Help:Marriage Privacy

Categories: WikiTree Help | Privacy Help

Spouses are not treated the same as other nuclear relatives when a living person has a public family tree. Here is how and why.

Spouses on Profiles

When a person's privacy level is set at Private with a Public Family Tree or higher, nuclear relatives will appear on the person's profile and family tree if those relatives also have public family trees. However, spouses are treated a little differently than parents, siblings, and children. Living spouses will not appear on each other's profiles even if they both have public family trees.

Spouses are shown in the Connection Finder and may appear in other contexts, if both spouses have public family trees. It is only the public profile display that is restricted.

This inconsistency came about through the evolution of WikiTree and the needs of our members. Parents and children are the essential building blocks of family trees. Relationships through marriage are just as important to most families, but not as essential for genealogy. Therefore, many WikiTreers felt strongly about wanting to make their family tree public but either wanted to keep their marriage information private or did not feel strongly about it.

Hiding Marriages

To add to the confusion, there is a "Do Not Display" setting on marriage editing pages. This option is offered for those who don't want divorced spouses to appear prominently on a profile. It is not a true privacy option because the divorced spouse will appear in other contexts if the two people have public family trees.

To completely hide a spouse, even from those on the Trusted List, do not enter the marriage on WikiTree.

This page was last modified 14:13, 16 May 2022. This page has been accessed 1,712 times.