Can we change policy on merges of non-Open profiles?

Question

Unable to accomplish necessary merges because of privacy concerns.

Solution:

If merges have been on the books for one year, please have admin relax privacy so the merges can be accomplished by anyone signing the Honor Code. This is really an impossible situation at present.

If this cannot be accomplished, please put all the privacy restricted merges in a separate folder so we can accomplish the work that need to be done on the rest.

I understand people's privacy concerns, BUT this is also OUR collective tree. We all signed the Honor Code. We should have proven our trustworthiness. Let's fix it.

Dewey Neufeld-430

Comments

The relevant Help page acknowledges:

However, if a profile is Private the merge can only be completed by a team member.

This indicates that the Team is willing to handle such cases. In my opinion, we should therefore continue to ask them to do so where necessary. This is a better solution than breaching profile privacy.

In cases of profiles of living people, where privacy requirements are particularly strong, there is an alternative that avoids duplicates: don't create the profile at all (other than your own).

Answer 1

We can't relax the privacy levels.

But, filtering out the private merge proposals is something that we can add.

Comments

Thanks Jamie. But could you please explain what "filtering out the private merge proposals" would mean? Would the result be that the Team would handle these proposals automatically, without needing a request by email?

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An option for people to only see merge proposals between open profiles.

The Team does sometimes go in and complete private merges from the list, especially if both profiles have been approved. But I don't think anyone is tasked with doing it as part of their regular sysop duties, and a lot of the private merges are really tricky because they involve member accounts or don't have enough information to confirm that the two people are the same.

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Thanks for clarifying, Jamie. I have to say this approach sounds as if it might be a bit like "sweeping the problem under the rug", as the saying goes, but I'm sure some people will appreciate having the option.

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Well, the Arborists can't do anything with the private merges unless they request to be on the TL of both profiles (and get accepted), so no need for them to see them if there are other merges they can work on.

Answer 2

At least give Arborist the authority to complete the merge

Answer 3

I hate that I've probably been adding duplicates of completely private profiles.

Answer 4

Disagree, privacy policies exist for a reason, and may not be legal to relax. Work on profiles which are older and not subject to the privacy levels, or as Jim suggested, work with the Team.

Answer 5

Just chiming in as an Arborist. We do have an initiative to work on these profiles. Yes, we work under tight constraints but please join the Arborist team if this work is important to you. We'd love to have new members!

Answer 6

Someone must be helping with the merges. I just went through the first 1200 pending merges looking for one I could do that did not have privacy restraints. I did not find one. I got tired looking for a merge. PLEASE put these in a separate file. Ask the owners to take care of their own merges. If that is not possible someone from admin deal with them. The rest of us can help then with what is left. This is a community tree. We all care about privacy. BUT something has to be done!

Dewey Neufeld-430