Private Memories

Stephen A Meyers

What happens to the memories marked "Private" when the submitter becomes deceased? Will those private memories then ALWAYS stay private?

Miss Jessie

Currently memories marked as private are not made public when an account is locked because the submitter dies or he deletes his account.

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/what-happens-to-memories-submitted-by-a-deceased-user

Stephen A Meyers

@Miss Jessie . I searched and searched for that help article. I knew the answer, but I wanted to make sure that what I "knew" really was the right answer. Thanks for the link.

@Dennis J Yancey . Thanks Dennis for your links as well.

Dennis J Yancey

also see:

http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/when_you_pass_away.htm

http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/when_others_pass_away.htm

http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/passing_away.htm

Dennis J Yancey

if a surviving family member has access to the account - they could reset the status on an item from private back to public.

but if no one is given account credentials than the items remains private forever under current rules.

Stephen A Meyers

Those accounts can often be quickly locked before family can get to them. My father's account was locked within 3 days of his death. Quick reporting by the Ward Clerk. I know of other's that lost their spouse and those accounts were quickly closed. People would have to be quick to access accounts to change information. Luckily there is the filter in Gallery that allows you to find all the memories that are "Private".

Dennis J Yancey

exactly - it has to be done quickly before the ward clerk has marked the person as deceased.

for NON LDS - it is not an issue (FS does not close accounts for NON LDS - unless explcitly told to do so)

Bonnie Kay Mason

I can't exactly recall how the question was worded in the most recent survey. However, I have been thinking that each user should be able to choose if they want their memories to be Public, Private (not viewable after death) and Private until death.

Dennis J Yancey

Yes the subject has been discussed for very many years now Not sure how close we really are to any real option.