Locked Profiles with the padlock icon

hi all,
i've tried searching in the "help" section, and i still can't figure this one out. when i see the gray box with the lock, i know i can message the owner- if i do get them to collaborate, shouldn't that "unlock" the profile? please someone explain what to do, because I'm running into these locked profiles all over and it's really stopping my progress.

thanks in advance,
heather

Locked profile = private profile = have to be in same family group as profile manager to access the profile. Collaboration isn't sufficient.

Collaboration only gives access to public profiles, not private profiles.

Thanks!

It could also be related to unclaimed=unmanaged profiles
That in such cases would also be gray in the tree view (about the padlock icon can't recall right now if it's also appears during the merge process)

Just my opinion, but if they're private or locked, they shouldn't even be visible to ones without access. It's extremely frustrating having all those padlocked profiles popping up everywhere.

If you suspect these locked profiles are incorrectly marked as alive (aka Zombies) then you can post them to this thread: http://www.geni.com/discussions/6000000008897331095

why are locked profiles even on the tree for deceased people......please explain the logic.

it prevents collaboration & progress.

Because there may be unlocked profiles around them... if we removed the profiles completely, we'd have to stop drawing the tree at that point.

all of the locked profiles i've come across are for deceased people. it is frustrating b/c i now have to stop and ask people to become my "family" instead of working on stuff.

how come managers are allowed to "lock" profiles if the person is deceased?

The person may be deceased but the manager of the profile have not set the person as such. It is not the case of being allowed or not being allowed.

The manager probably does not even realize that the person is set to living. He/she may have entered the profile via the tree. Since the default setting is living, he/she has to change the person's status.

Essentially it's because we want to allow our users to protect the privacy of the recently deceased. People who have been dead for 200 years don't need much in the way of privacy, but that may not be the case for someone who has passed in the last 10 years.

ok, so i can resolve some of these issues (if the manager doesn't want to be in my Family Group) by telling them that the profile is mismarked, making it a "zombie?"

It might be a zombie (living and private) or just a private deceased profile. I would try asking the manager to make the profile public so that you can use collaboration for merging.

Most of my problems are with OLD 150 years ago or more.
THANKS, everyone!

GOOD POINT

Heather: there are lots of private (locked) profiles on Geni that are historic - 150 years old - or maybe 1000 or more years old - which are linked in to the families and ancestors of current active Geni users, which are causing us problems. I have many such profiles among my ancestors on Geni.

It would be good if something could be done about these en masse.

Michael Stangel: You said earlier: "If you suspect these locked profiles are incorrectly marked as alive (aka Zombies) then you can post them to this thread: http://www.geni.com/discussions/6000000008897331095"

How exactly do you do that? I can easily report zombie ancestors that are public. But when I look at my list of living ancestors and find private profiles among them, how do I report those?

For example, and this is one of many, I have an ancestor who appears on my living ancestors list somewhere between 73rd great grandfather and 75th great grandmother. Clearly a Zombie. All I know about them is that their name is "C." and I know who the profile manager is.

The profile manager is Charlemagne who according to his profile died about 1000 years ago.

So what can I do about that? I can't link to the profile of "C." itself, to list it as a zombie. I may or may not get a response if I contact a profile manager who died over 1000 years ago. What do you reckon are my chances there?

And I don't have time to contact every single profile manager individually of each and every one of my historic zombie private ancestors.

What do you suggest Michael?