Genes Reunited

[Lydart]

To answer SallysMum ...

I agree ... up to a point !  I would repeat what I said before ... be wary and careful ... give and take ... I would say that my experience with GR is that I have received more info than has been snatched from me ... I got one line back from 1907 to 1550 in one email !!!   (And I did check it all, and its OK and accurate info !) 
People can be mean in all walks of life, not just GR.  So take care ... GR might give you just what you need one day !

Good luck, and say 'Hi' to Sally !!!!

Lydart

[sallysmum]

Lydart
I agree with you - you must have been so pleased with the 350 year info - lucky you!  I am going to persevere with GR.  When you do get a good lead it is so rewarding especially when you work together as I did with one contact (very new to this research and thus am working alone to a great extent.)

Sally says woof back! (still not sure if you directed that at me or if you think I am someone else, but Sally is my Heinz 57!)
Sallysmum (AKA Wendy)

[Lainys]

Some interesting points so far...

I have been quite lucky, after taking note from previous posts on Roots Chat about GR.  I never share my tree until I am satisfied we have a connection.

The contacts I have made are all related, albeit some distantly.  We don't only share our trees on GR but are in contact by e-mail/post as well.

In my opinion it is definetely worth the £9.75 per year.

Dolly 

[suttontrust]

Maybe I feel differently from some people about GR because I have done research for several friends.  Their trees can't be put on GR because they're not mine, so I have to look for matches and contact the owner.  I always say that I am happy to share information if we have a match, and do so by email.  I've never had a bad experience that way.  The only time I got unhappy was when someone found a distant connection to my own tree and I made the mistake of allowing her access.  The next time I looked she had lifted the entire thing.  However, soon after that I discovered that I'd got one line (hers) completely wrong so deleted it all and rebuilt it with the right people.  I couldn't help feeling that it served her right.
I've found most people to be extremely generous.  And I take the view that if someone lifts all my research, well, I've still got it.

[Bill749]

The silly thing is that my family tree contains about 60 different ancestral lines going back, in some cases, about 15 generations.  Unless they are your silings, at least half of your tree is of no interest.  If they are 1st cousins, only about a quarter is likely to be relevant.  With second cousins this reduces to an eighth, etc.

Given this obvious situation why do they need to have the whole tree?  If a proven relative contacts me (usually through my own websites) I am happy to share with them the relevant parts of my tree, but I expect them to make an effort to give me the details of exactly how they fit in so that I can check their data and (if its correct) add them to my tree.

I also happily spend several hours in the local libraries most weeks searching parish and other records for totally unrelated individuals.  The results go into my database just in case I get asked for them again.  It would be nice to think that some of these people would return the favour if I ever needed it - I know some of them will.

Regards, Bill

[Lydart]

Lets face it, RootsChat is MUCH more fun; the people who use it are generous with their knowledge, they share their photos and pass on their useful web-sites ... I've got FAR more from 3 months on Roots than I have on Genes (and its free !) BUT I'll stick with Genes because its often where people new to Family History start ... (well I did !) ... and they often come up with a lesser but different sort of info to Rooters. 

I'm enjoying what I'm researching; it started as a quest for ancestors but very quickly became a way into very varied history.  In the last 3 months, I've read up on the Battle of the Somme; settlers in Canada in the 1890's; uniforms; the Norman conquest; DNA; and dating old photos !!    Can't be bad, especially as its been dry and the grass hasn't needed cutting and thus time for this !

(And Sallysmum, I thought Sally must be your daughter !  Well, pat the dog from me and my dog !)

Lydart

[Roger Griffiths]

My initial annoyance was caused by it being advertized as a 'Free Site', when it is in fact a 'Subscription Site'. I did not stay very long, but I got the idea they wanted paying for some results after that. The owners have to be untrustworthy.

In this World, there are Givers and Takers. I don't know the proportions. I have always given info. free for the asking. I am also known on a couple of history sites. I have given, given, given info for years, yet when I asked for some information just once, which someone must have........nothing.

Thanks everyone for the input, your posts have been very illuminating. IGI remains the best thing since sliced bread. I have dealt with Reading FHC and Salt Lake City. Nothing is too much trouble for them. They truly are good people. You can put your Tree on there.

I have got nothing from here on a personal basis, but that is because I don't think anyone else in my extended family has an interest in FH.

Regards,

Roger

[oursutherlands]

Found this whole thread very interesting indeed, and I can see both sides of what you are all saying.

I joined GR a couple of years ago, and its rewards have been quite beneficial to me. I have traced my grandfathers brothers through it which I think would have been impossible otherwise. Their families found me, and I found their families ... fair deal.

However, Bills original point about others gleaming "your" information is pertinent. It has to be said though, that nobody has access to you tree unless you explicitly give them permission to view your tree. If you were possessive of your information, then you can deny all who approaches you. But, the beauty of this brother/sisterhood of the genealogy game is the sharing of information, but, alas, only amongst like minded individuals like ourselves.

The real issue is who actually "owns" that information once you have put it up on GR. More disturbingly, as Bill points out that they have been bought over by a COMMERCIAL tv company, what can they do with "our" information. Did any of us actually read the terms of use when we subscribed at the start. Have we lost our intellectual rights regarding our hard earned information? More concerning is that many people have put in their trees living persons ... date of birth, marital status, age and a location.  What would happen if that got into the wrong hands?

Although we are concerned what we have done in the past, I think that there should be concerns over what possibly might happen in the future.

Neil

[suttontrust]

To be perfectly honest, I don't care what anyone does with "my" information.  Okay, I've done a lot of work, and had the joy of discovery.  But long before I did family history, I did local history research, and when I found stuff that no one had put together before (the history of the Georgian building I live in) I couldn't wait to share it with others, to publish it.  I feel much the same about my family tree.  All the living people who are on my GR tree and on websites have happily given their permission.  Since information about me, and them, is readily available elsewhere, I can't see how anyone can put it to nefarious use.  GR is a good starting point for many people.  If you worry about it, don't use it.