ConsultEarth hides full names by default while you are browsing — scanning the directory, looking through job applicants, reading early-stage proposals. A first name and last initial are shown until the viewing side has enough of a connection to justify revealing the rest. This protects experts from cold scraping and mass outreach, and protects clients from being contacted before they have decided to engage.
Masking is about discovery. It does not apply to an individual profile someone opens directly. The point is to stop a casual visitor from harvesting the whole roster, not to hide a specific expert that a client has chosen to look at or that an expert has shared.
What masking looks like
A masked expert name shows the first name plus the initial of each part of the last name, with a period after each initial. "Sarah Johnson" becomes "Sarah J." "Mohammed Al-Khalili" becomes "Mohammed A.K."
A masked client organization shows as "Anonymous Organization."
For clients viewing experts
In the directory, an active client account sees full expert names, on any plan. The rule keys on account status, not on which plan the client is on. If the subscription is inactive or has lapsed, directory names are masked — but the client still sees the full name of any expert who has applied to one of their own jobs, from the first step (interest submitted) onward. An expert who applies has chosen to be seen by that client, so they are revealed on the job's applicant list regardless of stage or the client's subscription state.
An individual expert profile is an open card. When an expert shares their profile link, or a client opens a specific expert from the directory, the profile page shows the full name and contact details — LinkedIn, website, CV — to whoever has the link, signed in or not. The same is true of an expert's booking page. A profile is a business card the expert can hand out; masking lives on the directory that lists everyone, not on the single profile a visitor was pointed to.
So the full directory and full names across discovery come with an active subscription. A specific profile someone shares with you is always shown in full.
For experts viewing clients
Who posted a job is part of what a paid membership unlocks. Experts on Ace, Veteran, or Enterprise see the employer's name from the opportunity feed onward — on the feed, the job page, their proposals, and message threads. Experts on Free see the employer as a locked placeholder with an upgrade prompt; the sector and region are still shown, so the opportunity is fully legible, just not the name. A Free expert also sees the employer's name once they are in an engagement with that client.
A client can choose to post a single job anonymously. An anonymous job shows "Anonymous employer" to everyone, regardless of tier, until an engagement begins — named employers tend to receive applicants faster, so this is off by default.
Either way, an employer's contact details — email and the named contact person — are never shown on these surfaces. They stay private until an engagement is underway, which keeps first contact on the platform.
Service inquiries are different. When a client sends a direct service inquiry to an expert, both sides see each other's real name from the first message — choosing to reach out that way is itself the connection. (A Free expert can receive an inquiry, but needs an Ace plan or above to reply.)
For experts viewing other experts
In the directory, experts on Veteran or Enterprise tiers see full expert names, which supports legitimate firm-mode browsing — for example, an Enterprise firm looking for collaborators or Practice Bench members. Experts on Free and Ace tiers see other experts under the standard masking rule. As with clients, opening a specific expert's profile link shows that expert's full card.
What is protected
Sensitive contact details that enable off-platform contact at scale — a client's email, billing identifiers, account secrets — are never exposed in discovery and are not sent to the browser when you browse. The directory listing masks names so the roster cannot be scanned and harvested without an active subscription.
What is intentionally open is an expert's own profile: an expert who publishes a profile and shares its link wants the person they share it with to see who they are and how to reach them. That is the expert's choice, not a leak. Browsing the directory to discover experts is the gated part; viewing one profile you were given is not.
Related
- Choosing a client plan: /help/basic-vs-pro
- Posting a job: /help/posting-a-job
- Getting set up as an expert: /help/getting-set-up