Shared Information has to do primarily with the Attribution History. The Attribution History is displayed for an item on the Detail pages only, showing a listing of the most recent edits and modifications made to an entity in the XOWComics.com site. This listing shows, optionally to the source of the edit, the name and avatar for the user making the edit, the date and time of the edit, that nature of the edit and the fields that were edited.
A sample of the Change Shared Information page in the My Preferences section of My Account is shown to the right. The settings available on this page to XOWComics.com account holders are fairly straightforward.
The Name Displayed setting allows you to determine how, if at all, your edits in the XOWComics.com site are attributed to you. Choices in the drop down menu allow you to select the format of your name to display in attributions. There is an option to even suppress the attribution to you, effectively hiding your identity from all others in the XOWComics.com site and allowing you to maintain complete privacy if you so prefer. Any setting here other than "None" will also show your chosen avatar in all attributions to you; a choice of "None" here will suppress any avatar you have chosen for yourself in all attributions to you in the XOWComics.com site.
The Current Avatar section contains a great deal of functionality in a small space. Basically, this setting allows you to select an image, an avatar, to associate with yourself in the XOWComics.com site. You choose from a preset library of avatar provided by the XOWComics.com site. Or, you can upload as many avatars (images) of your own choosing into your own avatar library, choosing any one at any time to be your current avatar. You can even choose not to use an avatar for yourself.
The Attribution History Maximum Display Rows determines how many items are displayed in the Attribution History section on all Detail pages in the XOWComics.com site. Since the edit list for entities in the XOWComics.com site can become long quickly, this allows you to keep to a minimum the length of this "change history" that is displayed to you within the site. The default value of 5 will display only the five most recent edits to a data item in the XOWComics.com system to you on a Detail page. A range of different values are available to you for selection while using your XOWComics.com account.
Finally, there is the Share My Wants setting. This setting determines whether your My Wants lists can be seen by everyone in the world. This is a great way to let your local comic shop (LCS) and others that you may purchase comics from to determine exactly what comics you are seeking for your collection. You can either choose to share your My Wants lists with everyone in the world or not share it with anyone, by default, it is not shared. The page also shows the exact URL to view your publicly available My Wants lists if you choose to share it with the world.
Once you have updated the items on this form, merely click on the button on the bottom of the page to submit the changes to XOWComics.com and update your account. If there are any problems with the information submitted, the subsequent page will detail the problems and allow you to correct the mistakes noted.