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Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: Brummygirl on Wednesday 20 June 07 18:01 BST (UK)
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If you have your tree on GenesReunited, i have just found they have given lots of peeps access to my tree where i had not given permission, and it has happened to lots of other members.
Brummygirl
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Genes Reunited has (in my opinion) gone right off the boil, so I have deleted my tree. They had included details of living people even though I had hidden them, and given people access to my tree without my consent.
I understand that quite a few people are leaving the site at the moment.
Thudders >:(
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Surely this is a daft question: How can you tell who has access to your tree? Can you check a list somewhere other than in 'your contacts'? ???
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Tati,
If you go into your contacts, there is at the side of each persons name a x or tick, it says there if they have permission to see your tree or not. if you don not want them to have permission you click on the cross
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Thanks Brummygirl :) :)
I can see only people I'm in contact with and who I gave access to my tree.
I believe I misunderstood your post - I thought you were implying that people you aren't in contact with had access to your tree :)
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How can you tell who has access to your tree? Can you check a list somewhere other than in 'your contacts'? ???
Click on "Shared trees" at the left of the homepage under the heading "Family tree". I've just done so and found a number of people with access to my tree to whom I never gave access. All of them, I think, had contacted me at some time - but I never did any more than reply saying we're not related.
I've now deleted my tree.
Unless things improve, I won't be using Genes Reunited again.
Stovepipe
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GR isn't a tool I've used much but indeed I remember that each time someone contacts you and you reply, there's a box ticked saying you allow access to your tree. You need to untick it if you don't wish to share... Could this be the explanation? ???
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I'm glad you pointed that out. I have checked, and suddenly there are half a dozen people who have access to my tree to whom I have not given access. I have removed them.
I will keep an eye on this and may quit GR if it continues.
meles
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I've been caught out a couple of times when sending a message to someone - there is automatically a tick in the box 'allow this member access to my tree' and you actually have to delete the tick if you don't want the person to see your tree.
This is probably what has happened.
I think it would be much more honest of them to reverse the process so that you tick the box if you want that person to see your tree - but then, it's within their interests for as many people as possible to have access to as many trees as possible.
I still get a few decent contacts from this site per year so think it's probably still worth the hassle. However, I'm really getting fed up with the number of people who either just don't bother to answer messages (why bother to put their tree on in the first place?) or simply send a 'give me access to your tree' message without any 'foreplay' (sorry, it's the best analogy I could come up with! :-[)
I can see why people are leaving the site in droves.
Jill
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I have only ever given two people permission to see my tree, and even when i contact people i make sure they cant see it.
Today all of a sudden i have over 40 people who have access to my tree, and whoever had given me permission to see theirs has now gone.
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How do you delete your tree? Do you have to go through every page and delete each individual, or is there a way of deleting the lot in one foul swoop?
I would like to delete mine too, as I am fed up with people asking to see it. I originally put it up for my own convenience not to share it with folk who can't be bothered doing the research for themselves. I don't mind helping anyone who is genuinly trying to trace their ancestors and is stuck (like me at the moment) but am not willing to let someone who just wants to syphon off my tree have access to it.
Su
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Su
Under "Other Useful Tools" in the left hand menu, click Import/Export Tree. There should be a box about Importing your tree, a box about exporting your tree and a small link that reads
If you wish to delete your tree, click here
Click that and you will be asked if you wish to delete your tree. In theory, just click Yes and they should remove it.
dinie
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thanks for pointing this out. I only had one person with permission to view my tree - he's one that contacted me ages ago and gave me permission to view his tree, even though it was very clear from the beginning that we weren't connected. I wish you could decline seeing someone's tree - anyway I've unshared my tree with him and deleted him from my contacts.
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Thanks dinie
(is it me or is this site very slow at the moment?)
I just took a look at my contacts requesting a look at my tree and the ones I definitely put a X in have now got ticks in. I am really annoyed, so am off to delete the tree.
Kind regards
Su
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Hmm. Odd. There was one only person in my contacts whose tree I had access to but who didn't have access to mine. It's the other way around suddenly? ???
(Not that I mind much, Arranroots ;) ;D)
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Thank you so much for alerting us to this. I keep a separate Excel spreadsheet of all my contacts and the status and 111 people had been given access to my tree without my permission. I had previously deleted 24 of them (I record the date when they were deleted as well) and 18 more had reappeared without tree permission. I am furious, some who had access I had deliberately not given access to for various reasons.
I have emailed GR for a response on this.
Jean
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Thanks, Brummygirl. I don't want to delete my tree just yet, so I've gone through my contacts list unticking the ones I haven't given access to. I've sent a message to the support team - but they won't be there until tomorrow morning now.
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I have now deleted my tree. I have no need of it on the site any more as I have my tree on triblepages.
I have also deleted all those silly hot matches that never matched mine, and all my contacts except for those few who have become firm friends.
