Genealogy Chat

Hi I have sent off queries for lots of people who are not (yet) in my GR tree - I have over 6000 in my home database, and I could not be bothered to put them all here - some are very far out on the limbs of my tree. However, there's enough to show the familial connection. To those I have sent a message, I have never asked for a tree to be opened, only for information if I am on the right track, a few people have kindly opened their trees for me to see if I am heading in the right direction. But I won't appropriate their tree. To those who have not responded to my offers to share my info on our obviously joint family - I just hope one day they decide they might like to know what I know. Di

Thanks for that idea I wish I had thought of it.

The issue of people obtaining your personal details for pernicious reasons through information shared on this web site is well worth considering. But remember that birth, marriage and death records are public and that criminals have been able to gather this kind of data for years. Making it available through genealogy web sites just makes the job a little easier for them. Anyone who is concerned about this issue could perhaps engineer some protection by not entering exact dates of birth, or even bogus ones that would reveal a fraud if anyone tried to use them. Names can also be subtly adjusted. Mapmakers insert minor errors in their products, designed to reveal any illegal copying of their work. You can do the same with your family tree, if you feel that strongly about protecting your research.

Michael Watson makes some good points on making sure someone is connected to your family and only passing on further details with a promise NOT to pass the information on. You would think this foolproof but let me warn you even this does not work. Before being a GR member I was exchanging information for several months with someone who had a genuine link with my tree. I had a descendants tree bringing most people forward from 1783 and eventually passed this on saying as a lot of it was recent events please do not pass this on.. With little else to share we eventually stopped writing and I have not given this another thought for over a year until recently. Now I am a GR member but dont have that branch of my tree on the site. Imagine my surprise when someone opened their tree to me and I found my name linked into the other branch. I started to look around and try a few searches, yes everytime just one persons appeared on every match. Now had this person only added information between 1800-1900 I would not have minded. Just for interest I put in a birth that happened in 2000 even that is in the persons tree. I have now removed the tree I have on Genes as I should not like this to happen to this branch also. Most people are just interested in getting back on family history and would never do this but how can you tell? Perhaps I am just a bad judge of people and tend to trust too much, not any more.

Picking up on Julies point, ID theft, that is cloning someones identity, to obtain brand new credit facilities without the knowledge of the person concerned is probably not that common, although it does get the most press. What is more common, and I suspect happens thousands of times each day is the fraudulent use of cards and bank accounts. A lot of this is self inflicted. How many can honestly admit that they and only them self know their pin number? I have lost count of the times that I have seen relatives and children using cards which clearly belong to others. Even putting a cheque in the post is courting problems should it be intercepted. Think about it, it has all your bank details, a copy of your signature and probably your name and address written on the back.

Futher to what micheal has said about id theft... You should also be aware that fraudsters do not just build a profile just to obtain credit. They also build profiles so as to gather information to raid your bank accounts, credit cards or what ever they can get their hands on. Opening your family tree to complete strangers.. gives them exactly what they need.. mothers maiden name date of birth etc... Julie

I pm'd someone the other day who had my great grandfather in their tree, They came up in my hotmatches. I asked what details they had about him and they replied they only knew who his parents were and nothing more. They then gave me access to their tree. I was astounded to see that they had over 33,000 people in thier tree, yes over 33,000!! I couldnt for the life of me work out how he was connected to me. We didnt share the same name and his name does not appear in 2 extensive trees of 2 surnames related to me that I know are definitely related to me and go back to 1500's etc. I then sent another message asking for a description in words explaining the connection. I have heard nothing since. I have not shared the limited tree i have on here with the person concerned. Fi

I personally would NEVER divulge my tree details to anyone without being convinced of a connection and even then, only on the promise of NOT disclosing it to another person. Anyone who gets a request to 'view' their tree, should ALWAYS ask the question of the other person, 'How do you think,or know that you may be connected to my tree'? If their answer doesn't 'click' then politely tell them there is NO connection. It is naive to get a request and then give your details to a stranger, who may be 'trawling' for personal details, in order to build a profile on anyone, in order to use YOUR identity to gain credit at YOUR expense. Be wise,not stupid,just replying to these messages, means the person has already gained a degree of YOUR confidence,your email address is just as valuable a piece of information as your family history. Sorry to leave a message like this, but we live in a different world than we used. At one time, you could leave your door open, knowing it was safe,sadly it is no longer the case,is it.

