Phasing out private files in favor of private folders
Now that we’ve launched our new password-protected folders feature, we are going to start phasing out the old privacy option, private files. We think folders are a lot more useful for accomplishing password-protection and small-group sharing, and we don’t want to have a redundant feature lingering around the site and making things unnecessarily confusing.
Starting next week, we will remove the “Make this file private” option from your upload forms, so all the new private stuff you upload should go into a password-protected folder instead of being marked “private” on a file-by-file basis. Remember, you’ll never be prompted for a password to view your own folders, so you can set those folder passwords to whatever you want, and as long as you never give them to anyone, you will be the only person who can see the file.
All your current private files will stay private forever. We think it’s a lot more functional to put them in a password-protected folder, but it’s your call. Drop some comments with any questions, and keep on rockin’.
June 17th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
It’s good that they will stay private, because it would be difficult to move all them to new folders.
Now I will again ask for subfolders, because they needed more and more with this new features. Maybe if I repeat it over and over you’ll make it!
June 18th, 2007 at 12:06 am
i think that it should be are choice to make file private or not. i have a folder full of quick pages i use in scrapbooking and i do not want people to download unless i let them. and i mark it public when i want them to get a link and private when i don’t. if the whole folder is protceted with a password then does that mean i have to give the password to the people, and then will they be able to download all my files in that folder. if it is possable i would like to put all my private files in one folder and give access to only the file i want them to see. and offer all the links like the Html and forum and e-mail links when i want to give them. that’s the only thing that stops me from using this site for all my up-loads. helen williams
June 18th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Thanks a lot for introducing those password protected folders, it’s really a good tradeoff between simplicity @divShare and usability @elsewhere.
Please provide subfolders!
Please provide an “automatic virtual (default) folder” on the dashboard where all files are collected which have not been moved to a folder explicitly. (Would this “default folder” have a password option? Well… why not…)
Can we rely on the download pages of files which are in folders to show the folder content as well “forever”? Or is this a feature which may be removed?
Either way, as it has been said here before by others, it would be great to be able to have a link to “the folder itself” instead of having to provide to a link where a download or a streaming is immediately started. Could save a lot of bandwidth because the way it’s now a lot of unwanted downloads will start.
Surprisingly, I can live with these major changes you made, so thanks again for making it possible for me to not have to upload everything again at another service. Still, I don’t want to have the feeling I need to read your Blog all the time to be sure my shared files stay accessible. I need grace periods and alert e-mails to keep up MY good work.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:05 am
@Helen, why not have one folder for each group of people you want to share files with. You share that particualr password with that particular person or group and keep your files in another folder until you want them to be downloadable. You achieve this by moving a particular file from your other (”private”) folder to the group’s folder. What do you think?
June 18th, 2007 at 1:53 am
I would love to see a stats on our dashboard, of total downloads, total private/public files, most popular files
June 18th, 2007 at 3:14 am
Hi Rob n Dave!
Sub Folders S’il vous plait!
For so many reasons!
Alex
June 18th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I tested your site for security again over the last few days. While it did pass the test with 0 downloads of my files, wouldn’t it have been easier to just put the profiles back and not have to mess around with passwords? It seems like you are at least trying to make things easier and more secure, but, in my opinion, you only made things more complicated. The profiles were very secure and all you needed to do was invite users to your site for them to be able to download your files. Also, they were already in place. It seems to me this would give you more customers and help your site grow. Changes are the BIG reason I NEVER pay for an account until I see the final results. Most sites start out caring about users wishes. Then they lower the boom and you are stuck with a paid account and changes that you hate. I am happy to see you are working on the things people don’t like. I would gladly pay for an account IF we had our profile page back and had total control of who could view it.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Sherrie: Private folders and profiles are a bit different. With profiles, when set to private, anybody who wanted to see your files was forced to register with the site, send a friend request, and then await your confirmation. Overall, only a small percentage of our users even created a profile and only a fraction of those people utilized it or added friends. With private folders, however, you can quickly set any password you want on a folder, send the password to anyone you want to access those files and they’ll instantly be able to view and download them without registering or worrying about how to add you as a friend and then waiting for your confirmation.
As you’ve probably noticed, we have a blog post dedicated to the removal of profiles which goes in depth about why this feature was removed and how it helps us focus on our core values of being a fast and reliable web host for everyone.
Thanks for being a part of the site, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Hi guys
I Love all the changes you guys made!
June 19th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Thanks Mau!
June 20th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I’m sooooooo confused with this whole private files….private folders thing.
How can I share a whole folder with someone and protect the files from the public.
If I mark private and send a link to a friend if they click on the link it asks then to log in. what if they are not a divshare member….can they not download the file???
Then If I mark public and put a passowrd on the folder i have to send my friend a link to each file?
What I’m looking to do is set up a folder that I can continuously upload stuff to that my friend can navigate to and download whatever they want.
It seems that there are no longer groups on divshare so I’m wondering how my friend will know there are new files available and how they can navigate to those files without me having to send a link everytime I add something.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:02 am
What happened to the groups? I really liked that feature as I feel that it truly protected my files from being downloaded by non group members. Not to mention the fact that the files that I had not been able to download at the time are now nowhere to be found…..I guess that I am just out of luck and just about at my wits end with the changes…it seems that now things are more complicated than before….I totally agree with Sherrie’s opinion that was posted on June 18th. please reconsider ! ! ! ! ! ! !
what
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:08 am
You’re perfect. Really.
… Well, almost. Right now I’d need an upload form like in, for example, photbucket, where you can upload from a web url … that’d be awesome.
cheers & keep going,
Axel.
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 am
mmm, I don’t like this change… I want to create folders in the way I think is better for me not for privacy files settings… for example I’d like to create “tools” folder to keep software but if I just want to share only part of them I don’t like the “shared software folder” and “private software folder” thing… I’d like to have private files that people can’t even see, because now if you have at least one public file in a folder with most private files, a visitor can see all file names and it’s not so good so you have to create folders thinking what a visitor can do O_O
A private file shouldn’t be visible at all… I think.
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:12 am
hic. so bad. i think this change will be recover old status. Thank man!
June 24th, 2007 at 12:46 am
The private folder thing is not helpful. Ask users first next time to determine actual convenience.
June 24th, 2007 at 2:09 am
Whoops, didn’t mean to sound like a jerk there. But I did sound like one. Anyway compliments on the sleeker player.
June 24th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I think you’ve totally confused most of us. Why on earth would you be so against the old profile pages? You said this was more user friendly? You said people would have to register with your site, why is this bad? I would think you would benefit from people having to register to use your site. I like it when people have to log in to get my files.