How Does One Remove a 'Confidential Person' Banner from a Family Tree Profile

waynecoleman1

I built profiles for John Vakey (GHLQ-FHJ), his wife (Ester) and three children (Arthur, Philip and Peter) in Family Tree. My question is about two of John's sons - Philip J Vakey (GHLQ-GPR) and Peter J. Vakey (GHLQ-NF3). Both appear on my screen marked with a banner saying this is a 'Confidential Person.' Being marked as a 'Confidential Person' prevents them from being seen by other Family Tree users. The Learn More button tells me this marking is placed on a profile by Family Tree data administrators because if the public could view the information about the person in the profile it could harm the contributor.

I am the contributor in that I built the profiles for all 5 people. All of the people are dead, and revealing the information to all Family Tree users cannot, as far as I can tell, do any harm to me. So, my question is: What Has to Be Done to Remove the 'Confidential Person' Banner from these two profiles so that they can be viewed by anyone who may be interested in this family's history?

Thank you for your help.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

Starting at the beginning: for some (inexplicable) reason, FS has a bot that sifts through the Tree, and any time it sees a conclusion from the Middle East, it marks that profile "confidential". The associated time periods don't appear to matter. The lack of bot activity on a particular profile is simply random: the process hasn't gotten to that person (yet).

I have never gotten an explanation that even remotely came close to adequate for what or whom FS believes itself to be protecting and from exactly what. The status change is especially unfathomable when the people are long-deceased, lived in the U.S. all their adult lives, and aren't even related to the user who entered them.

Users cannot undo the actions of the bot. I think admin can, but getting the attention of the right people is frustratingly difficult -- and even if they undo its actions on one or two people, the bot is still out there, randomly and inexorably doing its thing. Therefore, I believe the best strategy is prevention: do not mention the Middle East in any field that the bot checks.

I have no suggestion for who to plead with to remove this incomprehensible policy.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

Perhaps you can try flagging your own post for moderator attention? As far as I know, you need a mod to forward your request somewhere up the chain.

Alternate idea: create new profiles for the two people, omitting all mention of the Middle East in anything other than longform text boxes (such as reason statements or collaboration notes), where the confidentiality bot doesn't look. If the system will allow you to delete the confidential profiles, do so; otherwise, delete their relationships and consign them to their ignominous fate in the bowels of your private space.

waynecoleman1

Julia,

Thanks for your prompt response. Flagging the question for moderator attention sounds like a good idea. Where do I look for instructions on how to do that?

Wayne

Áine Ní Donnghaile

Use the flag button.

Rimmer Household

@waynecoleman1

In answer to your question

" The Church is sensitive to the specific place asked about because of the political or religious beliefs of the people of the country".

There are cetain places in the world because of reasons mentioned above the record on FamilySearch is marked confidential and at present you are the only one that can "see" these records.

In time you will be able to share these names with family members through the Family Groups Option, which is still in development. Check this article out: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/what-are-family-groups

We have sent you an article above that explains FamilyGroups and if you go to the help center located in the small question mark at the top right of FamilySearch you can learn more about them.

At the moment only you can 'See" the confidential people but, in time, you will be able to invite family members to your ancestral line on FamilySearch Tree and they will also be able to "see" these people.

Hope this helps

Regards

Miriam Rimmer

FamilySearch Pacific Support

waynecoleman1

Miriam,

Thanks for your response. My concern is, this family is not mine. I am doing the research for a friend.

My second concern is that these are not records, but profiles for two individuals who are brothers and whose birthplaces are exactly the same as a third brother who is not identified as a 'Confidential Person.'

I understand the concern for the sensitivity regarding political or religious beliefs in particular parts of the world, but it seems odd that one person with a birthplace is available to be viewed by anyone who logs into Family Tree, while the person's two brothers, born in the same place, are not publicly available. Is there an explanation for what appears be an inconsistency?

Finally, my concern is I will not live forever and so I wonder if there is some time limit on identifying a profile as Confidential or will the profiles I built be forever hidden from public viewing? If the latter is the case, then once I die no one will be able to view the profile, while I had hoped to make it easier for others who want to research this family to benefit from the information I have found.

Your help in solving this conundrum is much appreciated.

Wayne

Rimmer Household

@waynecoleman1

Sorry meant to say Profiles not records :-)

We would suggest to address this to @PowellTodd23 as he is the senior project manager for Family Tree according a post we made about the same subject. He is the one that replied to my Question as follows:

See this link that should take you to the post: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/149062/sharing-confidential-names-with-family-members#latest

And another person: @Alan E. Brown Said this "The upcoming feature for sharing trees in a Family Group will let people share private persons within the group. It doesn't matter whether they are private because they are living, or private because they are deceased, but are connected to sensitive countries."

This however does not answer your concerns about "seeing" these profiles after your have graduated from this earth.

Maybe @Alan E. Brown or @PowellTodd23 Might be able to shed more light on this subject.

All the best

Miriam Rimmer

FamilySearch Pacific Support

Chas Howell

@waynecoleman1, you say you are helping another person, this does complicate the issue and you probably realize that any Living or Confidential profiles you created for the person you are helping will be invisible to the person you are helping. Now if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints then you have an option to sign-in as a “Helper” to your friend. If you do that then any Living or Confidential persons created will be visible to the person you are helping. That won't fix the real issue but may help the situation some.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/what-does-a-helper-do

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-use-the-planner-to-view-another-persons-information-in-family-tree

waynecoleman1

Thank you to all who have responded to my inquiry.

However, all of the answers do not resolve my original concern. I created profiles for two deceased brothers - Peter J. Vakey and Phillip J. Vakey - who were born in what is now Turkey, and each one was marked as a 'Confidential Person.' Within the last 24 hours each one of their parents - John and Ester Vakey, who also are deceased, were marked as a 'Confidential Person.' Both of the parents, as far as I can tell, also were born in what is now Turkey. Yet the third brother - Arthur Tam Vakey (GFVN-384) - is NOT marked as a 'Confidential Person' and, as far as I know, is viewable by anyone logging in to Family Tree.

So, is it possible to remove the 'Confidential Person' banner from a profile of a deceased person so all those interested in researching this family can utilize the information that I have gathered? Thanks, in advance, for any help you can provide.

waynecoleman1

@Julia Szent-Györgyi

Thank you. Although I think creating a 'Confidential Person' is unnecessary, I now understand the situation more completely. Thank you for your insight.

Wayne

Amy Archibald

@waynecoleman1

The reason that Arthur shows in the public portion of the FamilySearch Family Tree, is because his birth location is standardized as Greece. As soon as you fix that to Turkey, it will also become a confidential person in your private space of the Family Tree.