When you find an error on someone else's tree, do you tell them?

[1716]

One of me cousins, 3x removed, was a famous engineer. You look on ancestry and find hes actually a dead child of someone, and a grandchild of someone who died as a baby. Do a search on ancestry and this line is highlighted as correct on a search of the engineers name.

Now, the person who did this connected names and found a birth certificate with the correct name (forget the death certificate here, they can just ignore certain facts   ), and a link to another family of engineers with the same surname.

Really, really frustrating. Point that out to them with documents and its ignored.

To prove a point I invented a person, stuck it on my tree, and found out what a remarkable life he led in the early 1800s when others found the name and connected the non-existant dots.

[Trancesgirl]

I now just leave "comments" on family trees, detailing the correct facts and where I've found them!

I do work for FreeBMD and I both receive and submit corrections - he who never makes a mistake, never does anything 

I think you have hit the nail right on the head with your quote "he who never makes a mistake, never does anything."

[jbml]

To prove a point I invented a person, stuck it on my tree, and found out what a remarkable life he led in the early 1800s when others found the name and connected the non-existant dots.

Ha ha ha ... made my day, that one!

[ugo]

My Trees were copied from GR and put straight to Ancestry, mistakes and all, I stopped using GR and now never put my family on any site, it is really funny to see my errors on other trees, they have not even bothered to check them.

[Helina]

At one time I transferred my tree to ancestry, but only for a short while and likewise my tree had been copied.   But what does annoy me is on 2 trees they have put my direct line back to the 1600s while I cannot find any information pre 1759, and my family came over from Ireland.  My father went over there looking at family graves in 1837.  I did contact the tree owners, one admitted she had copied it from somewhere and the other could not remember where he obtained the details.  I know there is another line also living in Bristol and we have not found any connection which does go back and one of them have copied from him.  I have been in touch with that tree owner and his tree has been thoroughly researched.

helina

[Duodecem]

I was contacted by someone who had researched some of my ancestors, who assured me that he'd extended the tree and could take it back to the Norman conquest with a character born in France in 1066. Sadly the aforesaid Norman's provenance consisted of 6 family trees-including one where he was born in Normandy, Bedford, Wisconsin. (Impressive!) and even more impressive-his son-on all trees, was born in 1060! Mainly in "Normandy UK". 

[Helina]

Another senior moment

"My father went over there looking at family graves in 1837"

Meant 1937

siamese

[diplodicus]

To answer the original question ... "No".

For five years my paternal family tree showed my connections all the way back to the 1590s in Dorset. There were hundreds of them and last year I found out that none of them were related. I had started with the wrong paternal grandfather; a fact that was only revealed when the 1911 census finally appeared. Goodness knows how many people have copied these erroneous connections.

When I view other trees (usually via Ancestry's "hints" function) I can see many connections that are very different to mine. I place no reliability on the researches of others and almost never import their "facts" into my tree. However, I do find it them a useful way to suggest terms to include in my own search that then reveal records my own efforts have not revealed. So, a big "Thank you" to those of you that do share your trees.

I am puzzled by those of you place your findings out there in cyberspace only to complain when others copy them. The world is large enough to contain lots of individuals that would meet any criteria you might choose to deploy to define "strange". Why then be grumpy if some of these "strangers" use and abuse your data? You put it out there for all the world to see. Why then be surprised when one of those people that are "relation hoovers" alights on your data and copies it indiscriminately, often making two and two add up to 100 (unless you live in a binary world when it does!).

As for rude or grumpy responses, why not be thankful that you don't live in their world? Almost everyone you know isn't like that so don't dwell on the inevitable odd one or two.

I wish all of you a very merry Christmas and much success in the coming year in finding that elusive  cousin/aunt/grand relation.

[rayard]

One tree has a relative born in Birmingham in Lancashire!  Another seems to have popped to America every time she had a child, and another lived to be about 240. Even though one lady has used Ancestry Parish record certificates she still uses the wrong surname for another.
I don't store mine on Ancestry it's all on paper, but I do help others.
rayard