Genealogy Chat

i had something like that once,someone contacted me about a rellie and there was a connection, they allowed me to see there tree--fair enough--- so allowed them to see mine, but that was before i looked at there tree, i heard nothing back from them,so had look at there tree,and they only had a few rellies on it, anyway, i closed my tree to them,and got rid of the contact, it really annoys me when someone contacts you,they let you see there tree, you let them see yours, then you hear s*d all from them!! i have built mine up over 3yrs,with help from others,exchanging info,well,you don't mind if they are willing to exchange,but when they just want to see your tree and take the info with out them looking for info themselves and buying certs [which i have] it's just not on!!! Chris.

I agree with coments...some people are a bit brusque to say the least....but at the end of the day....it's their problem not ours, so chill

I just have to add my bit since I get so uptight when this happens to me..... and I listened to OC's (and other's) words of wisdom and stopped opening my tree.... and yet it has happened again.... but this time through a third person. Do not open/give your tree to anyone if you don't want them to copy it. Marie

Hello Joanne, Thank you for standing up and being honest, although I wasn't prepared to actually name you myself. I will message you privately about this but I just want to say first about the tree sharing business, I personally don't mind sharing my tree with people who could be related distantly on one side but I wish to draw the line in people taking info from the other side when there is no real connection with them. Yes it is nice to share a tree and information on the side where there is a connection, and I have been given a few names recently that I either didn't know about or had not seen people since I was a little girl, but I personaly wouldn't just take and add the info without doing my bit of research first to be sure, which 9 times out of 10 would involve buying a certificate to be sure, some people can make mistakes on their tree, and I even followed the wrong man at some point last year, so any mistakes we make the mistake is also copied, and I wouldn't take any info that is not directly related to me. At the end of the day some of us and perhaps many of us work so hard in doing the research (I can see that by how some of you are quick to answer some replies with the answer they need) and most of us are doing it all on our own with no help from anyone else, for example, having no one to ask to get any info from, my fathers parents had both died before he was 16, so never spoke of his family and was estranged from other family members, I have found out all of his side by doing it all on my own from scratch buying certificates etc. and it took two years and getting in touch with 2 relatives who had never met to both come up with the same surname to actually find what surname the family ended up using which then resulted in that brick wall being knocked down!

Hi All There is a problem for new people to Genes when you start and listen to the adverts and read the bumf it leads you to belive that you can get in touch with lots of people with the same relations as you and make your tree grow this can be taken as to be able to copy trees, I can't find any where on Genes were it say's don't copy someone else's tree without permision or did I miss it. Paul

Joanne I hope you and Shelley get the 'misunderstanding' sorted. I must say that I think it was very brave/honest of you to stand up and be counted on this thread :) Chris

I think the easiest answer would be an introduction page on your tree where you can lay out what you expect from others, this way they know they cant just copy your trees and photographs. I was bit on the bum by a names collector and he has never been in touch since i broke his contact, if the information on my living rellies ever appears anywhere i WILL take action, I personally have a large tree this is through all my own work, I like to know the information is correct and be able to explain the facts to my family members, Unfortunatly when you have been at this game for a long time you realise most of these people just want to waste your time therefore i have my main tree offline with all my detailed info on it, It is a shame but i know chose to be selective on what info i want to give out, I have a few huge brick walls that have challenged the best of us but they are still standing, Just wish i could get some decent contacts off like minded people as myself. Well this saga will continue.............

Im sure everyone loves to share and get pics and personal info about their family but we arent talking about that close sort of relationship/contact (which is lovely) - we are talking about the 'name collectors' -people add on hundreds/thousands of names through one link - and probably a vague link at that. I cant understand why people would do that and I cant understand how some of the trees people have shown me just have lists of names and dates, nothing else, no real flesh from occupations, from workhouse, poor laws, courts, wills - just the basic names from a census or something - thats not what family history should be about.

Hi All. Just sticking my nose in I think more than a few have made this error as for myself when I started I was stuck so I desided to find out how many surnames were conected to mine no matter by what means I was so adicted I got carried away the upshot was I had a file from a well known researcher with a name from my family and because this researcher was well known I coppied the file to my tree then the problem started if you can imagin a V shaped tree his tree came from one side mine from the other and at the bottom of the V was a person were both sides met and without this person the trees could not join I was so engrossed I put the persons name in without asking permision and she rightly played hell I ended having to put living persons in some of the boxes so now I check and double check my information and that's a tip for every one CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK. pAUL

