Question

How can I simply make all of my information viewable, not editable, by someone?

Answer 1

It isn't possible to allow some people to view everything but not edit.

At the "Public" privacy level anyone can view everything, and only the people on the Trusted List can edit. But you can't have "Private" profiles that only some people can view and only a smaller subset of people can edit.

Comments

Regarding "someone has the right to change my entries, or they can't see them":

No, you can make a profile public, and anyone can see it, but only those on the trusted list can edit it.

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Hi Anonymous. I assume by "my entries" you're talking about WikiTree profiles and not G2G contributions, personal memories, comments or something else? Check out http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Privacy for how the read/write permissions on profiles work. It's important to understand that profiles aren't really "mine" or "yours". Check out http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ownership_and_control for more on this.

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Good info, thanks.  Here's a scenario, probably common:

I have sweated it out entering data going back to my GG grand parents and beyond.  Everything past my grandparents is public.  I want to collaborate and share.  Everything from me up to and including my grandparents is completely private -- one of the most often asked questions for security is, "What is your mother's maiden name" etc.  I just don't want to share it.  So, I make my daughter "Trusted" and she can see everything and edit everything.  Then along comes a fourth cousin.  I would like her to be able to see everything, including my daughter's name and vitals, my parents, and my grandparents.  But, and this is the big "but," I don't want to give my fourth cousin editing rights.  

I don't see how this is "anti-collaborative" and deserves a "take it or leave it if you don't have the spirit" answer.  Maybe I don't understand the privacy settings.  Maybe this is an option that should reasonably be available.  What do I properly understand, and what do I have wrong?  Thanks.

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Ron, if you don't fill in your cousin's email address, they won't have editing rights to their own profile. Even if you do, they won't have editing rights to other profiles. Is this your concern?

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Thank you for your patience.  I really have tried to figure this out, and I even have a computer background, but I am still a little confused.

I would like to allow my cousin to view my beautiful family tree that I created starting with me and going back to the 17th Century.  However, my profile and those I entered up to and including my grandparents are "private."  The profiles I entered for people prior to by grandparents are "public."  How can I allow my cousin to view my family tree, including me back to my grandparents, without either making those profiles public or also providing her editing privileges?

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Hi Ron. How come you don't want your fourth cousin to have editing rights on your daughter's profile. A fourth cousin is pretty distant, so I would have a problem on the privacy side, but you're saying you're afraid that they'll change your daughter's profile and you won't agree with their changes? As long as the changes are tracked and you hear about them you can fix any mistakes the fourth-cousin may make.

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I don't want to allow my cousin to make changes.  That seems to be the problem.  I can see that my phrasing of the question was confusing.  Let me rephrase it:

How can I allow my cousin to see my profiles that are "private" with respect to the general public and still not allow her editing rights?

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Hi Ron. You were clear. This is what you asked right from the start: "How can I simply make all of my information viewable, not editable, by someone?" The answer is: Sorry, but you can't. To allow it would be to cut the "wiki" out of WikiTree.

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Chris, I suspect you are one of the creators of the site.  If so, congratulations as it is great.  

But with respect to your position on this question, with all due respect, it makes not sense whatsoever.  For one thing, you already allow users to enter information that is not available to the public.  No Wiki.

The answer for this feature, that I imagine most everyone would like to see, could be implemented simply by limiting it to user plus two generations.  You've created an all-or-none choice for all profiles; yet, the privacy and collaboration issues are completely different for profiles of one's immediate family versus distant relatives.

I've got $10 that says this you will eventually change it.

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I'm going to side with Chris on this one.  WikiTree's goal is Collaboration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration There is ample privacy protections in place to prevent viewing and changing profiles for individuals alive today.  If your goal is simply to post a 'beautiful family tree' that can't be touched their are numerous web sites for that other than this one.  The WikiTree goal is to build a world tree and most of us are excited to find that someone else has a common ancestor and encourage their input.  I'm sure many of us have ancestry.com which certainly allows publishing and is a paid for service.  You can have a private tree there. 

I would suggest that you read the purpose of this site again and reconsider your bet.

 

Ed