Genealogy Chat

When I first saw my name appear in someones tree I was actually quite shocked Then I realised there was a real person at the end of her tree, who was actually a distant cousin of mine. I have her photo taken with her immediate cousin on a visit to Australia a couple of years ago and whew, do I wish I was 30 again.....! If you search for my name Peter Morgalla Three of the results you get are close relations. The other two are less so....But they have been given access to my tree so I can't complain too much. .

Thank for taking the time to reply Peter.. I can understand better now. Sarah :-)

Sarah - I don't think your questions are aggressive... 1. The 17000+people are the result of something over 20 years research. In that time a lot of information has been exchanged with many other people and the tree grows. It also includes my wife's family. The 'hide living people' box has not been ticked - it is a recent addition. I do not open the tree to enquirers so it doesn't really matter. 2. Yes, I do know my way around the tree! I can usually connect any one person wiith any other within five minutes. 3. The point of having it here is so people can find similar names and ask if they are the same person - if there is obviously a connection then I try to help by sending a file to their email address. This is normally done with the proviso that if it is not a close relative of mine (and I am pretty sure of all data descending from great great grandparents - with checks by certificate where necessary) then it should be confirmed by the recipient. I also point out that they will need permission from living people before putting it in the public domain. 4. The tree also contains some people who are not related to me but who share my surname. This data was gathered almost as a one name study over 20 years - I have spoken/written to almost all of them in England. Earlier this year I actually proved to myself that we are not related and I had the choice of either deleting it and losing the opportunity to perhaps help someone, or to leave it there with a link that I know is not genuine but which is only so they are showing - if anyone asks for the file they will only get their ones. Hope this explains Peter

When it comes to copying, I suppose you have to ask yourself why you are doing this research. In my case it is 1) because I want to find out where I came from and 2) because History has always been my first love (I have a history degree but could never use it professionally). Just copying names achieves neither. Without corroboration, there can be no certainty that they are correct and it is quite simply bad history. That does not mean that sharing is bad, Sharing can provide very valuable indicators as to which path to go down and it can corroborate information you already have but are not sure about. I have taken names off other trees but I have not added them to my own without some basic corroboration that they are, indeed, correct. In one case, the sharing happened at the same time I received a certificate and, hey presto, the same information from two independent sources. Personally, I don't have a problem with those who simply copy. It doesn't affect my research and it doesn't affect the satisfaction I get from it.

I have to say that I agree with Sarah's comments at the beginning. I don't mind sharing my relatives with genuine links but when even those contacts pinch hubbies relatives back to the 1700s it is quite galling and totally unnecessary. It must be just a case of collecting numbers because the people themselves cannot mean anything. Again as Sarah says what is even worse is when they spell names etc wrong so you have Francis instead of Frances and they put Tony instead of Anthony so in effect they are not really helping at all only hindering other people searching for the same people. I think I might perhaps now do as others have said remove my tree permissions and just give relevant information to those that ask. And whilst I am having a moan what about those that you contact on the 'hot matches' and you are totally ignored!!! Sue

Umm, just a few little questions for Peter in New Zealand... Where did you find the 17703 people that you have on your tree on here? Have you ticked the 'hide living people' option? Do you know all the names on your tree? How long have you been researching? I know these sound like aggressive questions - I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound aggressive I'm just intrigued to know how you found yourself with so many relations. I'm nearly up to 1000 after a year's research, but a good number of them are names waiting to be checked & verified (when I get the time lol) Sarah :-) (not banned any more!!)

Leanne, To share your tree you need to go to Shared Trees / My Contacts, find the other person and tick the box 'Let them see your tree' For you to see their tree, they need to do the same. When they have allowed you to see their tree the words 'No - ask them' is replaced by a green tree symbol. Click on this to get access.

