Tech Forum

Would you please tell me how to remove my age from my LDS tools display for my ward and stake? It showed up next to my name a few months ago, and I have exhausted my resources on the ward level - no one can figure out how to edit the information, or why my age and my husbands age suddenly appeared.

Thanks!

Lisa Winter
[address and phone number removed]

I removed your address and phone number from your message. This is a public forum and information posted here is publicly visible.

Your age shows up in LDS Tools because that data is included in the information sent to LDS Tools when you synchronize your ward and stake data. You will see ages for members of your household, along with some ordinance information, membership record numbers, etc.

Your age is also visible to ward leaders (bishopric, Relief Society presidency, etc.) who have access to that information on leadership directories.

This information is not visible to members of the ward or stake without a leadership calling. It is visible to you and to a limited group of ward leaders.

Can I remove all my information? I don't like being so exposed.

wntrlw wrote:Can I remove all my information? I don't like being so exposed.

You have multiple options for what information is visible.

First of all, you can mark your entire household profile as private. You can do that by going to the Directory on LDS.org, going to your household from the Households section, clicking the Edit link at the top of your household profile, and then changing the Household Visibility at the top of the household section. You can also choose to set your household or individual email, phone number, address and/or photo as Private. Setting the visibility on the household or any of these items means that only certain ward and stake leaders will be able to see those items -- no other members will be able to see them.

You also can remove your household or individual email or phone number entirely. In general, I would recommend against this, since that would make it hard for the bishopric to contact you for any purpose at all. For most members who have privacy concerns, it is much better to just set the household profile or just some parts of it to be private.

For most members who have privacy concerns, it is much better to just set the household profile or just some parts of it to be private.

What if a ward member doesn't want anyone (especially leadership) in the ward/stake to be able to copy/pasta their private data into google docs to share with others? Or the ward website specialist to export the entire directory (including "leadership only" visibility) into a .xls and then email the file to everyone in the ward? Even the lds.org website will map a ward member to a specific home using google maps.

Why are the only two options public and leadership only? There should be additional options, including limiting it to 'bishop/stake president' only and 'completely private'

What recourse does a member who doesn't want to have their private information shared with for-profit companies have?

TFAnderson wrote:Or the ward website specialist to export the entire directory (including "leadership only" visibility) into a .xls and then email the file to everyone in the ward?

I don't think the ward website specialist has that ability. The ability to export is quite restricted and getting even more so as things are updated.

TFAnderson wrote:Why are the only two options public and leadership only?

There are three options: Stake, Ward and Leadership only. There is no "public" as one must be a member of the church and belong to at least the same stake to see anything.

TFAnderson wrote:There should be additional options, including limiting it to 'bishop/stake president' only and 'completely private'

I know of no organization that allows one to be a member and yet hide themselves from the leadership. Donors, yes. Members, no.

TFAnderson wrote:What recourse does a member who doesn't want to have their private information shared with for-profit companies have?

Using church membership information for non-church purposes is forbidden. If that's happening, you may want to talk to your leaders about it. Failing that, talk to the church legal department. I think they'd be very interested in putting a stop to that.

A member can remove the telephone number(s) and email address(es) if desired. But, as mentioned, if private information is being shared publicly there is a bigger problem that needs to be resolved with the bishop and/or stake president.

I want my age as to my kids and husband’s age to be removes or set to be private, I don’t think this information is useful for leaders. I don’t like people to knpw my age or be asking how old I am, or make comments in regards to my age or kids age if they look older or not, I want this to be removed. I don’t mind the bishop to know but any other auxiliary group as relief society or young woman or young man or primary leaders. This something private, I never consent to give out this info.

I see no reason for the age of adults to be available to anyone, period. It sets people up up to be categorized and discriminated against. This shouldn't even be seen by leadership. It's not relevant to my discipleship or my ability to serve. Please remove the display of peoples age. Just because you have this private information does not mean you have the right to use it anyway you wish.

millinersc wrote:... Please remove the display of peoples age. ...

To whom are you addressing your request? There's no guarantee a Church employee will see the request. Nobody with any authority to grant the request will likely ever see it. If you want something in Church software infrastructure to be changed, there are two methods that might have some effect: 1) Use the 'Feedback' button/link on a relevant page; 2) ask your bishop or stake president to pass the request up their chain of command. This is a user-to-user mutual-support forum, not a direct line to the Brethren who instruct the developers what to make visible to whom.