Thanks very much for the tip-off, I was getting fed up with the constant barrage of emails from GC telling me there was someone requesting to view my tree.
Kind regards
Su
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Thank you for this.
I have just checked my tree and lots of people have been given permission to view my tree as well and its not so long ago that I did a check and put a stop on some that had not asked. I think I am another one who will be leaving GR.
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I cannot understand all this about GR !! Been a member for about two years and no-one has ever asked to view my family tree :-[
Mind you, it may be because I only have three people on it ;D ;D ;D ;D
Give me RC anytime ;)
Quiller
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Many thanks for this information
I have just checked my permissions & I have the same problem. I have deleted the wrong 'uns - as has been said, some were people I was deliberately avoiding giving permission to >:(
Most of my best contacts I am now in touch with directly in any case, so I may just take the tree off - an apology & explanation, never mind a refund, would be nice [she says optimistically]
Cheers again Brummygirl
SandraC
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Thank you Thank you after reading this post I went and checked my Genes contacts and I found quite a number that had access to my tree that I have never given permission for. :o
Also I have found one for definate that allowed me to see his tree but I can't any more. :( I know for a fact that he has not stopped me viewing his tree as it is my son's tree and I am helping him with his blood fathers tree.
Genes is getting worse, they keep doing changes and make things worse not better then the privacy and security get that it is difficult to trust it.
I used to recommend Genes to everyone, now I tell them to be very carefull when using it.
Christine
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same with me, have just had to remove about 25 permissions to see my tree, and it was 2 or 3 people who were the last people in the world who i wanted to see my tree.
i wonder if these people recieved an email today telling them that they had permission to view?
thanks for alerting me to the problem hope all is resolved soon, i have asked them for a reply in connection to the problem.
wonder if the site is being hacked?
Joe
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Well ! I have my tree on GR and it will stay, if I cared who saw the tree (and I don't) I would have never put it there in the first place, after all most of those on it are long dead.
Surely we are all adults, and know just how safe anything is on the internet, I get quite a few contacts through GR and am happy with the way it works.
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I don't think it is just a question of the default box being ticked unless you untick it on a reply. This morning I received a message saying that X (person I had never heard of and had no contact with) had given me permission to view his tree. When I went in to see him in my contacts list he already had permission to see mine - without my having had any input at all (as did, suddenly, virtually everybody else in my list of 23 pages of contacts - fancy going through all those and unticking them one by one?).
Anna
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Found this, after I found a contact had opened their tree for me....
have asked to view it for ages..... ::) ::)
No wonder it was closed off.
Copied loads of stuff :( mistakes and all :P :P
;D But, the missing bit I have been looking for was there ;D ;D ;D
:-\ :-\ Now I'm thinking ??? Where did they get that info, and is it correct ;D
Rock on GR, worse than the enumerators info.
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I contacted the GR support team and they acknowledged that they have a problem with their tree permissions which they are working hard to correct and which they hope to do in the next few days.
David
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Hi David,
How did you get that reponse from GR? I just got this email from them:
Thanks for reporting this problem.
I have passed this on to our technical team to have a look at.
Please bear with us while we work to resolve this.
Best regards,
Estelle
The Genes Support Team
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I just said I was very careful about not giving access except to a very few carefully chosen people and that I was very worried that people were being randomly given access to details of living people. I have just checked and my situation appears to have been corrected.
It would be interesting to know if it is only me because I used the right strong words
David
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Hi David,
I thought I did too!! ;D Did you contact them by email as well?
Jean
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I deleted my tree quite a long time ago.I got fed up of relly collectors. and just had one name left.The problem however that you can't access "my tree matches" ( I have winged constantly on the subject to GR). So I'm now rebuilding the tree (only the main lines that I wish to access my tree matches ) with Living Jones Deceased Smith Deceased Brown. Funnily enough there seem to an awful lot of people in my family tree with the first name of deceased!
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Hi David,
I thought I did too!! ;D Did you contact them by email as well?
Jean
No I just used the contact message box provided on GR.
David
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Simple answer.
If you don't want the world to know it, don't put it on GR or any of the other sites.
The whole IDEA is to make information available to others! I have 60+ pages of contacts and can't be bothered to fuss about who knows what I've put on the site. Its by sharing information freely that I've found quite a lot of unexpected matches
WHile GR may have a short term problem, it will get sorted (or they will go bust), and I've always been very satisfied with them.
G
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I think Genes Reunited have a problem with their software developers!
When I checked my contacts and tree permissions after reading this thread I found a whole load of contacts I had deleted had been re-instated, and they were the ones who seemed to have been given tree permissions by default.
There was a message to say that deleted conversations had been restored by popular request, but it's obviously gone horribly wrong.
Now Genes have become a commercial organisation they really need to sort out the software. I am finding that some annoyances which were tolerable when it was only a nominal charge are becoming more annoying now.
That said, I would be reluctant to take my tree down (although I don't update it anymore) as I have had some really valuable contacts.
