I am so upset .....

[shellyesq]

I don't get why people get upset over that sort of thing.  If it's very important for you to take credit for your tree, then make it private to begin with.  I don't feel the need to take credit for something anyone could (in theory) find, so, as long as they're connecting things to the right family, I don't care.  I prefer to prioritize sharing and being helpful over my ego.

I think you should do nothing.  You made it public, so they didn't do anything wrong.  Likely, Ancestry gave them hints from your tree and they added it that way, so not a gigantic task.

[ChrissieL]

I have my tree on Ancestry. It is a public tree. I always make sure I have done thorough research before I add anything to my tree. I would rather people use my tree to copy information than to use a tree that has false information that hasn't been properly researched.  I have some 'draft' trees which are work in progress  but I make sure the settings for these are private and unsearchable.

Chris

[Pennines]

These messages make me feel even more upset - if others wanted to take my personal photographs, I think they should have had the courtesy of asking me if I minded.

That is what I would do, before downloading someone else's photographs.

I am not really bothered about the actual research being taken - I am happy to help with that. Just gutted about the photos from my own collection.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

I sometimes get my own pictures come up as hints and it's as a result of someone viewing my tree anonymously and copying things, they've delved pretty deep into my tree and used quite a bit of stuff I've added to findagrave and Tribal Pages (I use the same profile pic as Ancestry and it's the same basic tree so it should be fairly obvious who created it), any effort I make to contact them is ignored which is their loss as I have way more info about their part of the tree I can share than they seem to have. I can appreciate why they are copying things but the cloak and dagger secrecy to their method is what I find strange. It does sometimes feel like a burglar sneaked in and rifled through my drawers in the middle of the night.

[ggrocott]

I understand why you are upset, but I am not sure there is much point in pursuing the issue.

Like previous respondents my trees are private and searchable, I do regret sharing my tree with one particular person, who despite my request not to decided to copy photos and put them on his public tree, his permission to share was swiftly withdrawn.  Even worse was when someone then copied a photo and applied it to the wrong person.  Thankfully when I pointed this out to Ancestry it was removed.

However, my main reason for making my trees private was to avoid people copying my mistakes; despite often painstaking research I know there are areas that are less than perfect, particularly in the very large one I use to try and 'tie in' DNA matches.

I am always happy to share information, although not about living relatives, and accept that what people do with it is up to them; living relatives are only put on a tree if discovered using publicly available information or if I am given permission to do so - one person was actually upset that they weren't on the tree.   You can never win.  :-)

[Gadget]

The photos are the most precious.

However, it should also  be remembered that each tree is specific to the individual who made it, so no one has the same tree, apart from siblings.  Then the lines split to maternal and paternal. and so on.

I do provide information to kin* who ask but not a whole tree.

Gadget

* info relating to their ancestors only.

[ggrocott]

Like Gadget I no longer share whole trees, just info relating to the person's relations - once burned and all that.

[jaywit]

I have 2 DNA matches who have identical family trees apart from their parents, some parts of the trees are OK some are highly fanciful.

I have just received a message from one of them asking me for more details of our match ( my tree is not on line ) I am wondering what to say to her as I guess anything I do say will end up on the trees.

I am thinking of asking her where she found the fanciful information from, pointing out I would like to know as I have tried to break down that brick wall for 20 years with no success ( there is no verified information on the tree ). I have a photo that would show her something but I will not pass it on as sure as houses it will end up on the trees.

It does annoy me when they obviously just copy everything.

[Gadget]

Also, it must be remembered that information that many of us obtain is not free.

You can only go so far with BMD, Family Search, etc. I have spent many £s  on specialist documents, booklets, certificates, travelling to libraries and archives, etc, - my ancestors travelled widely -  USA, Canada,various South American countries, South Africa, Kenya, India, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Scotland, England, Eire, N/Ireland, and a few affines from Continental Europe!

Gadget

PS - if you just want a tree, that's one thing, but to really  develop a family story is far more intensive and expensive.