Strip image metadata by default, let makers opt back in

I regularly upload photos of printed parts, electronics builds, and home-lab projects, and I think forums should publish a cleaned derivative by default. EXIF, IPTC, and XMP can carry GPS coordinates, timestamps, device or lens serials, owner names, usernames, comments, and unique image IDs. None of that is usually needed to answer whether a bracket printed correctly.

There is legitimate value in preserving selected fields: a capture time can document fabrication history, device details can help troubleshoot a camera or hardware issue, and an author or provenance note can support authorship. But casually shared metadata can outlast the thread and help connect a photo to a location, home network, workplace, lab, or persistent identity.

The sensible compromise seems to be automatic scrubbing, with a clear opt-in for selected metadata and perhaps a private original for diagnostics. Orientation and safe color profiles should be handled rather than blindly deleted. Should scrubbing be mandatory, and what metadata would you deliberately preserve?

Mandatory for the public derivative, yes. I would not call it a complete privacy feature: labels, screens, badges, serial numbers, and distinctive backgrounds remain in the pixels. The useful control is showing the exact categories being removed before upload, then offering a deliberate diagnostic attachment path.

I’d preserve a creator-supplied project ID and provenance note, not the camera’s owner or serial fields. Capture time is more ambiguous: helpful for a build log, but not inherently necessary for troubleshooting. The interface should distinguish “I entered this” from “my device attached this.”

The opt-in has to be visible at upload time, not buried in account settings. Most people will accept the default without inspecting a file, so the default is effectively the forum’s social norm. A small “publish original metadata” checkbox with a field preview is probably enough.

I’m wary of making “mandatory” mean “delete everything.” Color profiles and orientation data can affect how an image displays, and some troubleshooting really does need the original. Make the public copy clean by default; retain the original only when the uploader explicitly chooses a private or moderator-visible route.