The Mercado family archive is built by family, for family. We want it to be a place where the family’s history is preserved honestly and where everyone is comfortable having their story — or not — included. This policy sets out how we handle consent, takedown, and disagreement, so that no one is surprised and no curator is left to referee a family dispute alone.
1. Living people
We only publish biographies, photographs, or personal details of a living person with their consent. Where someone is living and has not consented, their record stays minimal — a name and their place in the family tree, with date of birth shown as a year only (or not at all), and no place of birth or contact details. Anyone who is living may ask us to remove or reduce their record at any time, for any reason, and we will do so without question.
Video: consent for a video is given per video, before it is uploaded anywhere, because footage shows more than a portrait does — home, voice, other people. A video of a living person is published on the open web only with that person’s explicit agreement to public distribution; otherwise it stays with the family offline.
2. Takedown requests
Any family member may ask for any item to be removed. When a request comes in, we take the item down immediately — it is unpublished, not deleted, so the record is preserved in the archive and can be discussed. Then we talk. Removing first and talking second keeps disagreements calm and reversible. Once discussed, the item is restored, amended, or held permanently, by agreement.
Video: taking a video down means two things, done together — unpublishing it on this site and setting it to Private on the video platform. Unpublishing the page alone does not remove access to the video.
3. When accounts differ
Where family members remember the same event differently, the archive records that they differ rather than choosing one “true” version. Multiple perspectives may sit side by side. The archive is a record of the family, not the arbiter of what happened.
4. People who have passed
Material about those who have died is published with normal respect for their surviving family. A close relative’s objection to a specific item carries real weight even where there is no legal right to remove it, and we will treat such requests seriously.
5. Who decides
Joao Mercado is the final arbiter of the archive. This is stated plainly so that curators are never left to referee a family dispute on their own — they can always bring it to Joao.
6. How to raise something
Please email archive@familia-mercado.com rather than leaving a public comment. This keeps concerns private and out of the comment threads, where they can escalate. Tell us what the item is and what you’d like changed; we’ll respond promptly, and if you’ve asked for removal we’ll take it down before anything else.
This policy may be updated as the archive grows; material changes will be noted here with the date.