What Security and Privacy Settings Does TribalPages Offer?

Updated

TribalPages provides privacy and access controls for family tree sites, but the exact options depend on your account level and the site's current interface. The platform is built around a simple idea: you decide whether a tree is public, private, or visible only to approved family members. If you are the site administrator, you manage those choices from your account and site settings after logging in.

What "TribalPages Security" Usually Covers

The term covers two related areas:

  • Privacy of living people. Genealogy sites generally hide or restrict details about living individuals by default, because publishing names, birth dates, and addresses creates real risk.
  • Access control for the tree itself. You choose who can view, search, or edit the family tree, and whether visitors need a password.

The hostname laybourne.tribalpages.com is a subdomain, meaning it points to one specific family site hosted on TribalPages. Security settings for that site are controlled by whoever administers that account, not by visitors.

Privacy Levels You Can Expect

Most TribalPages sites use a tiered model rather than a single on/off switch. Typical levels include:

Level Who can view Typical use
Public Anyone with the link or search engines Distant relatives, research collaboration
Password-protected Anyone with the password Extended family
Private / members only Approved accounts only Close family, sensitive records
Admin only Site administrator Draft or unpublished data

The practical difference matters most for living individuals. Even on a public tree, you generally want living people's details suppressed. Check whether your site hides them automatically or whether you must mark each person as private.

How to Find and Change the Settings

  1. Log in to your TribalPages account as the site administrator.
  2. Open the site management or admin area for the specific tree (the laybourne subdomain in this case).
  3. Look for a Privacy, Security, or Access section.
  4. Set the overall privacy level, then review per-person privacy for living individuals.
  5. If you use a password, share it only through a private channel — not in a public post or email thread.
  6. Verify by opening the site in a private/incognito browser window, logged out. What you see there is what a stranger sees.

The verification step is the one people skip. A setting that looks correct in the admin panel can still expose data if a linked page, photo album, or search result is separately public.

Common Pitfalls

  • Search engine indexing. A password-protected site is usually not indexed, but a public one can appear in search results. If you want the tree findable only by people you tell, keep it private.
  • Photos and documents. Media files may have their own visibility settings separate from the person records.
  • Invited editors. Giving someone edit access also gives them the ability to change privacy settings unless you restrict their role.
  • Living-person data. Always confirm how the platform treats living individuals before adding sensitive details.
  • Old links. Changing privacy does not always remove cached copies from search engines immediately.

A Reasonable Default

If you are unsure, start private and open up later. It is far easier to invite relatives to a private tree than to retract information that has already been indexed or copied. For a site like laybourne.tribalpages.com, the administrator should confirm the current privacy level and test it from a logged-out browser before sharing the link widely.

Because TribalPages updates its interface over time, treat the labels above as a guide and confirm the actual options in your own admin panel.