Unlisted Profile Privacy Issue

+4 votes
242 views
I received a WikiTree email referencing a comment placed on an unlisted profile by an active member.  It stated that xxx and xxx "do not represent the same person because:  Same birth name but born 30 years apart."  Apparently it referenced a rejected match to one of my profiles and the comment is visible to me on the profile.  The problem is the public view of the profile shows no information other than the surname (Living XXX), my name as the manager, how to send me a message or ask to be on the trusted list.  The person is living (the spouse of a cousin) and only connected to the spouse (also unlisted) and no one else is on the trusted list.  So how was another member able to "leave a comment" on the profile if the profile is completely invisible to anyone but me and how would he to be able to know the birth year to make such a determination??  I have private notes on this profile and very disturbed at this breach of privacy.  Please explain how this happened.
in WikiTree Tech by Lauren Conte G2G6 Pilot (126k points)
Sorry, I just looked at the public view again and realized it shows the birth year range, but it still does not explain how a comment was able to be placed on the profile.  Thank you.

1 Answer

+4 votes
Lauren, I understand your concern, but can assure you that nobody is able to add a comment on an unlisted profile unless they are on that profile's trusted list.

The comment was added to the profile automatically by the WikiTree system, as a result of someone having rejected the match offered by the gedCompare process.  They did not see the name of the person or anything else about them, but apparently checked the box to reject the match.

For what it's worth, I'm not sure I agree with the way the matches are generated in the gedCompare process.  My personal opinion is that it would be far better to not attempt to make matches between unlisted profiles and names in a gedcom.  The fact that such a match was made seems to imply certain information about the unlisted profile, which is available to the system but should not be revealed to a random person who uploaded a gedcom.
by Gaile Connolly G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
The GEDcom situation is alien to me and I've wished the whole option was removed from this site, but I know that will never happen.  The comparison was between a living woman and a long deceased man, so that was confusing as well.  Hoping I'm not going to have my family feed and profiles cluttered with comments about rejected matches from now on.  I appreciate your response, Gaile, thank you very much. Best wishes.
Comments aren't added when a rejection is done through GEDCompare. They also aren't added when you reject a match by clicking the checkbox when adding a profile.

The comment is only created when someone is either changing the status of a match or manually creating a rejected match and writes text in the explanation box. The comment will then be automatically added to the lower-numbered WikiTree ID.
Thank you, Jamie.

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