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Someone outside my tree has control over profiles in my tree

Melissa Choy

September 29, 2011 02:56

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The person added my brother.

My brother added all these family members on our side of the family.

My brother left geni, now someone in his wifes tree who added him is the manager of all these people my brother added.

This is really a major bug in the system, this person should not even be able to edit our family members let alone being the one in control.

Suggestion. If the profile manager leaves then the profile should become unmanaged. An appropriate user within the line should be able to claim ownership of the profile management.

8 comments

• 0
  
  Dan Cornett September 29, 2011 15:31

  1) You can request management from the existing manager(s).  That, of course, depends on cooperation.

  2) If profiles are unmanaged because a person deleted their account, how would you propose that Geni identify "an appropriate user"?  From a relationship-within-family perspective, a member of brother's wife's family may be just as appropriate as a member of the brother's family.

  Right now, if one stumbles across a PUBLIC profile which is unmanaged, it can be "claimed"; I'm not sure about private profiles.  At the very least, however, it might be good to have a "circle of relatives" searched for when a person who manages profiles "goes away" -- and then notify those in that "circle" that "so-and-so has left Geni; please contact customer support about who should manage those profiles."  NOTE: That "takeover" would not be an issue if the profiles had more than one manager from the family group in the first place.  Perhaps a good "family practice" work-around would be to have the multiple "genealogists" in the family add each other as managers.

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  Tanya Atkins December 07, 2011 06:50

  How do I remove control of my family tree from someone who has no right to have set it up, and who is in no way related to our family????

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  Tracy Anne Fish February 13, 2012 02:23

  I agree with Tanya. I hate the idea that someone who is not related to our family can take over a tree or photos that clearly belong to my tree. I don't mind people viewing my tree, or photos, or even asking me for permission to use a photo. But I don't like that I've worked hard on a tree and someone can just take over a profile or snatch a photo without permission. There should be a way to lock a profile or photo. I have a hard time understanding the privacy settings too, I wish they were a bit easier to understand. But again, I really dislike someone taking over MY tree.

• -1
  
  IRENE HOPE DAVIS September 13, 2012 15:48

  Someone added to my tree without my permission.  They created a "branch" for someone that already existed and went on from there adding 5-8 people.  So...my husbands aunt has two husbands now!  How did this person log onto my private account and do this and why would GENI let him add a person that was already there?  Doesn't asking permission mean anything to anyone ?!?!

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  Dan Cornett September 19, 2012 23:32

  FYI: I can say that for Irene Davis's situation no one "took over" her private account.  There are other Geni members within her family group, and they found a common ancestor which - when connected - made it suddenly seem like there were some duplicate children of that common ancestor.  Since one of those "family group" members has a Pro membership, they are able to merge the duplicates (which preserves the information across both of the duplicates) to get the tree back to it's desired state of having one profile per person -- albeit there are now more in the overall family tree!

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  Tracy Anne Fish September 20, 2012 00:16

  This feature, of just anyone adding things to my  family tree is irritating. You spend all this time making a family tree, and getting it just the way you want it,  and someone (usually whom you don't know?) comes along and adds names, or worse, adds information that you know is inncorrect.  One should be able to keep a tree public so people can view the tree and the information, and use the information. Then if ask by that person, you can always collaborate or share information if you so choose. I have no problem with someone wanting to use the information I add, or for them to ask permission to use a photograph. But this free-for-all on my tree is an irritating glitch. And it's the reason I rarely go on Geni anymore. It sucked the fun right out of making my tree. I log on to see my tree all messed up.  Personal photos that I put on my tree, I've seen on other peoples trees with incorrect information next to it. Ugh! And judging by the response from others, I'm not the only one that feels this way. You would think Geni would change it's confusing options, simplifiy things,  and change this feature?

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  Mary Grimes November 09, 2012 02:17

  Is there a way a tree that has been corrupted by someone's use of merge (that screws many things up) can be deleted so it can be redone? The merge on my tree was done by someone unrelated to the family that started the tree in the first place. I find myself listed as my own sister on my tree because of the merge this person has done. How can this kind of problem be averted in the first place? There is no value to anyone in a corrupted tree - with so much misinformation in it. It is just a big mess!!!

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  Tracy Anne Fish November 13, 2012 22:45

  While I respect the curator's answer, and realize that that's just the way it is...  It does not help the fact that MANY people are irritated at the way it's set up. When someone adds things to your  tree without your permission there's something wrong with that. It's no longer YOUR tree! A tree should be there for everyone to benefit from it's content, NOT to go in and change or alter items without your permission.  We want to make our trees public so everyone can view it and benefit from it, but if it means that anyone  can go in and screw it up with false information or to take family photos from you without your permission, than I'm not sure it's worth it? I had a string of duplicates people added to my tree  that I had to get rid of and several errors added as well. Building your tree should be a fun experience, not a frustrating one. I wish they would see how irritated people are by this glitch and simply change it to a safer, simplier and more secure method.