Now back to restoring my contacts list and tree permissions to how they were!
Anne
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I've started pruning my tree back, I did have siblings on there, but they are coming of, and only the direct line will be left. I hate being contacted by the descendent of a cousin by marriage of a great great grandparents daughter's husband's brother's wife's sister...if you see what I mean.
I've made some good contacts through Genes, two have helped me so much and we are likely to stay in contact.
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Thanks for alerting us to this.
I went immediatly and found that one person I specifically withdrew permission from had been added back on. Funnily enough I can also see her tree and can now confirm without a shadow of a doubt that she was a name collector ;D I deleted her permission again and have found that Genes have sent her a message ( when I deleted her just now) saying I have given her permission to see my tree. Boy will she be surprised when she cant ;)
I'm also emailing my good contacts on Genes to advise them of the problem. I do think Genes could have had the courtesy to send out an email to people though ???
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Well my tree has been taken off. Getting fed up with them regarding their hot matches.
helina
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It appears that the tree permissions have been reversed again.
It is only a few days since they corrected the first mistake and now it has happened again.
Christine
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Has anyone noticed your can't exchange e-mail addy's anymore..
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Well, I think that might be the last straw!
Some tree permissions had been reversed again after I spent 3 hours last Wednesday putting them right.
The tree is coming off at least for the time being...
Jean
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I have just checked mine and they are OK. Just as well as I too spent around three hours putting them all right manually, and re-deleting unwanted contacts.
Anne
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Right, that's another load of mine deleted, down to 141 bods on the family tree, more will fall.
I had decided to leave them this year. This stupidity has really finished me with them.
Pity, it was such a good site a couple of years ago.
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Just a note for you to keep checking. I have been checking mine every day since this was put on the site and each time I find my tree has been opened to others without my permission.
I have nothing to hide but would like to at least know that someone is searching my tree.
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The thing that makes Genes different to some other sites with family trees, is that you have your own private section, which you enter by way of your password. Only people who YOU allow to see your tree can do so, it is not open for everyone.
It is rather gutting, then to find that this privacy does not exist now, and there is the likelihood that anyone can see your tree, whether you have given permission or not.
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Well my tree on genes has gone, its not I mind people having access to my tree (there was nothing on there to hide) but that genes do not keep their word.
Have now transferred the tree to ancestry, where I know the world and his wife can view, but the thing is I know this.
I do keep my full tree on tribalpages which I am working and correcting continually.
Good luck
helina
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Hi everyone,
I think Genes Reunited is disgusting with what they're doing with people's info.
Since last week i've been checking my contacts every hour because my tree dated back to the early 1500s and i don't let anyone have access, I'm up for renewal in July and i don't know what to do because if it was'nt so messed up it's a good site otherwise for contacts.
Ruby
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And apparently it's happened again, everythings gone to pot yet again.
Considering how much the site is supposed to be making and worth, you think they would employ a decent techy
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This sort of problem in a live database is horrendous even for very clever database experts to rectify. The problem usually is not the original problem but all the people who go in and helpfully correct their own data and also all the new data added between the problem occuring and its correction being determined.
The easiest way out is to reverse the situation again but of course all the people who helpfully corrected their entries will then be wrong again. I am glad I am not trying to correct this one. The best solution is probably to revert to the situation some months ago when the problem first occured losing all additions and deletions since that date. Everyone would be very happy then.
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They have got a problem with that site because since last year to early this year some of my details of marriage have disappeared, i got intouch and told them they said it was a technical problem and was being fixed. To this day i still lose them so i store it in notes now.
Ruby
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GR obviously didn't like anyone's input, as all the threads complaining about all this have misteriously dissappeared. Maybe they finally sorted the problem out, ha ha - not
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Just found this thread.
Having checked my tree permissions, they seem to be OK but I don't know whether they had been changed and rectified since my last visit.
Some months ago, I uploaded my full tree gedcom - over 3k individuals - but, after just a few days, was forced to delete it. Why? Because of the stupid criteria used by GR for their hot matches. I was inundated with emails informing me of a John Smith and other common names that matched people in my tree - all born someplace other than where mine were born.
John Smith born in Kidderminster is unlikely to be related to John Smith born in John o' Groats even if born in the same year! It would be so easy for GR to add 'place of birth' to their matching criteria.
This is the only gripe I have with GR, having otherwise found membership worthwhile. I shall upload my tree again soon in order to attract more contacts, but I will delete after one week.
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Hey, that's a crafty way of doing it, Wardonia.
Something else that has me hoppin' up and down a bit at the moment. I spent a heck of a lot of time putting photos on there. Looking through them since this last tree change... :o
Gran Sarah is sitting there minus her head...my picture is the one I have over on the left, here...it fitted before, but now it's half of me and half of the hound. There are others that have been mangled too.
Emily Baker is all right...but her looks alone defy them to tamper with her.