Desire a solution to allow Helper Function to include non "members"

Tpanc13RichL

I realize why the current implementation does not allow a non member of the church to grant helper function to another user (would allow a use access to historical library info) , such as another relative, but there must be a solution available.

For example, suppose I am a non-member and owner of my Living Entries and want to allow someone else to view/change the Living Persons in my chain that I added and vice versa. If the person I want to grant Helper Function to is also a non-member (checked when request is made), the possibility of access to Historical Library info would still be in tact and impossible to access; in this case "non-member" Helper Function should be granted to allowed to share and/or edit information. Surely, this is not a complicated implementation: Check membership of requestor (non-member), check membership of individual you want to share info (non-member), if both non-members then allow "limited" helper authority access (turn on a bit somewhere that indicates that new helper access to requester's entries is allowed, but "full" help authority to History Library info is not), then, when an attempt to access owner's (requester's) entries by new helper the bit can be checked to determine whether or not to allow access to owner's data.

The new procedure could go a step further to allow non-member and member to share entries but disallow non-member from accessing History Library info.

All would entail setting up for all helpers who request sharing of information a list of helpers that can share information and then provide bits to indicate for each of the shared helpers a flag to indicate whether "limited" authority is granted, i.e., not a church member, or "full authority" if a church member. Example:

Rich requests that Mary and Bob are individuals who want to help Rich in research and entry management. A table such as following is set up to set flags:

Helper Type of membership Shared Helpers Owner of relationship Edit Capability

1. Rich Non-Member Mary, Bob Rich Yes
2. Mary Non-Member Rich, Bob Rich Yes
3. Bob Member of church Rich, Mary Rich No

Implementation based on settings above is as follows:

Rich creates Living Persons

Rich wants to access and view/change a Living person set up by him --> ALLOW

Mary wants to view Rich's Living Person. When she goes to look at them -->ALLOW

Mary wants to change one of Rich's Living entries, she is assigned as a helper to Rich and Edit is turned on, thus, --> ALLOW

Bob wants to change Rich's entry, he is allow access to view, but Edit flag is OFF --> View, but do NOT allow Edit/change

Rich want to access Historical Library, but Non-Member flag is ON --> Do NOT ALLOW

Bob wants to do Historical Library research, and Member of Church flag is ON --> ALLOW

Bob wants to edit Rich's entry with info found in Historical Library but Edit is OFF --> Do NOT ALLOW

Instead, Bob requests Edit capability from Rich and Rich requests such from FamilySearch --> Access Flags above are altered as Family Search desires.

It is desired that such a function be implemented in future versions to allow Help Function to be used by ALL members.

Luke Ybarra Poston Morrison

I have been able to use the Helper Function for non-members multiple times per week. Perhaps you are looking in the wrong place!

Tpanc13RichL

Luke,

I am repeating the answer I received from FamilySearch.Org when I asked HOW to do so because documentation on site states that "permission" is required. I was told that the permission is only granted to members of the Church. In other words, a "member" can request help from another "member" OR nonmember and given permissions. However, a Nonmember CANNOT request help from another nonmember. Please explain your situation. If their answer is not correct, please tell me HOW you received permission and how it is set up. Thanks for the response.

-- Rich

ME Doran

@Tpanc13RichL Thank you for your very thoughtful and through request. You are correct that the use of the Helper Function can only be initiated by someone who has registered in FamilySearch as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At this level, we are not sure exactly why this is the policy but there are probably legal issues involved. There have been many requests and suggestions to make it possible for users to grant permission to selected individuals to view the records of the living people that are in their accounts and we have been assured that these are taken seriously and that the Engineers are exploring options for this. We have also been assured that it is not as easy as it looks nor as much requested as other enhancements that are being considered and implemented.

Again, thank you very much for your suggestions and we look forward to other ideas that you may have for improving FamilySearch.

Tpanc13RichL

Appreciate your response and understand low, low priority.