ATTENTION Curators, please assist

Peter sorry to confuse. I meant the Geni help platform - the help link at rhe bottom of every page - is the best place to submit a feature request to Geni.

http://help.geni.com/

No confusion - my original comment was re; Living profiles - Private default. Many like Wanda have No idea - and it's Not what they wanted.

All I said was - it would be nice if Geni either change the practice to default Public for over 14 yrs of age - or let users know - by Field Help - Not the separate page Help information, that so few users ever read - the Public vs Private benefits.

No need for me to send yet another request :)

Peter - for a different Perspective, see: http://www.geni.com/discussions/112737 - I disagree that most would want everyone over 14 to be public, I think it is a very bad idea for Living Folks to be Public Profiles -- BUT I agree it is better if folks know what the choices are, what they mean, and are more aware of whether the Profile was created as Public or Private - and how to change it.

Home..Family...:Lists...

Shows all your profiles and whether they are 'public' or 'private' and you can change them easily.

Lois I build a LOT of trees and 99.9% of those persons are deceased / public. I leave it to my invitees to enter the new living persons in their trees. As do I, they have only a couple - and then progress on to the deceased / public in THEIR ancestry, and build backwards, until they hit a duplicate in Geni, which is a cause for celebration - "let's join our information bits together!"

A better visual representation of living / private vs deceased / public would make everyone's life easier.

Thanks Louis & Erica.

Fay - we all know how to do it - however it thakes New users a while to lean Geni - and creating Private profiles accidently - not only creates Complications for them - but also for all others interested in working on that branch, including Curators trying to help.

There has to be a Better way - Geni can handle the Problem :)

Peter Rohel (c) you may be interested in the discussion i started earlier this year about trying to increase new user's understanding BEFORE they create duplicates:
http://www.geni.com/discussions/110680

Thanks Alex - I have read it - and I am wrapping-up this one :)

Time for Geni to to Fix the problem !

Peter...you and others may know about Home..Family...Lists...but I have encountered a lot of newbies who DONT...they have too many things to learn to go exploring and it DIDN"T used to be a function that was so easily accessed...and they get overwhelmed with info that is often explained by extremely technical terms that they don't understand...

Fay - that is what I was saying.

I want Geni to Fix the problem - creation of Private profiles when user does Not want to.

Fix it through Programming or Warning, etc. - Not by discussions, technical help of other users or a Help screen somewhere else most do not view.

Actually Peter....I wasn't suggesting that Geni butt in....at least not close to the present (1900 and more recent)....however, I think it is beyond ridiculous for private profiles to exist prior to that....just because logistically, those people ARE connected to a larger number of others than most people are aware of...

There are programs available to people who do not wish to be part of a larger community of family....but I don't believe it was ever the intent of Geni to provide unlimited 'privacy'....

Default is Private now - and should Not be

1) either force a user Selection Public or Private during entry OR
2) default to Public OR
3) reverse the onus on users having to change Private > to Public - to Public > Private

Peter: Default for Living should be Private.

Default for Deceased could be Public.

Best (IMHO) would be default for Deceased to be Public, but a user Privacy setting could be changed to make default for Deceased within "Family Group" to be Private.

Dan,

User should decide what they want - not a program, thus Default for living - should Not be Private

I have had 1000's of Living names on my old site with Given & Surname only.
In 8 years - perhaps 5 people asked me to Remove their name or family.

For those that want more details on their Living profiles - fine They can make the profile Private

Don't create Private profiles - when the user want his/her profile to be Public

Why are We doing all the work - making their profiles Public - especially when they had no idea they were reating Private profiles to begin with? (forced by the system default)

Let them - chnage it from public - to Private - if that is what they Really want for that profile.

Wow - imagine the time that would be saved - and New names could be added to instead Geni :)

!000's of profiles with Given & Surname only? That seems to be almost useless unless there are some locations and/or dates associated with some of the "nearby" profiles -- or the names are REALLY unique.

I think I'd prefer you had them private simply so I wouldn't have to wonder if they were really living or if they just hadn't been noted as deceased but might match another "same name" from the 1700's.

