Technical Support Forum

Greets,

Just to be ultra clear on this, here's a screenshot from the item creation screen of the access restriction settings you have as a Preferred Author...

         

My humble opinion of course: "Make PUBLIC, allow EVERYONE" seems very clear...
... especially with the option following it is the one that notes it requires "Registered Users".
          Access Restrictions from Writing.Com 101 

But to be extra clear now, "PUBLIC" and "EVERYONE" mean literally just that:
          The item is PUBLIC and EVERYONE can access it.

If you don't want anyone to see it, (a work in progress or something that's just "private")
The first privacy option "Make PRIVATE, for my eyes only" means just that...
          You and only you can access the item marked PRIVATE.


(Not to get muddled in details, but here is where I should note that you can create "Passkeys"  that allow individuals with a key to override the privacy setting. This gives you the ability to keep something private and only provide access to specific people by sharing the key with them...)


If sharing a story via a direct link lets that person in to all of WDC (does it?),
then what's the best way to share a story with a non-member?

Again... There definitely seems to be some confusion here.

Sharing a link doesn't let anyone into any place within Writing.Com that they should not be.
          Period.
If an item is PUBLIC, EVERYONE can view it.
If an item is restricted, only someone matching the restriction setting can view it.

Writing.Com is a PUBLIC site.
We give writers the option to post publicly... or not publicly.
Any writer here that does NOT want their writing "PUBLIC"...
... just shouldn't choose the clearly labeled "PUBLIC" setting.


Now... If you want someone to be at least a Registered User to view something...
simply pick the "Registered Users and higher only" access restriction.


We strongly encourage sharing links when you want to share a piece of writing.
There is literally NO REASON not to share a link with someone with whom you want to share.


I'm truly sorry for any misunderstanding you had on the words we use for access restrictions.
Confusion was certainly not our intent when we set those up about 23 years ago.
I hope this detailed explanation sheds a little more light on how WDC access restrictions work.


Best wishes,
~~SM




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