how did all those people get on the trusted list for my profile?

Question

I never add anyone to the trusted list of my personal profile. Until a recent health scare, it was just me as the sole manager/member of the trusted list (after the scare, I added my grandson). So, I never visit that page - I didn't think there was a need. But in writing instructions for someone, I just went to my Privacy tab to check the wording for the link to add someone as a manager and found 10 other people - none related, and 5 from the unasked for addition to my watchlist of someone else's entire watchlist (1,000 people that took me 4 days to remove). The only way I can figure that they got on the trusted list for my personal profile (and sorry - I do feel like I own that profile!) is that when they added me, unasked, to their own profile, they gained access to mine? Not only was I not asked to ok them, but I wasn't even notified they were added!

Comments

Dale, I just checked my profile, because of your information, and found the same thing.  Several names had been added to my trusted list.  I removed four of them but resent having to do this at all.  Why are they being added when there were already some names on the list that are related to me?

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Very concerning! Should you tag it tech?

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Yes, this should be tagged for WikiTech, not the Tree House.

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I'm glad to hear it was only a scare.  Salud amiga!  :)

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only a scare?  I'm not sure what you mean. I had uninvited people on the trusted list for my personal profile - the only one I consider that I "own" and don't add anyone to. I removed them. I don't know that anything has changed that would prevent anyone from adding themselves to my personal profile's trusted list in the future simply by adding me to their trusted list.

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I meant the health scare.  :)

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There you go again, Vincent,  focusing on what's truly important in life. :-)

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Thanks! I get so focused on the task sometimes, I forget everything else LOL.

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Was this ever resolved?

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mostly. Never did figure out how some of the people got on my trusted list, but the main source of non-related people getting on it was an automatic reciprocity when you're added to a WikiTree member's trusted list. As a Mentor, I do ask to be added to an active member's profile every now and then, so all of them had been added. I've checked my trusted list regularly ever since, and no more unexpected folks show up. So I feel confident that the problem was resolved, even if the cause was never fully determined.

Cheers, Liz

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Good to know; quite disturbing. Thanks.

Answer 1

Liz I noticed the same thing a few months ago. I knew most of the people as we work on the same project but I can not remember ever being asked or notified at all.

Answer 2

I just checked my profile on here and it looks like they added everyone on my watchlist who has an email address to my trusted list. I do hope that this is an unexpected change to another change made because if it is intentional then it could be a very bad thing because it would circumvent the privacy settings without the managers being aware that some private information could be released to others without their consent.

Comments

That hasn't happened to me (I just checked).

However, there is only one profile on my watchlist that has an email address and was not deliberately added to my trusted list. That person is a "Family Member" of WikiTree (not a full "Genealogist"); maybe that status makes a difference...

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I did some checking and some people have been added to the trusted list of my children and grandchildren who are not related to them at all. This is very bad! I am very upset about this turn of events and thing that everyone else should be also!

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Ellen some of the people that I found where Honor Code signers and not just "family members" and some were not even related to me or my family!

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Dale, the Family Member I described is on my watchlist, but he is not on the trusted list for my profile. He is the only person who has a profile on my watchlist, has an email address, and was not deliberately added to my trusted list. (I don't have anyone on my Trusted List who I have not deliberately added.)

My notion is that maybe people who haven't signed the honor code don't get added in this fashion.

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Ellen you are missing the point. There were members who had signed the honor code added to the trusted list of profile for me and to those of my children and grandchildren who are not related to me or my children or their children and Neither I nor my children added them. Some of these other members are not related to my family. One of those people who was added to the trusted list of the profile for my name has not singed the honor code. And this has been done without my permission as profile manager or even notifying me about the change, and I check my email first prior to doing anything every time I turn on my computer.

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Dale, I believe I understand the issue. I agree that it is a serious problem. It is not something I am in any position to fix. I checked my own "Privacy" tab to see if I was seeing something similar. I reported what I found in hopes that the additional data might help the tech staff figure out what's going on. Summary of the data:

• You, Liz, and Esmé and also Beulah have people on your trusted lists who you didn't add. That's bad.
• I don't have anyone on my trusted list who I didn't add. That's good for me, and it shows that this isn't happening to everybody.
• It has been suggested that every profile on one's watchlist that has an email address is being automatically added to the trusted list. That does not appear to be true, since I have a person on my watchlist who has an email address and has not been added to my trusted list. Additional detail: That person is a relative whom I added to WikiTree and invited.
• It has been suggested that watchlisted profiles with email addresses don't get added to the trusted list unless the person has signed the honor code. That does not appear to be true, since you have an un-added person on your trusted list who did not sign the honor code.
• It has been suggested that these unwanted additions occur when another contributor adds one of us to the trusted lists for all the profiles on their watchlist. Liz made that suggestion; you and Esmé did not identify it as a possible issue. I can't say anything about that hypothesis, but I can say that I have not been added to any other users' trusted lists in that fashion.

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If you invite someone to join WikiTree, i.e. you create a profile for them or add an e-mail address to their profile, I believe they are automatically added to your profile's Trusted List. Are there any examples that wouldn't be explained by this? If so, post them. Thanks.

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Yes. for the profile of Raymond Byers, Byers-781, who was deceased long before WikiTree was even created has Lori Slattery, Slattery-191 on the trusted list. she is not related to me but I did manage a profile for one of her relatives in the past. Somehow she has been added to most of my close relatives trusted list but she is in no way related to me.

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I stand corrected she is a cousin but I do not know her in person and can find no reason she should be on the profiles of my grandchildren.

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Why would anyone invited to join wikitree automatically be put on the inviters trusted list?  I will think long and hard about adding family members in the future if this is the case.  In my opinion it defeats the privacy level picked for yourself.

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I agree Beulah. I doubt that I will ever invite anyone again, or even tell them about this site. Their idea of privacy is a joke at best.

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Chris - I sent an e-mail to you with the list. None of the added people on my trusted list fit that description.

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If you invite someone to join WikiTree, you are added to their profile's Trusted List. Accordingly, they are added to your profile's Trusted List. You can immediately remove them if you don't want them on your profile's Trusted List. This is how it's always been.

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In July 2013 I invited a cousin to join and made her manager of her grandmothers profile, (my grand aunt).  She does not appear on my trusted list or one of the names I removed.  Is this a recent change?