Hi everyone! I am new to this site and new to searching! A complete novice in everything and yes i am blonde! The problem i have is that i am in contact with one of my relatives who has done a tree and tried to share it with me through GR but all i got was the message and not the tree. I don't know if i have the right software to download as there was nothing to click on to view the tree> Any sugestions would be gratefully received cos very frustrated! Leanne x

My 'main' tree is on FTM. The tree I have on here has far less detail than that. However, for me, the whole point of GR is sharing information and helping to knock down those brick walls. I have received information and I have given information. I have discovered 2nd cousins I didn't know existed through GR. For that reason, when I do open my tree .... and I have only done it 5 times, 3 of whom are 2nd cousins ...... the recipients are welcome to all the info I have. I would add, in several cases we have also had a productive e-mail exchange outside of GR with exchange of scanned documents, photos and other info.

Hi all, This has always been a very touchy subject, hasn't it? I used to keep a copy my 'full' tree on here, and never had any qualms about giving access to people who had a definite link - until I had the whole lot copied (literally 1000's of names!) onto another persons tree! I was really cross, and quite justifiably so, in my opinion. As others have said, I have no problem with someone using what's relevant, but when they blatantly take several years hard work and a whole bunch of totally irrelevant names, well that's different. Partly due to the ridiculously cumbersome software on here, and partly due the above mentioned 'rip off', I now only keep less than 400 of the 8000+ names in my tree, on here. It is, basically, the main line direct ancestors only, of myself and my husband, with a few extra names that I would like to 'match' if I can. Very basic. No full dates, only years, and no other info, apart from the names. This way, the contact has to get anything other than the real basics from me, by e-mail. That way I get to control what they have. I am still very generous with what I do give, but they do not need, nor do they get, all the totally irrelevant stuff. And Peter... I would contact GR and ask them, on your behald to insist that this person remove living people from their tree, as they do not have your permission, and that you have already requested that they be romeved. That said, I do not ever put living people into the public domain, except those, where it's necessary. As GR insist that you have to start your tree here with yourself, my parents and in-laws, who are all still living, are simply entered as Living Surname and the year they were born. Nothing else. Debbie

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by another (new)member who asked if I was related. As it happens, her husband is my fourth cousin. Rather than open my tree I offered to send her a file to help her - and did so - the file contained almost 300 names all from a common ancestor. Without a word of thanks she started adding the file to her tree. I emailed her and asked her not tpo add living people without their express permission - at which point she closed her tree to me. I am still on her tree, as are a lot of living relatives. Still no thanks. I am seriously considering asking GR to remove living people from her tree - what would you do? Peter

In respect to people copying my tree (if I had one on here worth copying) I whave no reservations on what they copy as a) any living people in my tree (permission received) would be shown as their initials only and a general birth year in the additional information box I would have an indication where I can find the correct details b) I do not own my ancestors they are not likely to be exclusive to my family history and as such who am I to stop them c) when I am gone no-one will be able to access the information on my tree and it could be lost to future generations, so give the information away now and hopefully in the future it will be returned to your descendants These are my personal views and are not intended to countermand any other persons views regards to viewing/copying of trees

If someone wants to copy other peoples research without corroborating the evidence, I don't thing it's wrong per se, but I do think it's kind of pointless. But I do pointless things myself. I have a 'silly' tree off-line, which contains a whole load of unchecked, and sometimes quite patently wrong information, which I find on various trees on the web that contain some of my relatives. It's there to have a laugh as I point out to my family or friends that Charlemagne, Old King Cole and King Caractacus are on there, and it goes back as far as Emperor Claudius! It's not the tree I put on here... or anywhere else. I use the hide living relatives option, so I know that my family are protected to some extent. Protected as far as public domain information (which BMDs are) can be. A while back I had a match with Member A. Member A and I opened our trees to each other, and I found the relatives, but couldn't find the link back to Member A. I did however find Member B on the tree, whom I'd previously had contact with, but as Member B hadn't opened their tree to me (I never ask; I open my tree to established relatives, but let them decide if they want to reciprocate. But that's just me.) I hadn't seen her tree... until now. A had copied B's tree. The part of A's tree I was interested in wasn't connected to A in any meaningful way. Should I use that research? Would use of that violate my personal ethics? Well... eventually, I decided to see if I could find that information elsewhere, starting with just the details I had. And I did. And more. And when I next upload a revised tree to GR, I'm let B know there's expanded information on that section of the family on my tree, which they can view... But that's just the way I operate. Your mileage may vary. Gordon

