Genealogy Chat

Jane, What do you take offence to? Sarah

I take offence to that Sarah, having only used this site for 3-4 months : (

Unless, heaven forfend, they have some way of hacking into the site, each entry has to be copied, line by boring line. Which is why these copied trees are very dubious. The guy who filched my tree seems to have made quite a lot of typos.

Thanks Andrew, It's good to know that neither of us have anything removed (lol) Sarah :-)))))

Does anyone know if it's possible for someone to effectively download my tree if I give them access, or would they have to copy it, if they so minded, individual by individual?

Sarah in France: I think that I'm right in saying that the chap whose great great grandfather was your great great grandmother's brother would be your third cousin. With nothing removed!

Hi all, Thanks for all your input, there seems to be a balance between sharing & being over-cautious. Seems that a few 'name-collectors' out there have put loads of people off but.. I'm happy to say that I've had a few interesting PMs too that are all for sharing. Whatever we decide to do (share or not) let's stay polite about it - I've had a few 'This is not my relative' replies to hot match requests and I don't think it's fair :c( It would be good to have a reason given ie yours was born in blabla and mine in thingy or something a bit more definite than 'this one's not mine'! Happy hunting & sharing Sarah

On the other hand: The more contacts you have and trees shared the better to check the data therein. And a connection can come up from an unexpected direction. Example of the first:: I have access to two trees for the same family, but on comparison find that one has a line as descendents of one person and the other shows them as descendents of that person's brother. I have informed them of the discrepancy so they can each check their own research. In the second instance I had a contact which initially seemed not to be a connection since it turned out that their subject was born in Leicestershire and my one in London. However, the contact kindly sent me many pages of information which not only had some new information on the London branch but also established a connection between a Leicester person and another on my existing tree. In turn I have been able to pass that on to another of my contacts with a more direct interest in that branch. So I feel that sharing can produce far more than being protective of 'my' tree, as long as you establish a definite connection before opening up.

After reading what's been going on I've tried to delete my living relies, I put a few on to print a copy of my tree, now I am finding it very, very difficult to delete them, can any one expian in simple terms please, Debbie

I have, in the past, let people view my tree. But no more. I let someone view my tree last week and this morning quite a few of my rellies turned up in my Hot Matches. They have just been copied straight from my tree to theirs. I suppose if you give permission to view you must expect that. I must admit I wouldn't and would ask the person concerned if they minded if I did that. The thing is I wouldn't just trust their research immediately and would just use it as a base to check on first. Linda

An interesting thread. I am in two minds about giving permission to view my tree (but then I am a Pisces so never know which way to swim!!). After a couple of experiences recently when my whole tree was copied and I found myself on my own 'new names' list, I think that I will be a bit more careful in the future. I am also quite adamant that I will carefully check out the information that I find on other people's trees. Although most of the information that I have been given by other members has been useful, well-researched and very gratefully received, I have had a few experiences where the contact has quite clearly just been a 'name gatherer' and the data is incorrect. I realised this recently when I was given access to another member's tree and found a couple being born 45 years after they were married!!

Jane has a valid point. Most people are well behaved and making contacts, for me at least, goes a long way to enhancing ones enjoyment of the hobby. I now have more than 300 contacts, and have shared information on my tree with more than half of them. Sometimes I let them accerss my tree on the site, other times it is by email, or both - it all depends on the circumstances.Part of the fun is helping each other with their research. Only twice have I come actross what appears to be a name grabber and in both cases simply deleted the contact.

Hi Sarah & all, A late (or rather early) thought .... it's 'respect' for others' ancestors/research that's really missing! Most of us, I suspect, don't mind sharing provided the sharee shows some kind of 'respect' for our work - and hopefully a bit of interest too. Granny-snatchers are all to frequent, I find. As for 'hot matches' ... well, even if I did plough through 'em all, I fear burnt fingers might be the result. Agree that a little dance-round-the-handbags is needed before opening trees or gedcoms! Regs Jane PS: Mostly people behave well and are great contacts - please don't get the impression that there are too many vultures out there!

Going to bed now, Thanks for discussing that. Night night.... Sarah (where it's midnight with 3 kids to get up in the mornigng) ... I saw the typing error but I'm too tired to fix it.... anyway that's how I feel,...

Hi Heather, Poor you, being hi-jacked like that. Though, being a positive-thinker, you may realise that not everyone sticks to their 'main line' (though it DOES sound like a rellie-napping to me) The first person who gave me permission had LOADS of info on my mother's line which I copied without hesitation onto my tree. Then, after a couple of weeks I started to realise the protocol involved and PMed him to tell him what I'd done and would he prefer that I removed it (which I would have done - but still kept it in a notebook) he said that when he gave permission he knew what he was letting himself in for and that it was OK. (We turned out to be 1st cousins 3x removed - or something... I'm not very good with seconds & removed... His gggf was my gggm's brother) Anyway, the whole thing being - We all live and learn, until I get a bad experience I'll keep sharing and checking my contact list for the tick boxes....then maybe I'll think differently Sarah :-)

Sarah I think you have possibly misunderstood the tone of the threads you are referring to. No-one is moaning about being inundated with tree permissions - the concern of we long-term members is that many people simply do not realise they have given permission to view their trees. And that, even if they have, they are not aware of possible distressing consequences. We have had many a post from a member, horrified to find that their recently-deceased Mum, or much-loved Granny, has been tacked onto someone else's tree, either by carelessness or by design - and has NO RIGHT or connection to that tree. The various members of this Site have very varying standards of proof. Some of us want absolute accuracy, and others right down to those who just want a few likely-looking names to add to their tree and dont have the slightest intention of spending a ha'penny of their own money to prove anything. Enjoy your research - but do be cautious, not everyone on this Site is what they seem. Olde Crone

I had a similar situation - someone from Hot Matches contacted me and I don't remember giving permission to view my tree (its easy not to take the tick off the bottom of messages if you are in a hurry). Anyhow he gave me permission to see his tree and I was horrified when I saw he had all my family tree on there! I do have some family contacts thro GR and I wonder if he got took detail from someone else? - it has made me think about taking some of my more recent details off my tree.

Heather, I think we all start out innocent, naive and trusting on this site but one bad experience usually suffices as a good learning curve. I think you can still share on this site - you just need to choose HOW you share and ensure that you are helping genuine researchers and not Mr Grabit and Run. Cheers, Horatia PS Saffron Waller on this site and I have shared rellies. I gave her a lot of info at the beginning and then told her to research the rest for herself as she would enjoy it more. However, I did say that if she got stuck on a line to contact me and that arrangement seems to work fine for us. It would spoil it all for Saffron if I just handed her EVERYTHING on a plate - but she knows she can ask if she wants to.

Hi Horatia, Yes, I think it probably was your thread, though there have been a few recently.. I can understand that you end up getting really protective of your tree, with all the time & effort that you've put into it, (I will probably get there too) but newbies like me aren't at that stage yet. I guess we're just so grateful for all the help from everyone on here that we want to share our little trees too.... Sarah :-)

Hi I too had someone put information from my tree on the one world tree. Initialy i was a bit disturbed by this, as he had put mothers name albeit her maiden name on the tree. Although, he did not go further than this. However, because i am still finding it hard to break down my own vast brickwall i wish someone connected to main line of enquiry would do the same! I have been doing geneology for the last five years and i still see myself as a newbie! This site has assisted me vastly not only by connecting with others who are researching the same lines but also the great help members have given me in trying to break down my wall.