What info can we show to non-matches?

[JMAisHere]

Under "Account Settings" --> "Personal Profile Settings"

There is three different choices I can make.

What info can we show to non-matches?

• Full profile: Show all of my profile information.

• Basic profile: Only show my name, picture and birth year (recommended).

• Private: Do not show any information.

The question is, how can a non-matches find any information at all i.e. where do they find me (and look at the profile, if not under matches).

[Jim Barrett]

The question is, how can a non-matches find any information at all i.e. where do they find me (and look at the profile, if not under matches).

The release form you signed only allows FTDNA to show you information to matches.

[JMAisHere]

The release form you signed only allows FTDNA to show you information to matches.

That's fine with me, the question is why do they have this profile setting. Who are this non-matches they refer to.

[khazaria]

You can view abbreviated profiles of non-matches in projects' activity feeds by clicking their names, when both of you are in the same project and you are currently logged in.

[JMAisHere]

You can view abbreviated profiles of non-matches in projects' activity feeds by clicking their names, when both of you are in the same project and you are currently logged in.

Thanks now I understand what it means.

[abuelita]

You can view abbreviated profiles of non-matches in projects' activity feeds by clicking their names, when both of you are in the same project and you are currently logged in.

Thank you. We had never understood that either.

[KATM]

But the question and options for "What info can we show to non-matches?" have been in the "Account Settings > Personal Profile Settings" since long before the activity feeds existed. I wonder under what other circumstance showing information to non-matches occurs?

Perhaps one way is by performing a search: I'm able to be logged out, and yet can see some trees by doing a search from FTDNA's home page. As an example, I found a tree this way by using one of my ancestral surnames, but the person doesn't appear in my match list. Other trees in the search results are marked "Private Family Tree," with a "lock" symbol, presumably because their owners have chosen the private option in the Personal Profile Settings.

Note: I think the screen initially showing the tree kept working and not displaying the tree, with a note at the bottom that I could sign in to see more people on the tree, which I did. So perhaps there is that small qualification. The bottom line is that I could see a person's tree without the person being a match to me.

[Fern]

Yes!!! Thank you, KATM It does have something to do with the trees, but not whether a non-match can view them.

I went through hoops a few months back, trying to have a non-FTDNA match see my FTDNA tree via the "Share Tree" link. To do that, I eventually discovered, I had to set my Family Tree Privacy Settings (under the Genealogy tab) to "public". But I left my Personal Profile Settings (under the Account Settings tab) as private.

When I do what KATM did, and search for one of my tree's names on the FTDNA site without logging in, the ancestor's name (+ birth/death/spouse details) appears and the tree is identified as a Private Member's Tree. Anyone viewing this can click on the words "Private Member's Tree" (or on the tree icon at top right) and see my tree.

There are other trees where the owner is identified by name - e.g. Taylor Smith's Tree instead of Private Member's Tree. It makes sense that these people have set their Personal Profile Settings to show all or show a limited amount of personal info.

The locked trees that KATM mentions are those where the tester/owner has their Family Tree Privacy Settings set as private. It's how mine used to appear, before I changed the settings.

However ... the options for our Personal Profile Settings are more extensive than what's used for the publicly viewable trees (e.g. "show my name, picture and birth year"). It makes me wonder if FTDNA originally had other plans for information that could be seen by non-matches, and these plans didn't happen.

[JMAisHere]

Thanks Katm/Fern to the insight in to the search and link-share. Many different way to see non-matches.
Must say FTDNA have managed to spread out there integrity settings on many places. They seem to have some ad-hook process at there IT department.