Genealogy Chat

Nothing has been *stolen* everything in someone tree has been gleaned from information in the public domain which the public freely has access to,,,no one owns any other living person,,the dead belong to no one either,,

All that has been *copied* is what you have put together,,,,which anyone could do should they wish to persue it,

But why someone should want a gtgtgtg grandfathers mothers cousin down ,when the connection is with the sister -in-law of a 4xgt cousin,,,!!baffling,,
,
If you have been given permission by a living relative to include them by name on an internet site, the you are soley responsible for that information,,if you allow access to their identity then you are at fault,for allowing leakage of the information,,,

it doesnt matter how low your membership number is doesnt mean because it is low that one has bean posting for a long time.
just means they have bean a member for a long time
if that makes sense lol.
Rosex

This is a recurring problem. We have a new thread about exactly the same complaint every few days.

I contacted the GR team some time ago and suggested it ought to be harder to open our trees. I told them I thought a warning ought to come up telling people that they should be careful with whom they share detailed information. Not that anyone took any notice!

I've said this before and I'll say it again.......members shouldn't use the GR tree as their main one where all detailed information is kept. The GR tree should be only whatever anyone is happy to share with a complete stranger.

If a new contact turns up who is closely related then any more information can be sent by private messages or e-mails.

If anyone reads the small print in the Genesreunited terms and conditions it does warn people to be cautious but I expect most people don't wade through all those before using the site. I certainly hadn't read the fine details until fairly recently.

Once you share information with anyone else you lose any control over where that goes. If your new contact makes other new contacts in a few weeks' time then they could easily be sharing information which originally came from you. And so it goes on.

Keep all sensitive information to yourself. Don't put living people on your tree unless you have disguised them in some way.
Don't add your small children, grandchildren etc to any online tree. You don't need them on GR to trace your ancestors.

Remember that your nearest and dearest may be someone's distant cousins and there is no reason why someone shouldn't add them to their tree. Also remember that many genealogists are doing cluster studies, village studies or One Name Studies so may have a good reason to collect details of people who are not related to them by blood.

Sue

Sue

Agreed! I have just posted a mega email on another thread to try to explain all the possible reasons why other people might want to copy your tree, and benefit from it.

Absolutely nobody will benefit by copying it for no reason other than to add names to their tree.

Regards

Margaret

I have also shared my tree and found it on Ancestry!

I have shared it with contacts who are conected too and they seem to be passing it round as well,the extent of this is evident when "hot matches" turn up!!

However,the longer I go on I discover that I have made errors which I correct on my tree,so the people who just take the info without checking it may well end up on the wrong trail!

Bet