This is not an idea. It's a bug.
I invited my mom's brother to our tree and he can see the whole tree from my dad's side. I thought trees were only visible at the great grandfather level. Since there is no great grandfather link why can he see my dad's cousins too ?
I have the same question - Did they just program it so everyone can see everyone in a tree I create, i.e. my wife's family can see my side of the family? I don't like that :) Please answer, curators.
Thank you.
Family trees are "visible" to other members of the same "Family Group" through their in-law relationships -- not just blood relationships. That does not mean everyone in the "Internet World" ... just those in your "Family Group".
You can see the "definition" of the Family Group here: http://www.geni.com/account_settings/family
Profiles outside of your "Family Group" range default to being "Public" profiles, which means anyone can see them. Of course, you can choose to make the profiles of older deceased profiles within your Family Group as 'public' also -- that is a 'family' choice.
It is generally a good practice to NOT set a living person's profile as public (there are a few exceptions, such as famous people who's information is already "public").
Remember that Geni, unlike many other genealogical sites, is intentionally designed to 'connect' everyone into one World Tree ... and that means that information is connected and shared. While you can keep information "private", it actually takes some work on your part to do so, and in order to do so you CANNOT have anyone else -- even in your own family -- "join" your tree branch if you hope to keep it truly private.
If a truly private branch is what you desire, Geni may not be the best place to maintain such a "family tree"; it is my opinion that you should do that on your own personal computer, not on the Internet -- anywhere!