Aside from my personal preference, remember that Geni's defaults have to comply with regulations from a wide-variety of countries and legal requirements. And privacy of information about living people is a primary concern, not just an "it would be nice".

Dan, this is just 1 page of my 252 web pages with 50+ names - that began with 100 names:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~prohel/names/frie...

From the comments over the 8 years - many did not have a problem. If they had a question, they emailed me and ask if i know their last location and/or contact info. Last request was recieved 2 days ago & I passed it to the person who sent me the names & has more info. in his PC program.

1) Should Geni comply with International laws - Absolutely !
2) Should Geni bend over backwards for users interested in Private trees - NO !
*currently it's at the expense of users who wish to have Public trees

Just my (different) opinion on genealogy - that's all :)

ooops that's - 50,000+ names

I was entering profiles from the tree view (the only way I do them) yesterday. They were all living and defaulted to public. This is not right. Profiles of deceased should default to public and living should default to public. then they can be changed as necessary

The public / private settng is from counting distance from you, not from the living / deceased toggle. So Geni has done it (the more complicated) way. The members of your family group default to private, whether living or deceased.

I thnking the real problem is the visual distinction between these 4 states is too subtle.

... I just occurred to me that the Geni assumption seems to be that if I know information about someone outside of my own "Family Group" that is still living, then I must have gotten that information from some "public" source. Therefore, make it public by default. It also implies that I should not "claim to own" that "distant" profile -- again, thus, the default of Public.

However, if I am entering a profile about some "close to me" that is LIVING, I may very well have details that are not "public information" and thus, by default, Geni should not reveal them to the "world at large". Hence, default of Private within the "Family Group" for profiles of those currently Living.

I really don't have too much of a problem with that reasoning.

It's just that I don't see that same reasoning as a why one should not have the default for (most) DECEASED profiles to be Public -- independent of any "Family Group". (I might make exceptions when a birth date indicates the current age of that deceased person would presently be under, 14 or 21 or some "youngish" age.)

And it's fine with me if a user wishes to make their "nearby" family deceased members as not public -- but that should be intentional. Particularly if they are choosing to keep an "unconnected" tree branch. But that again should be intentional, requiring the user to take extra steps to do so.

===========

But we're having a discussion about Geni policy in a topic that really is not supposed to be about a Geni policy ... this topic is supposed to be about asking Geni Curators for assistance for those few things that other users may not be able to do themselves or can't figure out how to do (such as certain kinds of tangled profile relationships).

Most merge-related issues can be handled by any Pro member: (see this discussion: http://www.geni.com/discussions/99133 )

Requests for Master Profiles have a place in this discussion: http://www.geni.com/discussions/83475

If it's not a merge issue, and you don't think (or know that) a Pro user can't help, then HERE (this discussion) is the place to ask.

And don't forget -

http://www.geni.com/discussions/76010
zombies, please

Thanks for the "back to on topic" Dan!

Ditto - back to "on topic" - since I started this & had no idea it woul last this long.

*my comment was in response to Wanda's "..I don't know how they got to be Private Profiles because I don't remember designating them as Private..."

Over & out :)

Hi,

I have this private profile Illel Picciotto from mid 18 th century. Is it possible to make it public so I can merge it. I contacted the manager and I don't think that he is active.
Thanks.

Cecil cannot do. The profile has many living descendants on Geni who can affect that profile's privacy setting. I sent you a PM.

I'm pretty sure this request belongs in this discussion :)

Could a curator please assist me by checking the privacy of this profile Unknown Profile.
She has a duplicate profile that is public and contains many more details:
Femmetje Hermanse

Alex Moes, Unknown Profile is now public.

Thanks Private User,
I won't merge them yet because i am uncertain about children, discussing it else where so Dan doesn't jump on me!

<stomp><stomp> ... that was fun! ... (only because it was you, Alex) <grin>.

How can I as a basic user merge 2 profiles that are of me, but with 2 different email addresses?

http://www.geni.com/merge/compare/6000000000644300965?from%5Fflash=...

If you remember your login to the second account you can change the email to match your current and you will be asked if you want to merge them. Then log in again with your current and approve the merge.