Genealogy Chat

I had contact on this site from a descendent of a distant relative. We swapped information to ascertain that we were related, I gave the person permission to see my tree. Silly me! Why was I silly you say. The person put all the information from my very detailed tree, including my mothers side, onto Ancestry. If I had wanted every Tom, Dick and Harry to have access I would have done it my self. I do not mind sharing the information with relatives, no matter how distant, but I was so annoyed to find all my hard work was "Stolen," I use that word because the person didn't ask my permission and used my tree as their own. The person has been denied any further access, anything I put on in the future they cannot see.
Take this as a friendly warning.

This topic comes up about once a fortnight.

Like it or not, as soon as you allow someone to see your tree, they are within their rights to copy as much or as little as they wish to. Personally I don't have a problem with this, but if you feel strongly, then the only way is not to let people see your tree.

The only proviso is with living relatives, for which permission of the person concerned must be granted for their names to appear. If the member has copied details of living persons, then ask to remove them.

I'll bump up the "Tree Bandits" thread which has some interesting opinions on the subject.

To steal is to permanently deprive the rightful owner of something. Your tree has been copied, not stolen.

You can't say the info was 'stolen'...you gave the person access.

This topic has been raised on here regularly over the years.............you have been a member for a considerable time, so should have been aware of the way things are..............

Hi Christine

For that reason i don't open mine...and i have also been ripped to shreds on here cos i choose not to

Julie

Who's being ripped to shreds, and by whom?

Was i talking to you.....don't know why you feel the need to keep following me and picking up on what i have to say..its like me & my shadow

I do not mind anyone `copying` from my tree if we are related as I do the same. I do object to living relatives being put on complete strangers trees which is why I now have hidden living relatives on mine. I did have to politely ask some one to remove me from their tree a while ago and judging from the reply they thought that I was wrong to ask `because we were cousinsx6`.

We live and learn.


Marianne.

What do you mean "keep following me" - this is a discussion forum, and I have contributed to it: why are you being so rude?

Like i said i ain;'t talking to you so stop stalking me

Have you been drinking: it's a bit early?

I thought you weren't "speaking" to me?

Why the hostility? What is it that I do "alot" of, exactly?

Ask yourself how you created your tree? Mainly by copying from sites like ancestry, the censuses etc, which are all in the public domain, all we have done is join these names together in a logical order, some offered by relatives and others by stealth ! We dont own this information so it cant be copyright as its copied information.

Not wishing to add to the tension but isn't the name of the site a clue? I've been lucky enough to connect with a distant relative in America and in September I'm going to welcome him and his wife into my home in England for a stay. I'm really looking forward to it.

Reggie,
May I ask how you know I have been a member for some considerable time. I am new to the message board, some comments seem a little sharp in tone. Perhaps I was a bit naive to think that any information on my tree would remain between me and the person I'm in contact with.
Still we learn by our mistakes

i try not to open my tree to ppl anymore.
what i do now is if they have a connection with me
i just give then the info i have on that side .
that way the people who are in noway retated ,wont be put on their tree.
Rosex

Good for you Shannette
i hope it goes well.
Rosex

Thanks Rose. Perhaps I'm being naieve but I think that there's enough trouble in the world and not enough open hearts.

i agree Shannette
rosex

Christine, people can tell how long you've been a member by your membership number.