Genealogy Chat

Clare, I think you are right, don't mean to have a go at GC orginators, but I started to get this type of mail very soon after I registered with Friends reunited. That is obviously how some sites keep going, by selling our details on. Kim

Kate No tips sorry about how to remove yourself as village founder. I've also tried and can't find any way round this. Maybe somebody more computer literate has some ideas. Carole

If you want to be removed from the site, you have to email them (email address can be found in privacy policy) and they will remove all registration details from the site.

Could someone please remind me of the address. Thanks, Jacky

Ancestral Villages is OK Honest! My husband created the site last year as a result of an idea we had about who was in the village when our ancestors where there. We put together the terms and conditions by studying all the similar sites-(mainly the big players) as we have no finance to employ a legal team. It is run from our study in Norfolk UK by ...ME and we have hundreds of genealogy questions a week (mainly from older people) which I attempt to answer(for free!) using all the sites spookily enough listed here on this tips board. We have limited google advertising as we can not afford anything else at the moment. Our idea was to get it up and running and then when we've established a fair number of villages we were going to get small businesses of that particular village to do a google adword type advert to the right hand side of the page.eg Basketmakers of Haytown, B&B in Maidstone etc. We are going to charge a nominal amount say a fiver for 6 months worth of ads coming up when people view the village page. We've already worked out a way that we can make it for small village businesses only. We've spent out alot of money with no returns and I've worked very hard on this site to get it up and running so I was mortified to see all your comments! We DO NOT hand on any emails addresses to ANYONE so the spam that you are receiving is nothing to do with our site. We are very aware of the data protection act in the UK and adhere to it scrupulously. When my Husband can take a week off work he will be updating the site so that editing will be easier and all the niggly problems will be ironed out. We always intended to get professional advice on the Terms and Conditions before the advertising started. Please Please don't abandoned our site now - it's just starting to take off! Cally Keohane

Cally I've posted a response on your thread. Everyone Please read Cally's thread explaining the background to Ancestral Villages. Sue

It seems Ex-Residents and Ancestral Villages claim they are not the culprits, so why is it that only just recently we are all getting e-mail spam advertising Viagra? One of the genealogy websites must be responsible. Haven't been offered a penis enlargement yet though!!! Kathy

It's nothing to do with Ex-residents or Ancestral Villages, my son's e-mail account at home gets all the spam and he doesn't subscribe to either. I get loads of it at work and I NEVER use my work e-mail address for non-work related surfing. Oh, and I don't subscribe to either of the above sites either.

thanx sue i hadnt read it either!!! think im gonna delete my info aswell. susie

Kathy Why MUST it be a genealogy site? My husband has received 30 emails this morning for enhancing practically every part of the body in one way, shape or form. He doesn't use the genealogy sites - I do, but we have our own computers, and I get very few. Sue

Susie Don't rush to delete your information. Have you read Cally's response? Sue

sue yes ive just read it so i'll keep my info on the site. cally thanx for the explaination.i dont understand all the terms and conditions cause to me they just seem goggle de gook!!perhaps im just thick but i do wish that thingswere written in plain english susie

Sue If you are happy with Calyns explanation, perhaps it would be a good idea to delete your message, after all we don't want this site to cease if theres nothing sinister going on do we? I think Calyn coming on this board to defend the her site seems more than fair and if people don't read her explanation they are still going to assume there something wrong. Just a thought. Lynda

i also keep getting email about enlarging body parts that might have been more apropriatly sent to my partner....as i only use genealogical sites i feel this is where the spam is coming from...i do not surf anything other than genalogy...it has only started happening in the last month for me and only in my aol mail box .....i have never used ancestral villages site so it isnt them.....maybe we should all see who the common denominator is and send that site a 'stiff and 'enlarged' letter debbi

Lynda You'll see I have replied to Cally on this thread AND on her thread. I purposely added UPDATE and said to look at Cally's thread in this thread's box as soon as I saw her reply. I wanted those who had posted on this thread to see that I had accepted her comments rather than just delete my thread and run off with my tail between my legs. At the end of the day the whole point of the thread was to remind us of the small print and for everyone to make their own choice. As I stated, I hadn't read the Terms and Conditions on Ancestral Villages - nor on most of the other sites that I subscribe to. I haven't deleted the 2 names I had on the site and as time permits I will continue to use and add to the site. I WILL be deleting this thread and sadly perhaps I was wrong to think that others would read through it rather than jump in with both feet. You'll see I have referred several people to Cally's response, which I have supported. Sue

Regarding Junk email. The most common route I've experienced for attracting junk is to join newsgroups. And a reminder not to respond asking any junk mailers to remove you as this alerts them to the fact your email address works. Even opening emails can prompt a 'message read' auto reply to them so my advice is don't open anything from anyone you've never heard of or subscribed to. Be especially aware of any email that has an attachment. I've even emailed friends asking if they have sent me an email with an attachment in case their own email address was being used as a trojan horse. And don't be attracted to message headers that offer any good deals - they rarely do. Anytime you publish your email address is a risk and the Ancestral Villages site does invite you to publish your address to recieve responses rather than forward responses through their own security. Something they should change. Simon

Re: junk e-mails There are programmes that trawl the internet and just collect any e-mail addresses left anywhere and then pass them on - I have ntl e-mail which is hopeless, so I have set up some message rules which means that if the message has vi*gr* in the title, or pen*s or something else, then it is automatically deleted. I still get lots about buying bulk paracetemol (??!!) and recently a spate of e-mails telling me I've won a special prize. I delete them all. nell