A word of warning!!

[pjbuk007]

As far as I can see, you either put your tree on GR, Ancestry etc and assume it is fair game for people to take/add to their own trees, or just do not put the tree online at all.  Another option is to put it up on your own site, in your own format, with your own security controls.

Personally I cannot see why people use Ancestry if they do not want the data taken.  It is obvious that it is a hotbed of name grabbers; also that a huge amount of the tree data is rubbish and/or unsourced so useless to serious family historians. I just need to see the odd distant relatives of ours who are on various trees.  90% wrong! They have looked at one census, and made assumptions.  My husband has a rare surname, and it was often mistranscribed - but 90% Ancestry trees with this name have ignored this possibility and not searched properly.

I would never post photos there - why would you, if you do not want them to be in the public domain? 

I keep all my info on my own computer.  I have had three cousins of various degrees contact me via rootschat - I am happy to send data I have on the relevant rellies.  But really I want to prove all of myself, with proper souces.   

[Nick29]

Personally I cannot see why people use Ancestry if they do not want the data taken.  It is obvious that it is a hotbed of name grabbers; also that a huge amount of the tree data is rubbish and/or unsourced so useless to serious family historians.

I'm sure that serious family historians thoroughly check data, no matter what the source.  Even "official" documents can be wrong.

It's perfectly possible to use Ancestry without storing a tree at all, or you can make your tree private if you want.  It is still the best online resource for those searching both UK and American records IMHO.

[pjbuk007]

Of course I use Ancestry for data, as they still have the most databases, even although they seem intent on hiding some of them!

I meant I could not understand using Ancestry to store trees, photos etc!

Sorry if I was unclear.

[Nick29]

Hosting photos on the Ancestry site is good if (like me) you have a lot of family members interested in the tree.   However, these people are viewing by invitation only 

[maisie666]

Hi Jan

I'm new to FH and have used info from other people's trees as a starting point for some of my research (although I prefer to confirm things myself where I can).   I had assumed that if people left their trees open to the public (or gave you access) it was ok........ this is the first time I've heard it suggested it might not be.  It might well be a dim question, but why would you be unhappy about people using info from your tree (I understand if it is about living relatives)?

Thanks
Maisie

[PabloC]

I too was caught out by the same thing about 18 months ago when contacted by someone with a very remote link. Next thing I knew...large segments of my tree were posted on their public site amongst the other 18,000 or so relatives they'd amassed. As I'd unwittingly given them access via Genes there was nothing I could do really.

Most frustrating. However, at the time I was treating the tree in question as something as a 'framework tree' storing posibles on it etc, so their tree now contains many dates etc which I have now discounted. Good.  They're clearly name-grabbers as mentioned earlier on and if that's all they're interested in, then whatever...

They've now passed those segment on to another mass-collector, so there's a load of incorrect data out there to mislead others...

I now just update my private tree as and when, and generally just impart the relvevant peices of information to those who I establish a genuine link with.

[Nick29]

Hi Jan

I'm new to FH and have used info from other people's trees as a starting point for some of my research (although I prefer to confirm things myself where I can).   I had assumed that if people left their trees open to the public (or gave you access) it was ok........ this is the first time I've heard it suggested it might not be.  It might well be a dim question, but why would you be unhappy about people using info from your tree (I understand if it is about living relatives)?

Thanks
Maisie

Good question...... some people seem to think that they have some sort of copyright over their ancestors 

[Isobelruss]

I got fed up with my information and certificate information appearing on trees were I can see no connections,in particular my dads info so I put a bogus photo on and lo and behold it now appears on about 7 different trees.The photo is from my sister inlaws tree and absolutely no connection to mine.
It certainly made me feel better.

Isy

[groom]

I agree with Issy. I have no objection to people using information from my tree where it is relivant and there is a connection, but I do object when they copy people who are no relation to them at all  eg my father's sister-in-law's brother's wife etc. I can't see what satisfaction it gives them apart from being able to boast about how many people they have on their tree. I'm happy with my smaller tree where I know I have researched and confirmed everyone and and certain they are a part of my family. This is why I started this hobby, to find out where I came from, not to see how many names I could collect.

Jan