Ancestry Trees-Public/Private?

[confused73]

I have had problems with someone putting my husband and his brother on a public family tree,both still living. I requested that he removed them so he promptly made it a private tree,I contacted Ancesters and after several e-mails they said they would ask him to remove them, but it was very reluctant, but I have no means of checking if this has been done and appears I can o nothing if not.

[Nick29]

There are far too many people out there who think this is a cheap hobby and look to use others hard work to build up their trees.  I am more than happy to share my research and copy any BMD's I have for most people but not for the 'tree scrumpers' or those who wish to have as big a tree as possible.

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I once had two people in the same week copy all that they could from different parts of my tree. When I totalled up the value of the certificates and other documents they had copied I was horrified as it ran in to several hundred pounds. (Turned my tree private since then)

 I was also very disappointed when my contact messages were ignored because for one part of my tree it was the first time in six years I had found anyone else researching that family.

Luckily since then I have found another contact who has just started her tree and she is more than happy to work with me and swap and exchange. Between us we are well on our way to solving a family mystery which I very much doubt the other person will manage to do on their own.....so its their loss as far as I'm concerned

I got a lot of certificates over a 4 year period, and I didn't care about other people using them, because I realised that not everyone is as fortunate as me.  Now that my income has been radically affected by ill-health, my opinion hasn't changed.  For me, this hobby is about sharing.

[maggbill]

I used to totally agree with you Nick, but as of today have changed tack and now am of the same opinion as mofid42.

A person with 800 names on his/her tree has just taken multiple certs and even some photos from my tree over the past few days.  Having contacted them to ask where the connection is, and been invited to be a guest to their "private" tree, I have now realised that this person (now describing themselves as a newbie - and admitting their tree is made up of other people's trees) - has not only taken advantage of other people's hard work, but has made a major mistake, having inserted my ancestor and descendants into her branch of the same surname... but in fact there is no genealogical connection at all - totally different family!!  Have messaged to advise of this major mistake and await the outcome.  This is doubly upsetting as some of the photos taken were sent to me by other ancestr... members who like me are into "sharing" in the true sense - not just "taking" !!!

Now about to decide to make my tree private - unless this person does a return message reassuring me that they will delete the total mistaken branch from their tree.  I await with bated breath!

[youngtug]

I have a public tree on ancestry, although not complete and up to date. My main tree is on tribalpages and holds a lot more information, it is private and I only allow guest access to people who  seem to be serious researchers. Although we all are capable of misjudging people

[Mollymoofer]

There are far too many people out there who think this is a cheap hobby and look to use others hard work to build up their trees.  I am more than happy to share my research and copy any BMD's I have for most people but not for the 'tree scrumpers' or those who wish to have as big a tree as possible.

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I so agree with Plummiergirl.
I also have memberships to four genealogy sites and it does get tiresome when people ask you for help,then copy your tree,and then never reply to your emails.I think the genealogy sites should do something about this.I did email two of these sites to complain but hey ho got nothing back
You can easily tell who these people are by looking at their trees.One minute they have a limited amount of relations thenafter contacting "you" their tree has suddenly grown!!
I once found four trees on Ancestry that all had the wrong information regarding a marriage.Now if they had bothered to check themselves rather than copy they would have known it was wrong!
I now like someone else said email back and forth and when satisfied will share information.Most genuine people with offer an email address that is not connected to the site.Those looking to "copy" will only communicate through the site.

Sonia

[rosie17]

I agree also I made mine private after people copying family pictures which there were no connection at all .Some people just copy things without checking if they are the right family, I have had several people doing this when I contact them they just ignore you  but keep your photo's I dont seem to get through to them they have the wrong family

[Nick29]

If you worry about the mistakes made on other people's trees, then you'll never have enough time to work on your own tree ! 

I must admit that I was quite upset recently when one Ancestry member 'lifted' my g.g. grandparents to put in his tree - and changed their places of birth to make them fit !   I did contact him via Ancestry to tell him that my g.g. grandmother was born near Buntingford, Hertfordshire, not Dartford, Kent, and he deleted her from his tree.  However, my g.g. grandfather still remains.   But I have to ask the question.... he's changed my g.g. grandfather's place of birth, he's got many of the children's names wrong.... are we still talking about the same person now ?

The only thing that troubles me about this sort of thing is that is propagates falsehoods, because others copy in blind faith too.

However, we must remember the old saying......

"The person responsible for making sure that the data you insert into your tree is correct is YOU !"

[rosie17]

I quite agree especially when you have spent a lot of money and time and you know that you have the right family !!! ( Think before you Leap )

 

[Mollymoofer]

I agree with Nick29 regarding certificates.I share once contact has been made and the other user and i are certain we have the same family.
By not sharing it makes genealogy a very lonely hobby.I have made some wonderful new Friends via sharing information.