feature in BETA today as a way to help members better understand the environment of the Original Poster. As the browser is in most cases not important, it has been removed. It has been pointed out that in many cases a person will be posting from one machine (likely with Windows) with a question about a different (likely Linux) machine. We do understand this, but feel that overall the net result of the feature could be positive. Keep in mind that you do have the ability to completely disable this functionality in all your posts. That option can be found under "Edit Options -> Show User Agent in Posts". Additional feedback on the feature is appreciated.

--jeremy

Jeremy how come you get the Ubuntu logo, and we get the penguin? Are you planning to put the logos of other distros too? :)

Slackware is one of the supported distro's. Have you installed a 3rd party browser (which wouldn't have the standard Slackware User Agent)?

--jeremy

Edit: Here's a post with a Slack icon - http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...07#post3651307