Gobsmacked

[iluleah]

How refreshing Iluleah, to read that last paragraph and find someone saying the same as I am always saying, but I usually feel like a lone voice!
i.e - the internet is a "tool", yes a very useful one. It is to be used alongside other tools.
 
Unfortunately the world sees it more and more as it Master, not as a tool.

"The internet says ....., so it must be right" ,  or "I cant do xx because the computer wont let me", sort of things. Rather than I will research xxx and will use the internet as one of many tools to do so, or I can do xxxx and I will use the computer where appropriate to help.

No you are not alone 

I listen to students who seem to think exactly what you have said, they think they have 'friends' and freak out when someone doesn't 'poke' them or they find someone has 'de-friended ' them...... I end up counselling students who claim social anxiety, depression and loss of 'friends' when in reality they just need to switch of their gadgets, mix with real people, use all their senses and live their life.
These 'kids' have no clue about researching as unless it comes up on wikipedia it doesn't exist in their world....and unfortunately many people who have long left school, college or University are falling into the same trap

[jbml]

I think my point was in writing 'copying and pasting', regardless of if a person is doing it  or computer software is doing it for them, really is irrelevant. It is not researching and proving.

Copying, collecting information or clicking a key is adding it blindly to a tree and regardless of how many times you see the same information doesn't mean it is real and only researching records to prove any information yourself so you prove and cite each person.

Yes ... I get that.

And my point was that it appears that the software may be copying and pasting things into trees without any active intervention by the person who is responsible fo rthe tree.

I agree that this is not research.

My point is simply that we ought not to be to quick to condemn the person who is responsible for the tree for "blindly copying and pasting" when they may not even be aware that it has been done ...

[jbml]

For those of us who are non-English speaking Gobsmacked is ................

so surprised that you cannot speak

Or, more literally, in the same state or condition that you would be if you have been "smacked" (i.e. punched) in the "gob" (i.e. mouth)

[jaybelnz]

When my tree on Ancestry was public, I was getting hints which originally came from my own tree!!  Some of these were also my own family photos, some house photos, comments and stories that I had personally written, also BMD's that I had purchased myself!  Before I scan anything to put into my tree, I always add something personal on the original photo or document, I use my photo editing programme to add names, dates etc.

I might add that most of these trees where my relatives info had been acquired from, had several thousand people - really big trees - I certainly hope I and mine are not going to end up in the Granite Mountain Vaults!   Or re-baptised!

I don't mind sharing these things at all, but at least a member connect message explaining their relationship would be good!  Those I have had that have identified their connection properly, get a certainly, they're welcome - )after I've looked at their tree) That's why I made my tree private! 

If I get a hint, I always check out the tree, if I looks dodgy, I just ignore it!  If it looks like a genuine connection for me, I will message the tree owner, explaining my connection, and ASK if they would mind if I took a copy of something, especially in the case of photo's and notes, stories and other comments! 

[Blue70]

There's a horrible person who puts other people's information on Find a Grave without permission. They copied information from one of my websites and created bios for each person not just the basic grave details. They made a lot of copying mistakes in the process. I tried to get the mistakes corrected but she ignored my e-mails. This experience led me to take my websites and trees offline as although there are a lot of nice people out there in the genealogy world but there are also some horrible people out there who spoilt things for others.


Blue

[reets3]

Find a Grave is a very strange operation.  Some participants do seem to care about preserving memorials to aid family researchers, while others seem ghoulishly interested in collecting as many souls as they can.  Why someone would want to retain ownership of a memorial when they have no familial connection to the memorial is beyond my understanding.  My mother hadn't been buried a week before someone created a memorial with a exceptionally long bio, giving information on living members.  To her credit though, she did transfer the memorial on my request and I was able to edit the information.

[Blue70]

Find a Grave is a very strange operation.  Some participants do seem to care about preserving memorials to aid family researchers, while others seem ghoulishly interested in collecting as many souls as they can.  Why someone would want to retain ownership of a memorial when they have no familial connection to the memorial is beyond my understanding.  My mother hadn't been buried a week before someone created a memorial with a exceptionally long bio, giving information on living members.  To her credit though, she did transfer the memorial on my request and I was able to edit the information.

This could be the future of genealogy unfortunately. A moderated network of trees where we have to put a case forward to gain some control of the publication of information about our relatives out there on central record systems.


Blue

[lizdb]

This could be the future of genealogy unfortunately. A moderated network of trees where we have to put a case forward to gain some control of the publication of information about our relatives out there on central record systems.

I wouldn't call that Genealogy.

[Blue70]

This could be the future of genealogy unfortunately. A moderated network of trees where we have to put a case forward to gain some control of the publication of information about our relatives out there on central record systems.

I wouldn't call that Genealogy.

Neither would I but I've read that this networking approach to research is predicted to be the future of genealogy. Centralisation of trees and records. Big Brother's got his eye on your ancestors' narrative!


Blue