I'm uncomfortable with every users contributions being public with timestamps

Question

There are several aspects I don't feel comfortable with. I do understand the importance of documenting every change in a wiki.

I'm fine with all contributions being linked to my profile, but what bugs me is how easily people who know me personally can check out all of my activity without my knowledge or consent. This isn't even restricted to members, literally anyone can see how much I do, what I do and when I do it.

I would appreciate the option to hide my contributions and thank-you (and the respective counts) from my profile and the public in general. Of course if abuse is suspected moderators could access my stuff.

The when seems like the biggest issue to privacy and the least important for the wiki. 

I don't like timestamps being accurate to the minute, it's a permanent trace of what I've done at that specific time. hundreds of these traces build a pattern about myself. 

For the wiki to work intervals should be enough, rounded. 

Instead of the logs being like this: 

12:31: You added ...12:28: You added ...12:14: You added ...

9 Nov 2022

11:28: You added ...
they could be like this:yesterday: You added ...three minutes earlier: You added ...fifteen minutes earlier: You added ...two months earlier: You added ...
 

---

in parts the log could be reconstructed from this obfuscated display, but at least all dates and times that are a few weeks back are inaccurate, so people won't know If I did something during office hours or while on holiday.Also this is just about the displayed information, the servers can store all time stamps anyway.

Answer 1

If you don't feel comfortable then don't add anything. This is strictly voluntary. Several members have a last name as anonymous.

Comments

Several members have a last name as anonymous.

I know, i'm also not angry or anything, I just felt like posting my thoughts into the void, in case others agree.

for example, the time stamps in profile comments are rounded to months and years, I thought this might be a good choice for contributions as well.

Answer 2

Several members have a last name as anonymous.

I know, i'm also not angry or anything, I just felt like posting my thoughts into the void, in case others agree.

for example, the time stamps in profile comments are rounded to months and years, I thought this might be a good choice for contributions as well.

Answer 3

I am as paranoid as you are.  

Other's often do not fully understand.

When you have had the real fear of unhinged individuals stalking family members - I am a little too obsessed with my privacy.

I hate the fact that I can not fully hide my deceased parents name on WikiTree.

Comments

You can set your parents to the highest privacy of Unlisted, so no one can see anything about them. Unless of course they were born about 150 years ago!!

---

Deceased people cannot be set as Unlisted, only living people can.

But, you can anonymize your parents (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Anonymization) and can also have your privacy level not show your family tree so people won't be able to see who your ancestors are.

Answer 4

Just a thought - since WikiTree can be worked on from anywhere at any time and from various devices, no one could possibly know where you are located when you make contributions. You could be sitting on an exotic beach somewhere working on your iPad or phone or anywhere else. My point is you don't necessarily have to be at home - no one can tell as our location is not included in the time stamp.

Comments

Virginia, it looks like maybe he's concerned about doing things on WikiTree at times he's supposed to be at work:

"so people won't know If I did something during office hours or while on holiday"

The timestamp is a giveaway for someone who knows where he is.

---

Do I remember correctly? Did I read something somewhere about setting a time zone for yourself and or contributions?

The default time Zone is .....? If it is not the same as where Jimmy lives.

As an former employer this just seems far too complicated to even think about to check on someone's activities.

---

You can set a time zone at

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:Settings

But it controls how you see times, not what other people see.

Answer 5

Just a thought, I like to write my biographies off line, after I have done all the research and developed a timeline for the profile. I then copy and paste it into Wikitree.  If you are concerned about someone observing you in real time, this would allow you to post updates in batches (one after the other) without revealing how much time you spent or when you were working on the profile.