Have to agree with you Petrina with some aspects of what you say, I've had two close connections in the past couple of weeks but one of them now seems to have disappeared. What a shame. Still, it is the holiday season and if they don't get back it's their loss. They did provide me with a great piece of missing info so I suppose it's swings and roundabouts really. Barbara

N

Beve - it must be your new look - they don't recognise you!! LOL Actually - that's a bit worrying. Maybe you are getting mine? I suppose it's very possible for things to go astray sometimes.

Hi Bruce - yes I have found this site really useful too and had a lot of contacts through it. Another one I have just joined is worth promoting and does 'hot matches' much better is Gen Circle. Well worth a look.

Hi Kenneth Thankyou. Like Claire I ignore those 'let me see your tree' messages I find them really offensive and would NEVER just send that out. These days I like to be sure that there is a genuine connection and then exchange info through email, sometimes sending a Gedcom or scans of interesting material. And I have had some wonderful things back too. If anyone thought that I have data in my tree that shouldn't be there, I would be happy to remove it. Hopefully I don't, but you never know what might have crept in early on I supppose.

Hi Petrina, I had one man ask to see my tree as he had a connection, when I gave him permission, I looked at his tree then couldn't find the ancestor, so asked him where she was, He said ' oh she's not in my tree, I just like collecting names' when you think about it you can put anyone's name in the bar at the top and it will tell you who has that person in their tree !! couldn't be bothered myself, but some people just like adding names, he had over 1,000 but they arn't his at all. . and the one with the cryptic messages never replies now, so I still don't know who they are, instead of a name they have a number, strange.Chris.

Hi Petrina, it can be frustrating when people do not respond, however I find it a bit frustrating when people send messages with very little to go on and want to see my tree. I make it a habit that when hot matches comes through I look at them and if they seem like they could be a match I send a mesage I always eplain that Hot Matches has matched a person in our trees I then explain the person whom has been matched (I only beleive the first person in the list Hot Matches seems to do some weird things and throws up people that may not be in the others persons tree, although this may be fixed now) I provide information like parents, spouse etc that could be used to see if it is indeed a match I then ask if this is a match and if so could we share information I have found that in 99% of the cases peope do respond to me, On your first question I personally like Genes for a few reasons Cost Ease of use the Hot Matches function Over the last few years I have mad contacts with over twenty cousins in Australia and England Bruce, Down Under

You have the right idea, Petrina, in not making your tree available for the asking. I've had many requests to see my tree but I always ask if there's anything specific to justify a looksee. And, as in your case, that seems to be the end of it. Actually I suspect that many members collect 'tree growth' in the same way that some people collect train numbers. K

I've been getting replies to messages i've never sent!!!

Hi Chris - no I don't think it was you :) I'm sure my messages weren't cryptic and hope they didn't sound strange to someone else. I gave details of my connection and where the information came from. Offered to put her in touch with the originator as he had only given me details on MY family (quite correctly) and I thought he may have more for her. Then I said that if we shared so many of the same rellies we must be related. It's just a bit of a let down not hearing any more! You must be wondering how you ended up on someone elses tree! Spooky feeling! If it was mine I would want to make contact and see what the connection was.

n

Hi Patrina, Hope it wasn't me, I found a hot match with all my family names on it, with me as Christina, (which I am not) and I wondered who they were ! I have had no replies from this person, just cryptic messages about my tree, with lots of missing information, I would be only too happy to fill them in, if I knew who they were. Chris.