Creating FamilySearch account using a Facebook, google or apple account

Taylor, Carol Ann

I will be helping people with FamilySearch at a public event. Are there any glitches or issues when creating FamilySearch account using Facebook, google, or apple accounts.? I would think at a public event with me at the keyboard their information would not remain as private so I was concerned about that also. Having never created accounts using these method I also wanted to be prepared for any issues in advance. I did not want to set up pretend accounts to check. Should I just practice by trying to set up one for myself using each method? I was not sure if I would get far enough to see how it would work for another individual before I had to stop. I did not really want to connect my own FamiySearch accounts to these.

Thanks

MandyShaw1

If you are planning to get them set up with an account they can then use at home, I would honestly be very doubtful that this is an appropriate thing to do at a public event.

Even if you will be out of sight of other people present at the event, I assume you would be doing the work on a single PC. I don't know about Facebook/Apple, but to set them up via Google your browser would I am pretty sure need to be signed in using the visitor's Google account, which would then hang around on the PC as a Google account choice for the future. I absolutely would not want to do any of that on my PC, and I would be surprised if the visitor wanted you to. Even for a native FS userid and password created where no-one else could see, would they remember the details when they got home?

When I have done this sort of thing at events in the past (not with FS), I have set up some throwaway userids and passwords and then used one per visitor. This would work with FS native userids and passwords, prepared in advance or during the session. Anything the throwaway userid then does in FT will be publicly accessible anyway, so the visitor will be able to find it from home. (My only real concern here would be the need for change logs to show accountable user stamps - you'd probably need to use reason statements to get round this.)

I honestly think you should point them at the relevant FS documentation re doing the account setup for themselves, especially re Google etc.

Would be interested to see what other people think, though.

MandyShaw1

P.S. If they have an existing FS native userid/password, I would say that was fine to use, but they'd need to enter the password themselves - assuming they could remember it (given their browser may well fill it in for them at home), and you would clearly need to log it out before they left you.

Alan E. Brown

@Taylor, Carol Ann

Using any of those third-party accounts as an identity provider is an excellent choice for the situation you are asking about.

• When they leave the event, they will have the ability to sign in at home using those same credentials for the identity provider. There's no need to remember a new username/password, which would be necessary if you helped them create a FamilySearch account directly.
• One of the great benefits of helping them set up an account is that everything they do will be available to them when they go home. If you helped them link to their parents in Family Tree (and better yet, to their deceased ancestors), then they will have a wonderful start when they continue their work at home.
• As with any password entry, you'll want to make sure that the browser does not remember any passwords for the people you help, but of course you would want to do that for any site anyone signs in to. And it is always courteous to avert your eyes when anyone types in a password.

A couple of warnings:

• If the people your are helping are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is very helpful if they check the box for "I want to add my Church of Jesus Christ membership information to enable Church features" as they create the account. This will allow the system to build an initial tree from their Church membership records, which is very helpful. In this case, their best choice would be to use the Church Account sign-in option (rather than Google/Apple/Facebook), and then the membership information will automatically be linked.
• If they already have a FamilySearch account, make sure that you link that account, rather than creating a new account. It can be quite confusing to have multiple FamilySearch accounts.

Finally, to address some concerns raised by @MandyShaw1 :

• When you use Google as your identity provider, there is no need to sign in to the browser with Google. You simply use your Google credentials to use Google as an identity provider. It will not "hang around on the PC as a Google account choice for the future" (assuming you don't save passwords in the browser as I noted above). I'm guessing you never tried to use Google to sign in to FamilySearch, since this is clear when you try it. There are many sites that let you use Google to sign in, and they all work this way.
• "Even for a native FS userid and password created where no-one else could see, would they remember the details when they got home?" That's precisely why a third-party sign-in that the user knows well is a good choice.
• "I have set up some throwaway userids and passwords and then used one per visitor." This will not be very helpful to the users, and is a poor practice for other reasons. They won't have any connection to the work they do, except on deceased individuals, and then any changes made to deceased individuals will be attributed to an immediately inactive user that no one can communicate with. And one of the most valuable ways you can help people is to help connect their private person in Family Tree to their deceased public ancestors in Family Tree. That can only be done when they are signed in with their own account.

MandyShaw1

That makes sense @Alan E. Brown - I will withdraw gracefully! The user would need to remember their Google password though.

Taylor, Carol Ann

Thank you everyone. All gave good advise. Yes my concern is for their privacy and safety. No passwords will be saved to my browser. I will be asking them to type in the password themselves. I would think most will be willing to set up using email or phone number but I wanted to prepared if someone requested the other options. This is my first community event doing this so trying to cover my bases.