Can someone explain "Record my Story" and what it means that they're available to the public?

Jared Hess

I love the ease of the site to click a button and record a story about me. This seems like a wonderful way to add my personal history. But before I get too far on this, I want to better understand what it means that these stories are public:

Meaning... is it public for anyone and everyone right now who has a FS account?

Or does it man it's private now but becomes public after I die?

Or do they have to be a relative?

I don't see any of this explained anywhere.

Thank you!

JBPurdie

By default, all photos, documents, stories, and audio files you add to FamilySearch are publicly viewable. You may have certain items in your gallery, however, that you want to keep private, meaning that they are viewable only by you.

To make a memory private, follow these steps.

Steps (Website)

1. Go to the Memories Gallery, and select a memory you added that you want to make private.
2. On the individual memory page, click Public at the top of the page, and in the drop-down menu, click Private.
3. The share option disappears, and the memory is now private. To make it public again, follow the same steps, and choose Public instead.
4. You can also make multiple memories private at once in the Gallery.
   1. In the top right corner of the memory thumbnail for each memory you want to make private, click the check mark.
   2. At the top of the window, click Actions, and in the drop-down menu, click Private.

Jared Hess

Thank you for that explanation.

Currently, I'd love a way to share private content with specific individuals (wife and children and direct descendants for example). Is such a thing on the development roadmap?

Miss Jessie

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/who-can-view-the-items-uploaded-to-memories

when a memory is marked private even the contributor cannot share it with others

denisecynthiawatson1

At a Roots tech conference last year they said they are working on a future functionality so that memories can be shared with certain groups ie family. We are all looking forward to that feature.

Dennis J Yancey

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/471981#Comment_471981

they have been saying they "were working on such a feature" for at least the past 10 years.

Don't hold your breath.

however with the use of albums - you can better control access to a select group

see this discussion:

https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/albums.htm