Question

What is the point of having a private profile on a free open forum for genealogy? I get protecting children and people still alive.....but people who died in the 1800's? Come on!  It completely obliterates the mission of the website! Just sayin!

Nothing to see here. Just frustrated. Why all the agreements we make when we sign up? Perhaps there should be a premium fee for private trees.

 

In addition, I would gladly, pay a premium fee to upload GEDFILE over 2000 people!

Thanks, I will step off my soap box now.

Laura Rose

Comments

Some people just need a taste of the fruit of the Nacho Tree.  ;)

Answer 1

Without the rant, I sort of agree with Laura.  There are many profiles that are private that could be Open or at least Private with a Public Family Tree.

IMHO, if a person is on a publicly available record such as the U.S. Census (1850-1940), or other country census, public birth records, public telephone books, FindAGrave, etc., their name and familial relationships are already "out there".  Of course, we need to protect some information with stricter privacy settings, but generally, Private with a Public Family Tree is restrictive enough, and Private with a Public Biography and Family Tree is better.  These two settings help limit the creation of duplicate profiles while still protecting the privacy of the individual.  

It might help to details the different Private settings.  They are:

Private: Red icons mean the information can only be viewed by the Trusted List.  This includes Gender, Formal First Name, Nicknames, and family relationships such as Spouses, Siblings, and Children, as well as the Personal Memories section.

Private with a Public Family Tree:  Exactly like Private profiles except that the person's Family Tree is public. Since they're connected, this also means the Gender and DNA test connections are public.

The person's family members will still be private unless they have public family trees. For example, if their mother is Private it will say "private mother" on the person's profile and family tree views.

Private with a Public Biography and Family Tree: Like the above, but with the text of the profile (including the Biography and Sources sections) and the tree public.

Comments

Curious did any one ever ask those private tree why.? Maye the person has a good reason for doing so. Some have a lot of hard working information done by that person. Or some reason for doing so . Just curious.

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I absolutely agree that some need to be private, usually to protect an individual in the family.  However, some could be more effective on the WikiTree with Private with a Public Family Tree or Private with a Public Biography and Family Tree. If the goal of a privacy setting is to control the content or protect the hard work, there are other websites that are more in line with these personal goals.  

The Index under Profile, Ownership says, "No Ownership of Profiles

WikiTree profiles are not owned by Profile Managers.

Photos may be copyrighted. And specific text in biographies may be copyrighted, if so noted. However, the general profile web page is shared by the community and is not owned by any single community member.

WikiTree is not trying to own your genealogy. We are trying to make genealogy free and accessible for everyone. See the mission and Honor Code. 

Management of Modern Profiles

Sharing on WikiTree is personal and private when it comes to modern family history and living people. The family members have full control over the privacy settings.

Even here, the Profile Manager should not think of themselves as the owner of a profile. They're more like a steward or curator. They lead the family collaboration. They have a responsibility to share the profile with other family members. If they don't want this responsibility, they should let another family member be the Profile Manager."

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Kitty,

I just want you to know that I gave you a standing ovation this morning.

Thank you,

Laura Rose

Answer 2

Nobody pays any fee here Laura Rose, so a premium fee to meet your requirements is unlikely to be introduced. I think you would probably find that uploading a gedcom with over 2000 people would cause you more work than you bargain for in working through each profile individually to look for duplicates and tidy up the content.

People who died in the 1800s should not be private. Do you have examples of where you have had an issue with this?

Comments

You are speaking rational during an irrational rant on a subject that is completely and totally moot. It was an abstract "My grass is green but I want it purple!" Type thing.

The correct answer was " HELL YEAH, LET'S ALL PAY ASTRONOMICAL FEES TO DO STUFF THAT IS REALLY DUMB AND WAY TOO STUPID FOR ANYONE BREATHING TO THINK OF YOU DUMB REDNECK"

OR. "HEY Y'ALL, HOLD MY BEER, WATCH THIS!"

Another good answer is https://youtu.be/Nlc5pcWzA94

Anyway you go......smile, life is too short.  Just keep swimming......

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I have just as much right to be rational as you have to rant, so yes, I will carry on smiling.

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LOL, yes you do and you are AWESOME for it.

Crazy people just don't work on a rational level. No spilt milk. It's all good.

I also wanted to put " Hold my beer, watch this!" Just to put something my peeps would understand. All rationality is wasted on my peeps. They get confused and start looking for duct tape to "fix sumpin".

Besides, look at the nice conversation we've had. Wanna be my buddy?

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Thanks for the best answer acknowledgement Laura Rose.

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Yes, I'm sending the owners emails requesting they take a look at some info and see if we can maybe colaborate....I know the grown up thing to do and am following procedure for communication with non crazy people. Just needed my own special place to be irritated about it.

