G2G: I got a bit upset at a request to open my profile.

Question

I have a problem.

My need for privacy and my need to protect my family Vs my want to share for Genealogy.

I have always been paranoid about my privacy due to disturbing events in my families past.  I avoid social media and obscure my presence on-line hence the NG rather than my full name.

Recently a few high profile hacks stole millions of private details from Australian organisations.  This had lead to ID theft and stealing life savings from many unfortunate, innocent victims.

After this I felt VERY VULNERABLE and I locked down my profile and tried the best I could to balance my need to share and my need to protect.   

I put in my profile links to ancestors that skipped a few generations to try and mitigate the problem.

So I got rather upset when another member asked to to make my profile public.

I have reacted badly and replied before I calmed down (still not calm).  It is my choice how private I make my profile.

I rather relate this to me asking people individually not to abbreviate states and countries or make sure they use a reliable source.  

I also personally feel WikiTree does not offer enough privacy for recently deceased as I said I AM PARANOID.   But are you paranoid if there is a reason?

Different countries have different rules as I am still astounded that the 1950 US census is available when compared the 100 year limit in Australia on birth records.  

I have always preferred not to search recent relatives, which is adverse to DNA I know and researching DNA has forced me to go searching recent.  I have found connections and I work around other researchers who do not want to share their trees. 

I did share until this data theft.

Does my profile publicly show following and most active, if so how can I stop this being public?

Comments

Hi NG. You are at perfect liberty to choose the privacy level of your own profile. You can set it to Private (red lock) if you wish. It is your choice. My own profile is deliberately Private.

To change it, go to the Privacy tab of your profile. Click the small radio button next to the padlock icon for the privacy level you want. Then click the  SET NEW PRIVACY LEVEL  button below.

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Sorry, I missed a point.

You can hide Following and Active by a different method. Go to

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

In the section Genealogist Section of Profile, select the radio button for

Hide everything except free text space (question #5), if any.

Then click  SAVE SETTINGS  at the bottom.

This will also hide your badges.

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To see your profile as others do, click the link

[public view]

to the right of the line of tab names near the top (just to the right of "Privacy" on a green background).

Answer 1

NG, Your own profile would not even be permitted to be public, nor can the profile of any living person, so whoever asked you that clearly doesn't know how privacy restrictions work here.

As a member, your profile can be one of the four private options - you can choose to make your family tree or your biography public (gold lock), or both public (yellow lock), or neither public (red lock).

Living persons who are not WikiTree members are always unlisted - the manager has no options to make these at all visible to anyone who is not on the trusted list.

Profiles of persons who were born less than 150 years ago AND died less than 100 years ago can be open (white lock), public (green lock), or one of the four private options.  The privacy level can be set by a profile manager.

Profiles of persons who were born more than 150 years ago OR died more than 100 years ago are required to be open (white lock).

Public and open privacy designations mean that all information on the profile - data, biography, and family tree - is visible to everyone.  The difference is that only the trusted list can make any changes to a public profile but any WikiTree member can make changes to an open profile.

Jim gave you an excellent description of how to change the privacy level of any profile you manage.

Anyone who has a legitimate interest in more information than is visible on any profile you manage is able to send you a private message, but unless they have a good reason (and YOU are the judge of this), it is out of line for them to request either that the profile's privacy be changed to reveal more information or that they be added to the trusted list.

Answer 2

I wish Jim had answered rather than commented to your question, so I could mark his as the best answer.

That said, the person asking may have been doing so to confirm that your family is the branch they are looking for, and not anything sinister. However, starting with your grandparents (or whatever the first Open profile is) to fill out your genealogy is perfectly reasonable. Each profile takes a lifetime to complete, there is no urgent need to this research

Answer 3

Sorry to read you feel upset by the request. I'm from EU, where data protection and privacy is much more advanced than in other parts of the world.

For paranoid options (which is by the way a common term in privacy settings), you could choose to disconnect from your parents/siblings etc. This doesn't make your WikiTree experience easier, but that way you can remove any sensitive connections.

The reason for the request might be a very simple one from a normal user. In paranoid mode, it will be hard to send private messages. Maybe the team could be nice and function as a relay (forwarding your message/question after removing your personal details)?

Answer 4

I understand this completely. I have a fear of letting my information out in the open. I try very hard to keep where I live private and all information private. It has only been recently that I have opened up a bit. You do have the right to privacy.