Don't people realise how much it hurts

[flipflops]

The problem is that genealogists really only get to see the 'official' paperwork - we often have to read between the lines to get a glimpse of the history that maybe they wouldn't want us to know 

the minutia of their lives is the sort of thing families could tell us that would link us more closely in understanding who and where we came from. Trouble is, I guess often THAT's what leads to letting out the really big secrets

[Nick29]

Of course, what we may sometimes lose sight of is that attitudes to certain aspects of life have changed dramatically, even in the last 50 years.  Today, we don't even have a second thought about people living together whilst unmarried, or having children.  100 years ago, living together when unmarried would make you the talk of the village, whilst having children whilst unwed could easily get you drummed out of it 

My dear cousin (who died recently) was a lovely person, but she had a child to a man that she lived with and never married, and was branded by many in the family as a 'loose woman' - a name she really didn't deserve. 

[Gillg]

Like so many young people today both my children lived with their partners for a time before getting married, but at least my grandson does have married parents.  It must be a nightmare for the amateur genealogists who have to work out the parentage and ancestors of children from unmarried unions often without the father's name being included on the birth certificate. 

[Rishile]

I must admit I feel sorry for future geneologists with some of the problems they are likely to encounter.

Surrogacy, Frozen Embroyos meaning children are born five years after their fathers died, twins born five years apart, marriages in strange places like airplanes, underwater, on small islands in the middle of nowhere, identity theft.

If they ever allow cloning of humans or bringing people back from the dead fifty years after they died, I'll give up.   

Rishile

[VivienR]

I had no idea people would be upset and offended at people adding  information  from public family trees on Ancestry to their own tree.  Ancestry makes it very easy to add pictures and information from public trees to your own tree so sorry but I thought the intent of public trees was to share information.

I have private trees because I do want some control over who I share my pictures, certificates and information with. Although I just finished a public tree with information I am happy to share and I don't expect people to ask me - that's why I made it public.

I am sure I am not the only person who didn't realize that some people with public trees want to be asked if you can use the information they have posted.  Do you think those people who want permission could post that somewhere on their tree so those of us who would never think to ask  would do that.

Vivien

[Nick29]

I had no idea people would be upset and offended at people adding  information  from public family trees on Ancestry to their own tree.  Ancestry makes it very easy to add pictures and information from public trees to your own tree so sorry but I thought the intent of public trees was to share information.

I have no problem with people taking information from my public tree on Ancestry, as long as they have checked that it is correct before they use it.  Grabbing someone else's grandparents and tacking them on to their tree, whilst changing the facts to fit is not only extremely annoying to those who did the original research, but it also perpetuates the sharing of complete untruths among those who are too idle to check them.

And yes, Ancestry does make it too easy for people to steal photographs, and it is also a breach of Ancestry's rules to take them without the permission of the original owner.  The problem is that the practice is now so rife that it's often hard to trace the original owner of many photos.

[cati]

I had no idea people would be upset and offended at people adding  information  from public family trees on Ancestry to their own tree.  Ancestry makes it very easy to add pictures and information from public trees to your own tree so sorry but I thought the intent of public trees was to share information.

But surely it's only polite to ask?

Cati

[flipflops]

My favorite boss would always reiterate the saying 'Say SOMETHING - even if it's only (h hmmm) goodbye.

Seriously though, it's true that Ancestry and the like have made it a bit too easy.

Of course, once someone has paid their sub it's not totally unreasonable to think they can just 'go for it'. Unfortunately the result is that more and more people are making their tree private.

Maybe hosting sites could include some kind of 'permission' button but include some kind of automatic permission for long dormant accounts?

[VivienR]

But surely it's only polite to ask?

Cati

There's a very easy solution to this. If you want people to ask why wouldn't you just make your tree private?

Vivien