What is the difference between a guest and a Family Member?

+4 votes
4.9k views
I have invited a very good friend of mine as a family member.  Is she now a full member or is she still a guest?  Thanks, Mary
in Genealogy Help by Living Hammond G2G6 Mach 8 (83.2k points)
faqmily member means any one in blood line & and any one married with the blood line. Guest who is not in the above system.

2 Answers

+8 votes
 
Best answer

She is a  member . She is not a guest because you added her already.

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Member_Types

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Invitations

by Maggie N. G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
selected by Living Hammond
Thank you, Maggie.  I didn't know for sure and didn't know where to look. You have helped me with several questions.  Thanks again!
The main difference your friend will have is that as they bypassed the greeter system they will not have a volunteer badge.
Rhian,

I think that part needs to be explained better in the Member Types.  I confirmed someone who was just a guest because I thought that was what I was supposed to do.  He had contacted me for access to profiles and when I looked at his profile there was a yellow box that said "Lauren you can confirm . . ." and being new to the site thought it was a message specifically to me.  Now I know that whoever looks at a profile of a guest the same message will appear.  Anyway, I have wondered how he has been able to create profiles on his own because I thought you had to sign the Honor Code and become a Volunteer.  I encouraged him to sign the Honor Code which he never did and I've been wondering what the point of the Honor Code/Volunteer situation is if someone confirmed as a Family Member can put profiles up whenever and however they want.
I agree with Lauren.  That detail should be explained better.
I thought it was quite well explained but obviously not.

A guest has limited abilities, they can do gedmatching but not importing, they can adopt orphans but they can only edit their own profile.

If a guest volunteeres they are saying they want to contribute and work independantly and a greeter can confirm them as a family member. If they are not volunteering to help but a family member or friend wants to work with them then they can be confirmed as family members without volunteering, all this means is they will not have a volunteer badge and the person who confirmed them is willing to work with them on close family genealogy. Either way the family members has more editing abilities, they can edit profiles if they are on the trusted list and can manually add profiles but not gedcom imports.

A family member can 'sign' the honor code and become a genealogist which gives them the ability to edit any open profile even if they are not on the TL and they can import gedcoms.

The volunteer badge is just an indicator of how the member joined wikitree, people without the volunteer badge have usually joined by being invited by a family member or friend.

The honor code makes life simpler for genealogists who work on older profiles, often not in their direct line, not signing means you have to get on the TL to add information. Currently anyone other than guests can add profiles though there are discussions to change the system where only qualified genealogists will be able to add or edit older profiles.
I have also noticed guests trying to merge to a profile created for them by a family member.  This should also be clarified.
Well, for me this person was not invited by me but a relative of the profiles of family married into mine.  I thought it was my obligation to confirm him based upon the honor code and the message with my name on his profile. I didn't want to be banned for doing something wrong, but he is basically a stranger to me despite him knowing many of my relatives.  I did through email communication try to instruct him as best as I could, but the work he is producing shows a lack of understanding and I find myself having to correct the data.  I have just put in 2 merge requests on his duplicates, but since he ignored my attempts to help or instruct, I really wish I had understood what my actions in confirming him would cause and I in future will let the process go through the greeters and mentors so new members will get a more thorough vetting before being allowed to create more difficulties through duplicates and errors.  My understanding of the member types is a family member can only edit profiles through the trusted list and not create new profiles unless signing the honor code and volunteering, so maybe it does need to be changed.  Thank you Rhian.  :-)
0 votes
by Terry Fillow G2G6 Mach 8 (80.3k points)
I do believe things have changed some since this was first asked in 2014.

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