Question

How can I get information from direct relatives rather than from every Dixon in the world??

Answer 1

Assuming you are asking about getting notifications of changes to your ancestors' profiles, I am not aware of any easy way to do this. I wish there was. What I do is get on the Trusted List for any profile that I care about (eg profiles of my ancestors that I have put significant work into). Getting on the Trusted List for a profile puts it on your Watch List so you get notifications of changes in your feed. Unfortunately, getting on the Trusted List requires approval of the Profile Manager, many of whom are unresponsive. A way to put profiles on your Watch List without the need for approval by a Profile Manager has been one of the most requested changes in WikiTree for years.

Answer 2

I have a Chrome browser extension (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Auto_WikiTree_Tables_%2B) and I've just added a feature that may do what you're asking for here (going on the same assumption as Chase that you're looking for profile changes), at least to a certain extent.  Here is what I wrote for the Chrome Web Store page. (This feature will be available in a day or so.)

===Adds a list of recently-changed ancestor profiles===

This adds the heading "Ancestor changes (non-watchlist)" to your Navigation Home Page.  As the heading suggests, this shows a list of profiles of your ancestors and their immediate family members (siblings, children, spouses) which are not on your watchlist and which changed recently (in the previous two weeks).  Click the heading, and you can include profiles that are on your watchlist.

This is useful for two reasons:

1. Your ancestors and their immediate family members (siblings, children, spouses) may not be on your watchlist, because you're not on the trusted list.  Now, you can see when any of these change without being on their watchlist.

2. Your watchlist may be too big, with many profiles that are quite distant from you.  If you want to see only the changes of your ancestors and their immediate family members, this is for you. 

Having said that, maybe you want a wider 'web'. If your ancestors (going back 10 generations) and all their immediate family is not enough, what would you suggest...?  Maybe all the children's children and their immediate family, too?  (I guess that would be a lot of people.)  Honestly, I'm kind of thinking aloud here, because I think I'll go and try that out and see if it works...

Anyway, let me know if this sounds useful to you and if you have any other suggestions...

Comments

This extension update is public now.  Take a look and see what you think. (And maybe let me know if you have any problems with it.)