Server: [Request]Add options to hide or change user name in shared files 'file shared by user'

[yunlhan]

Hello,

This is actually not a bug report, rather a feature request. It seems nobody has mentioned this. The closest issue I found is issue 9587.

Thanks,
Yün

Steps to reproduce

1. Share a file from NC, then a link URL to the shared file will be generated;
2. Grab the link, and open web browser then go to the URL;
3. On top left corner of the banner of the download page of shared file, it shows

+-------------------------------------------------------------
| LOGO | SHARED FILE shared by USER
+-------------------------------------------------------------

Requested behaviour

Is it possible to add extra options when sharing the file, we can hide the USER name or change it to Anonymous etc.?

Actual behaviour

It is not changeable and shows the the user who has shared file.

Server configuration

NC 13.0.2

Operating system: Debian 9.0 stretch, LEMP stack on home server

[MorrisJobke]

It is not changeable and shows the the user who has shared file.

That is the whole idea of that feature.

cc @nextcloud/designers for the option for this.

IMO this is nothing we should implement.

It's about the "von Morris geteilt" in this image:

[MorrisJobke]

@yunlhan Why do you want to hide this information?

[yunlhan]

Thanks for your reply. I know it is important to show who's shared the file with colleagues. But if it is just a general share with the internet, i.e., the link is available in public domain, is it still necessary to show the name of the sharer? I am not sure if a bot can get a user name and auto generate passwords to attack a NC server.

So what I was thinking was if the share is in

• private group, the name is necessary.
• public domain, would be able to hide the name?

Thanks,
Yün

[juliushaertl]

I don't think the target group for that feature would be big enough to justify introducing another option for this. In most cases the sharer name is a useful information and should be kept.

@yunlhan you could just hide it visually like the following post in the forum suggests https://help.nextcloud.com/t/how-to-remove-shared-by-name/32492/5 Note that this will not hide it from the source of the webpage.

Otherwise how about just using a different user account that doesn't contain name details?

[yunlhan]

@juliushaertl Thanks for your link. I think creating a dummy account for general sharing will work.

[mamama1]

I and many others use this as a private dropbox. As it being private I don't want my real name to be shown to the whole world if I share something on the internet.

I think this is a legitimate request, think outside the box of nextcloud being an on-premises, online inhouse, colleague-collaboration platform.

those days privacy is a thing and to me it is ridiculous to not having an option to hide the real name.

[pge]

I have to second that.
As a platform that is meant to be used not only in a closed context like a company, family, etc. it should be possible to somewhat anonymize shared links.
There is nothing odd about privacy :)

[mamama1]

Unfortunately it seems this is not getting much resonance. This is nuts, who wants to publicly disclose his or her name when sharing some data in some (e.g.) forum?

Also, using some random, second user without a name doesn't seem very user friendly. How am I supposed to use this feature, if I have the Nextcloud client installed on my PC? If I want to share somethig with the world, use the Webclient? lol...

@nextcloud/designers please let us know...

[pge]

Nuts is to assume theres no audience for such a feature.
People that use nextcloud as an on-premise dropbox alternative like me are missing the "public folder" in Dropbox.
And @mamama1 is right. I don't see the need to always disclose my identity when sharing a link.

[kesselb]

Also, using some random, second user without a name doesn't seem very user friendly. How am I supposed to use this feature, if I have the Nextcloud client installed on my PC? If I want to share somethig with the world, use the Webclient? lol...

Its possible to connect multiple accounts with same client. If you need to use this regularly this might work for you.

[kesselb]

Here is an example if someone wants to work on it: https://github.com/nextcloud/server/pull/11898

Hide download button is similar and the same steps (new database field, extend sharing model, some ui stuff) are required for "anonymous sharing" option.