I have a separate file (on paper) for connecting relations. My distant ancestors, the Drings (10+ generations back) are linked to loads of people on this site, but rather than add those living people on to my tree, I make a 'direct line' tree for each contact, just noting names, parents and year of birth, so I've got a record of where that person goes, but only including relations on the direct line. That way, I can see how many contacts I've got and I know where they fit, but I don't need to know any more than that so I don't note it.

Charles >>if you are going to hide your tree why bother to have it on GR<< Lots of reasons why, even though I am about to remove my tree from GR. I joined this Site and put my tree on here because I only had a paper tree offline and thought it would be a good idea to have one on here at least, then I could export it and have a copy on disk. I was also attracted by the exciting idea that I would meet LOADS of people who were researching the same families as me, and who would help to knock down the few brick walls I still have left. I stopped adding to my tree on here about a year ago - mistakes on my tree, partly my fault (poor inputting) and partly those of GR, made the whole tree a ridiculous and inaccurate nonsense that I am unable to correct, without a great deal of hard work on my part. Having found another site on which I can effortlessly put my tree, on which mistakes are easy to correct without having to delete ten generations of relatives, and which doesn't have ANY teething problems, I am not inclined to correct the one on here, which I have been unable to access since the new tree programme anyway. I have had two GENUINE contacts during my three year membership of GR. Both have a one person tree on here and neither of them have asked me to open my tree to them. They found me through name search, which is what I use too. No need to have a tree to use that facility. I wearily field contacts from people - not always newbies either - who simply haven't done their homework and are desperately fishing in the hope that my Mary Bell born in Lancashire in 1722 is a relative of their Mary Bell born in Australia in 1975. The main attraction of this Site has been for me the invaluable help, advice and expertise from other members on the message boards. Many of these have now gone elsewhere, and I have too. I will be removing my tree, and not renewing my membership when it runs out - this Site is not what I thought it was going to be, and certainly isn't what it was, when I joined 3 years ago. OC

Surely sharing information is one of the benefits of this site. Otherwise, why bother? I know that I am indebted to a number of people on this site for helping me in the right direction (Mike, Andy, etc. take a bow). In return, I too have tried to be helpful and just today got a very nice thank you note for help rendered. Certainly, there will be some who abuse of the generosity of others. But we should not let a minority spoil it for others. If you are going to hide your tree then why bother being on GR in the first place? Rather, take reasonable precautions before opening it up.

Hi just read this posting, and I have to say after having all my tree copied by someone on this site, I removed all my information. Our shared relative was a distant one from the early 1800's on my fathers side but they even copied relatives who were from mothers side, no relation to them at all. I have since found my information on another website including relatives I have since found I had incorrectly listed. I'm sorry but I can't understand people who collect names without any research to back them up. Where is the fun in that! Maybe thats why I'm dippy!

As Laura says, taking part of a tree you are not connected to is bad enough, by adding that information incorrectly is only rubbing salt into the wounds. It begs the question; just how good is the information in shared trees? IMHO If you end up verifying the information (which you certainly should) you are only proving the point that it was there to find in the first place. Genealogy isn't a race, no prizes for the biggest or fastest growing tree. No prizes for a wrong branch either. If someone else can find it so can you,. Glen

Hi, I dont mind people copying my tree as long as the people are relevant. A cousin of my husbands copied my tree including my family who she has no link to! She also copied the info incorrectly, places, years also including her own cousins surname! I personally would never take any living relatives from someone else or any that were a ridiculouslyrubbish link! Laura x

I don't see the problem with copying parts of another tree if it helps move you forward. Personally, I would still want to corroborate that info from other sources but that is just me. I do the research for myself. If someone else gets to benefit from that then why not?