Ah, yes, Peter - if I could guarantee that ONLY my correct version was passed around the internet, I would be very happy! Unfortunately, when it gets tacked onto 100,000 other names, who can tell which bit is accurate and which isnt? The problem with internet research, as I see it is - you can never tell what standards other people are working to. I am long past the stage in my research where I want to bother with trees made up from Great Aunt Mabel's recollections, or from stuff lifted entirely off the IGI, by someone who doesn't have the slightest intention of spending a hapenny of their own money on genuine research. Having waded my way through umpteen of those sort of trees, I am a bit fed up with it and prefer to give out information by email, rather than open my tree - AFTER I have proved a connection. And I can also say - no one, not once, on GR, has ever questioned my information, even when I have made a typo, making someone dead 50 years before they were born! OC

May the guilty party stand forward? A public apology. As you will see from other threads on here, I am new to GR and Genealogy and copied Shelly's tree in the best of faith. I have read everyones comments on this thread, and am pleased that some people also are of the view that trees are for sharing and enjoying the fact that you have managed to get so many names on - this is all was intended and I have been very excited by finding all the new relatives - however distant. More importantly though, I apologise to Shelley for causing offence as this is not was intended. I understand that she has put a lot of effort into researching her tree and I did not realise that adding this info to my tree would be percieved as 'stealing' all her hard work. I will be removing all of Shelley's info from my tree and in future will ensure that if I do get a link, that I ask permission first to ensure that I do not offend anyone as it is clear that we all have differing opinions of how other people's info should be used. Let this be a lesson to me, and also to other 'newies'

Although I too have had large amounts of my hard-won research lifted from my tree, and so I have emotional sympathy with Shelley, O.C. and others, I do feel we should consider that there are differing views as to the scope of 'Family History'; there is nothing sacred about blood-kinship (unless you are a fascist). After all in ordinary life we consider aunts and uncles by marriage as part of our family. If some people want to include marriage and collateral connections then that is their decision. As someone who has had to labour long and hard correcting some prolific and erroneous trees I would rather that my version of family connections (which I believe to be correct) be spread around the virtual world than versions that derive from fantasies submitted to the IGI.

Sue, I wasnt being aggressive in any way, but when you see your own recently deceased father's details paraded on ancestry one world tree by someone whose name you dont even recognise except for the fact they once asked to see one particular person on your GR tree and then obviously removed every single bit of info on there - you will feel the same as I do, you really will.

thats me told then!!

Sue, I dont know for sure, but how much information do you have, how long have you been researching? As O.C. says if you have spent say 2 decades spending time, a lot of money, resources, effort to track down wills from 3 centuries ago or collect bastardy orders from records offices 500 miles away - then I think may be you would be entitled to be peeved if someone with grandads name and nothing else comes along and whips every bit of your work without a by or leave. And the point being, because of that sort of thing happening to us, people like O.C. and myself dont open the trees to anyone unless they show genuine connections and have made some effort to get out and find info themselves. Sharing is one thing - having your whole tree stolen without a word and added to the public domain is quite something else.

I wouldn't mind at all if i opened my tree to someone and they used the information on it for their tree - isn't that the whole point of sharing your tree. If you don't want people to access the info then don't open your tree just keep all the info to yourself - simple.

I agree 100% with OC I find these days that it is mostly one way traffic with regard to information....Me to A.N.Other. I have absolutely no problem with that and am only glad to be able to help, however when I do give what I have for our shared line I have asked the 'right' questions to know we do actually share the line and I don't use this site to share the info! I have never (yet) had a contact complaining about not being given access to my Father's line....Why would/should they when they asked about a connection in my Mums, or visa versa???? I suppose this yet again brings up the shortcoming of this site, that you can't just open a portion of your tree.....It's all or nothing :( Chris

OC, You said what I was trying to say, thank you. Annette, You are right it does get addictive. Shelley

Yes Nichola part of Genes Reunited is about sharing our tree with other family members, but not, as I suspect, perhaps an in law of a great Aunt 5 times removed and without permission.

Nichola Yes, this Site IS about sharing information with other FAMILY MEMBERS, not the world and his dog. If you are related to my mother five generations ago, why on earth would you want my father's history? You have no blood relationship with him, prior to me.My parents were born in two different countries and the two families never had any previous ancestors in common. In common with many other members of Genes who have been doing this a long time, I have found that 'sharing' consists of me GIVING and receiving nothing in return - that isn't sharing! Of course, new researchers will always know less than other people who have been doing it longer, I understand that, but it does start to get very wearing! You will rarely find old-time researchers saying 'I thought this site was for sharing'. I NEVER open my tree - I got caught too, in the early days and my work is plastered on One World Tree, on a tree which contains over 100,000 names. This tree consists entirely of 'stolen trees' contributed by other people as gullible as me. This isnt meant to be harsh. But I think you will find that your attitude will change, the more research you do, the keener you will be to ensure that it goes into the right hands. Good luck with your research. OC