Genealogy Chat

Oh Dear, is it that time of the month?

I.e. for this topic to come up again?

Yes, definitely cut access to your tree. (I'm surprised you haven't done that already.) I would also contact him and demand that he remove the living people from his tree. If he doesn't comply contact Genes and they will do it.
Actually do you have permission from those aunts, uncles and cousins who are still living to have their names on your tree? I don't have any living people on my tree except for myself.

Some great responses there !

All much appreciated !

Some of the details he has taken are of living relatives too including my mum, aunts, uncles and cousins on my mother's side (to which he isn't connected to!!)
It seems to me he just wanted to 'make the numbers up' so that his tree seemed a little more impressive but couldn't be bothered to do the research himself !

I think I will definitely cut the access from him to my tree and if he contacts me for a reason, then I can state my case !!

Grrr! I will definitely be taking more care of who I give access to.

I love to share my facts with people who appreciate and understand the work involved , a little common courtesy to 'ask' if my info can be used on their tree is all it takes!!!

Thanks for your responses :-)

And the moral of your story is:

Do not give anyone open access to your family tree.

By all means help one another out by providing specific information about individuals that you share but that can easily be done without granting permission to view your tree.

Whether or not you make contact with the person is entirely up to you. You are obviously aggrieved by what has happened so I would be inclined to make contact were I in your position. Your approach need not be aggressive. Simply point out that when you gave permission to view your tree your intention was that they should extract only the facts that related directly to them, not copy those which did not. You might also point out that it is a requirement of GR that before any individuals details are included in a family tree the author must have the permission of that individual if they are still alive.

If you gave access to your tree then that would be the same as giving permission to use the information how they see fit, within the rules on GR but GR rules do not apply on other media

However if it was me i would only allow this with close rellies and i would insist on sending documentation to prove my tree eg parish records, bmd certs, census info via email.


Roy

I think a lot of us have had that happen to them, I know I have. I don't think a confront in an email will do any good unless of course he has listed living people in which case I would confront.

This is the problem when you leave your tree open. I am guilty of leaving them open as it feels a bit mean to close off access but it does leave your tree in a vunerable position to be 'cloned'. I only put scant info on my tree now to get 'matches' and then after establishing contact swap more detailed info.

I would be angry the same as you but would probably not say anything. You know you've done all the work and can back it all up. Another thought is that times are harder for people now so more of this kind of thing is going to happen.

It makes me want to close access to 'old contacts' but it seems not right somehow.

Good luck in what you decide to do

Hello All,

Would like people's opinions please, here's the situation:

I've been researching my family tree for over 5 years now, I had little to go on and major brick walls on my father's side of the tree, I found a connection with someone on that side and we exchanged a few emails but we had little information to swap! So we obviously allowed each other access to each others tree's and thats how its been left for a couple of years now.

Just recently I noticed on my hot matches with this person has been going up and up, before we probably had about 15-20 matches now we have about 100!

I looked at his tree and to my amazement he has copied my whole tree (near enough) to his ! He has even took details from my mother's side which he has no connection to whatsoever !

Now as many of you are aware, the time and the cost of researching a family history can be enormous , and alot of the time required certs, phone calls , purchasing microfiche, visiting graveyards etc.....and he has just swiped the whole lot without even an email to me !

Ok I have had my rant......

Question is .... Do I confront in an email ?
or Do I sulk quietly to myself ?

Your thoughts guys??

Donna