Wikitree - is it OK to link to living people or not?

[Guy Etchells]

I think it's very intrusive. 

This person has added some second cousins by marriage, and their own spouse and mother-in-law  (but made the deceased mother-in-law and her living descendants private).  Yet the living second cousins and the daughter of one of them are not private.

Quite simply if you are not one of the individuals (or a parent or guardian of an under age child) shown then whether they are on or not has nothing to do with you.
Have they asked you to intercede on their behalf?

As you say-

snip

What is it with people that stick their beak into everyone else's business but keep their own stuff private?

For all you know the person that added the individuals might have the individuals’ permission to do so some people get offended if they are missed off a family tree.
I have had experience where I have had irate emails because I purposely missed details of a family off my online tree as I had mistakenly thought they would prefer their details to be private.

Some people take the omission as a direct insult.
Others like myself see it as an attempt to censor history.
Cheers
Guy

[hurworth]

I will eat my hat Guy if they sought permission from all of these living individuals. 

For starters, it's not even correct.  If they'd been actually asked to approve the information they'd have pointed out the errors.

[mike175]

I have not used the site but presumably if it is a "wiki" you can join up and edit the entries yourself 

[hurworth]

Each of these living people on the site has a Profile Manager.  Only people on the "Trusted List" are allowed to edit.

I have absolutely no idea how you get on the Trusted List.  I doubt you'd be allowed on the Trusted List immediately after signing up.

Why would some RANDOM PERSON or a DISTANT COUSIN want to be the the Profile Manager for a living person?  Why not let the living person be their own profile manager?  That way, if they wanted it there they'd be in charge.

Anyway, Guy thinks it's none of my business.  I thought they were questions worth asking.

[Guy Etchells]

Each of these living people on the site has a Profile Manager.  Only people on the "Trusted List" are allowed to edit.

I have absolutely no idea how you get on the Trusted List.  I doubt you'd be allowed on the Trusted List immediately after signing up.

Why would some RANDOM PERSON or a DISTANT COUSIN want to be the the Profile Manager for a living person?  Why not let the living person be their own profile manager?  That way, if they wanted it there they'd be in charge.

Anyway, Guy thinks it's none of my business.  I thought they were questions worth asking.

The person who added the information can add you to his her trusted list.

That is why I asked if you were one or represented one of the individuals shown as living.
I thought maybe he/she the person who uploaded the information was part of your extended family but you ignored my question.
Perhaps you could answer then I may have other advice that may help.

It seems however that you have simply taken it upon yourself to police the Wikitree.

As for your assumption that living people would check and confirm information others add on their behalf that is not always the case.
Many people are happy for other family members to take the role as "family historian" who uploads whatever information about them using his/her own judgement what to add. Often such information is simply never checked.
That is the way of the world we live in today.

Cheers
Guy

[hurworth]

Yes, the person who uploaded the information is part of the (my) extended family. 

[guyco]

Hello,
I am a member of Wikitree.

Could you tell me a name so I can have a look at it.  I could ask for correction to the manager if needed.  Thanks.

[KinCityKitty]

Hello!  I am brand new here and a member of WikiTree.com, the worldwide family tree.  The mission at WikiTree is to add our research twigs to the WikiTree, one leaf (called a profile) at a time.  Then we try to connect those twigs to their surname branches, and the branches to the WikiTree trunk.  The goal is to have one leaf/profile on the WikiTree for everyone that ever lived that can be documented.  Then we share that one leaf and collaborate to improve it with sources, biographies, pictures, documents, and information about that individual.

So it is not a collection of a bunch of duplicative profiles for the same person.  If there are two profiles for the same individual, they must be merged (accumulating the data from both profiles) so there is only one profile on the WikiTree for each person. 

In answer to the question, there are several levels of privacy on the WikiTree.  Since we collaborate to improve the profiles, we do try to keep the privacy settings as open as possible so that others can add their improvements.  Some details about living people are here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Living_People  and general information about Privacy settings are here:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Privacy

For DNA and cousin connections to be activated on the WikiTree, the profile Family Tree has to be accessible by the program, so I most often use Private with Public Family Tree or Private with Public Biography and Family Tree for living individuals.  If an individual is published on a public access record, such as the 1940 census, I use these Private with. . . settings so I can still see their cousin connections on the WikiTree.  If there is no public record, I anonymize https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Anonymization the profile by naming the person Anonymous LastNameAtBirth as a placeholder.  (Please see my brother, husband and dau on my profile:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cooper-1 for examples)

However, if that is too much information for a family member, the profile can be marked Private.  I do not enter children on the WikiTree, but those that do should set the privacy as Unlisted.

Most profiles/leaves have a Profile Manager and that is the person you should contact if you have a concern to share.  This is not a Profile owner, because we all share the profiles, but it is a person to contact with your questions. 

As an example, this profile is set with a Private with a Public Biography and Tree setting.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cooper-6347  The section under Collaboration explains how you can get on the Trusted List (to see and edit all the private data.)

Collaboration

• Request to join this profile's Trusted List so that you can edit.
• Private Messages: Send a private message to the Profile Manager. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
• Public Comments: These will appear below and on Activity Feeds. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)
• Public Q&A: These will appear above and in the Genealogist-to-Genealogist (G2G) Forum. (Best for anything directed to the wider genealogy community.)[/li
  

I know this is long, but I hope it puts your mind at ease about Privacy on the WikiTree.  We do care about protecting privacy.  It is #5 on our Honor Code:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:Honor_Code

[Voltaire1694]

... If the daughter is under 13 she should not be listed, just a placeholder for her (there are world protection laws for children) ...

... I do not enter children on the WikiTree, but those that do should set the privacy as Unlisted ...

I have my own children listed on Wikitree. I have the Privacy Level set to Private with Public Tree.  All that shows in public mode is [First Name] [Middle Initial] [Family Name], Born 2000s. Their relationship to me can be seen. I'm fine with that, unless they do something very bad in which case they are disowned. Someone in the Trusted List could see more details, like their date of birth, birth location, but I can control who accesses it. I think I'd find more information about them on their Facebook pages.