Thank you, I may make it through the night without further incident.

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SEE! Another! Has to be my peeps!

 

Carter-20859
William Carter 
born 1860s
died [date unknown]

managed by Anonymous (Anderson) Anonymous [private message] [trusted list request]

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If you are taking the first steps towards collaboration then the best way to do it is to ask your questions here on the open forum rather than by e-mail. You will get more people interested in listening to your issues and helping you. I would recommend that you avoid the rants when you ask for advice though. Good luck with your research.

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;-) Thank you :-*

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Have you tried to contact the profile manager for Carter-20859 and ask them to change the security settings? It may be easily fixed if you do that.

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Yep,

"Hi, it looks like we have some people in common. Could you either lower your security settings for a few days? Perhaps we can colaborate and help each other out.

 

Laura Rose"

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First Laura .

Your yep  is wrong.

You have never contacted me  via any way for and or about this profile.  I just happened to hear about this thru a friend.  I am easy going, so have removed pertinent info out of respect for my mother .

Second: i am waiting for my 86 year old mother to review as she is helping me with photos and information. This is a long and ardous prospect for a woman her age and we are having a bit of a problem but working thru it. She personally asked me to hold off posting as her mother in in there. Out of respect I did so.

Although I can take this tree to today  with major information I am now hesitant. Although this is a world tree I respect that but my loyalties lie with my mom and her wishes for as long as she is here with us.

I am unlocking it with certain info removed as per my mom and because Jillian was so nice in her request.

Thank You

Deb

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Deb, I sent 7 emails to private profiles last night since I uploaded a GEDfile with 1700 people and am trying to complete it quickly to work on another 7000.

PM carterfamilygenealogy@gmail.com and we can further discuss the issue if you like but more importantly, I can provide you with information on more than 300 Carter's and cousin that might make your work as well as your mother's much easier and pleasant.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Laura Rose Carter

Answer 3

I think many are too well trained in private profile behaviour elsewhere to really 'get' what a collaborative tree really is. And some have been left so long alone here with their own corner to work on in private that they are astonished to be asked to let go the reins.

Comments

Its not a matter of letting go of the reins but I gt where you are at.  It is just hard to work your butt off and search search and search to find you have to merge it with someone who did just just one thing different , no research etc. and bang suddenly  ...... Any who I gt it .no more comments fr me. tks all.

Answer 4

I prefer the privacy settings of FamilySearch. All open, unless living. No levels or degrees of privacy.

What are we actually protecting, with public records anyway?

Comments

Actually Dennis to a certain degree I agree. The idea is awesome . My problem is that if someone disagrees with you and all of your research is verified and thoroughly done how do you politely say hey I know for a fact this is correct and not have to merge it with someone whom you know has incorrect information.  Or someone who pops up a tree and holy all my info is there. (merge) As we all think our info is correct this is what I fight with.  As with all of one would hope we have searched , searched and searched. I like the idea but its getting harder and harder to get info from out there as so much is duplicated with tweaks, inconstancies, no reported verification  and then the doubt comes in. This I also fight no matter the website or tree site. I don't mind sharing but my problems comes with having to give someone whom knows and or done nothing  but changed one thing or something to that extent my info. I have received many an email where the person just wants my info , not willing to assist and or trade and or work together.  I may not be explaining this right and I'm sorry . I hope you get the gist. That's my struggle . Again sorry if I did not explain quite correctly.

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Personally, I have never had trouble with someone insisting their information was correct without good documentation.  I think if you explain it as you have stated so well above, any reasonable person would agree with your research and documentation unless they have better sources than yours.  It really comes down to who has the best sources.

With Private with a Public Family Tree and Private with a Public Biography and Family Tree, your cousins still have to ask you to join the Trusted List before they can edit.

Re: the merge issue.  If there are two profiles on the WikiTree for the same person, they must be merged into the first profile with the correct surname spelling.  Only one profile per person on the WikiTree.  However, when you complete the merge, you have the opportunity to edit the profile to ensure that the correct information is posted.

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Yeah, that's one of the major problems with FamilySearch trees... its too easy to edit or merge away good info for bad.

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I had painstakingly written a lovely response about family (even quoting Sister Sledge!) When I accidentally hit the wrong button!

What do you expect, I'm an idiot it happens.

This is quite the lovely can of worms that I opened with my vexation during the night. I've rather enjoyed it and learned much. Thank you for your participation in restoring my sanity.

For those who have similar disparity, meetings are Thursday nights. Same Bat time, same Bat place. Bring your own whine. Cheese will be provided.

No, seriously  (it won't last) Thank you.