whoa I think maybe this is getting a bit "big brother is watching" paranoid hun.
To see members online is a default setting in all sites that have this type of forum ... be they nuke, vbulletin or anything else. What exactly is wrong with seeing who is online anyway? You do realise that people will know you are online anyway because they will see that you have just posted
I dont know how it is that people are able to see WHO someone is PMing .. I completely agree that that is taking the urine and is not on.
At the end of the day it is NOT something that everyone will agree on ... those who wish to be hidden will say it goes against their right to maintain privacy if they are not given that option.
IMO it is far easier to change my status to being hidden for privacy reasons than it is to have to go in and click to show myself online.
If people are concerned that they are bing followed by malicious members then that matter has to be taken up with the Site Admin and they are bound by the T&Cs to act immediately, suspending the malicious member if needs be. You need to keep any PM's or emails you receive from these "trolls" as evidence of their malicious intent towards you toehrwise Admin dont have a leg to stand on regards giving them a slap for breaking T&C's. I know this because the T&C's are almost identical on here as they are on our site and I have had reason t suspend a member for malicious behaviour.
We can block members on our site from registering under multiple ID's as our registration goes on the email address. However if you have multiple email addresses then you can register as many times as you like as long as you use a different one each time. Saying that we also ask for your name, but again, people can and will make up names!
IMO there is no clear answer to this whole issue of hide or not hide ... at the end of the day its down to the USER to decide what privacy level they want to set.
xxx