Genealogy Chat

As Glen has posted above, it is possible with FTM to create a Gedcom for uploading to here without notes at all. Alternatively, if you do not have offline software, do NOT post notes that you would not wish members to see.

Sorry to but-in..... I found this out yesterday as well..like you I,m quite cross as it has stuff on there about my own young Children, is there a way to with hold this info???

I was completely shocked. I had some info on there that if certain members of my family had seen, they would questioned why it was up there for all to see. I also felt very queasy at the thought of complete strangers seeing it. I was under the impression that this would be private and for my viewing only - being called 'notes'. I was thinking about buying some software. Now I am def going to buy some.! I'm not particularly bothered about people copying names etc as at least I know whats what, and I've never seen the point in trying to get as many names as you can. What's important to me is putting the 'flesh on the bones' so to speak, getting background info and getting to know these ancestors. Carole

Anything and everything you put on your tree can be viewed when you open your tree to someone. When i used to keep my tree on here (a long time ago now) i often updated it by the gedcom method, but i always created a gedcom without notes, just leaving the bare details such as name and dates. My experience of tree views was fraught with problems, mostly name collectors who couldn't even copy the details correctly anyway, never mind actually verify anything. They could offer nothing in return as they had usually not researched anything and just lifted whole trees from elsewhere unverified. Funny how they never know dates etc but seem to remember that so and so had a will and left £10 to an illegitimate son. They only get that because they read the notes section of another tree of course. Glen

I only ever add people to my tree manually and never put any notes on. I would not upload my GEDCOM for this very reason. It is a bit tedious but it does ensure that only what you want to be seen is there. Anne

I think this just underlines the fact that we all have to be circumspect about the information in our tree when we upload to a public site................several things have caught me out, as well as having my tree 'stolen' and 'my notes' being passed on to all and sundry - in fact the person who 'stole' my tree tried to pass it all off as his own work until I told him that if he wanted to make that claim, it would be much more convincing if he removed all my personal notes and references!!! At the moment I have completely removed my tree and am working on a seriously pruned version to re-upload... Older and wiser.....well older anyway. Gail. x

I've just been going through shared trees and have discovered that if you let someone see your tree they not only can the tree but can also read all the notes that are made! I'm pretty sure that this wasn't always the case. Have just spent half an hour deleting all the notes. This is an intellectual exercise for the most part for me but there were some notes i'd made about fairly sensitive events that I didn't want people seeing! Am really annoyed! Carole