primary kids pictures on ward website...Safe?

[aebrown]

Our stake Primary president has pointed out that she used to be able to view information about children in other wards in the stake but now can only view children in her ward. Is this operating as designed?

[Yes, that is working as designed. Aside from stake priesthood leaders, members can only see information about children in their own ward.]

EDIT: See the next post for correction of this point.

Should she be given access to MLS on the stake computer so that she can gather reports concerning those who are turning 8?

I really doubt that there is any need to give a stake Primary president access to stake MLS, although the stake president could authorize that if he felt it was important. It seems far easier for the stake clerk to occasionally give her a report (on paper or in a spreadsheet) generated from MLS. That could be done 2-4 times a year and would eliminate the need for her to get physical access to the computer, learn how to operate MLS, etc.

[russellhltn]

Yes, that is working as designed. Aside from stake priesthood leaders, members can only see information about children in their own ward.

According to the help file, "a member of the stake primary presidency will see children in all wards and branches in the stake. "

I think someone should verify the calling has been entered into the stake MLS as a standard position and not a custom calling.

[aebrown]

According to the help file, "a member of the stake primary presidency will see children in all wards and branches in the stake. "

Thanks for clarifying that -- I had clearly not paid enough attention to that detail on the visibility of child information.

[mahgig]

One thing I havent seen posted yet is that people can delist themselves from the directory as well. If they care, they can remove household members like their kids from the directory themselves. How about some personal responsibility eh?

[jdlessley]

One thing I havent seen posted yet is that people can delist themselves from the directory as well.

This is not entirely correct. Adult household members can check or uncheck three items (photo, phone, & e-mail) for the household and for each household member to be displayed in the ward directory. This does not delete them but rather does not display the information to the general membership. Certain ward leaders can view that information even though the options have been set to not "Show in ward directory".

We have to understand there is sharing and transfer of data between MLS and LDS.org and from LDS.org to MLS. If the data for phone and e-mail is in MLS it will be displayed in the profile in the directory. Deleting it from the directory profile will delete it from MLS. To have the phone and/or e-mail in MLS, yet not display it on the directory, requires the option "Show in ward directory" to be unchecked. The only data not shared and updated between MLS and LDS.org are the photos. MLS has no provision for photos.

If they care, they can remove household members like their kids from the directory themselves. How about some personal responsibility eh?

That is the position my bishop has taken. If the responsible adults of the household add pictures, phone numbers, or e-mail addresses to the profile and select "Show in ward directory" then they are exercising their agency and have made the decision.

The original post talked about adding in the pictures of primary children. I think this is safe to do to allow certain leaders, such as the bishop, to view those pictures. The parents/guardians can do this yet uncheck "Show in ward directory" to hide it from the ward general membership.

There is another option in the household profile that extends the viewing of the checked information to stake leaders. That option is:

Allow authenticated members of my stake [district] to see my household information in the online directory as configured on this page. Unchecking this box will override the individual visibility settings below.

However the last sentence of that option is a bit confusing so I don't know what really happens when that option is unchecked. Does the entire household information appear on the ward directory? Or are the options locked as made and now the information is not available to authenticated members of the stake? I know the bishop and other administrators can view the individual household profiles regardless of whether this option is checked or not. What it does to the directory display when it is unchecked is uncertain to me.

[aebrown]

However the last sentence of that option is a bit confusing so I don't know what really happens when that option is unchecked. Does the entire household information appear on the ward directory? Or are the options locked as made and now the information is not available to authenticated members of the stake? I know the bishop and other administrators can view the individual household profiles regardless of whether this option is checked or not. What it does to the directory display when it is unchecked is uncertain to me.

If the "Allow authenticated members..." option (also called the opt-in/opt-out option) is unchecked, then no regular members of the stake will see the household at all in the household list or the printed directory. But leaders (bishopric, stake presidency, clerks, and executive secretaries) can always see the information for all households, even those who have opted out.

The last sentence ("Unchecking this box will override the individual visibility settings below") makes sense in the context of regular members -- if that box is unchecked, then all household information will be hidden, regardless of whether any individual data items are selected to "show in ward directory". In the context of leaders, that box is irrelevant, since leaders can see all data for all households, regardless of the opt-in setting or the individual "show in ward directory" settings.