Genealogy Chat

Beware of letting other members view your personal "Family Tree" before asking a few pertinent questions. My family tree was stolen on Genes Reunited. It took me over 20 years of personal painstaking research to put together all my family members so it especially galling to see them all appear on another member's so called "Family Tree" when I know that he is not related to me in any way. The rogue individual involved is fully aware that we are not related yet he refuses to delete them from his "tree". Worse still my complete tree is now also showing on Ancestry.com. How this sort of behaviour can be tolerated by Genes Reunited is hard to imagine as it does nothing to help those tracing genuine ancestors. My GENUINE tree has now been removed from this site.

I am sorry you feel this way.Unfortunately to most people viewing includes sharing.
A couple of quotes.
"A secret shared is no longer a secret"

GENEALOGY IS FOR SHARING. YOU ARE WELCOME TO USE ANYTHING FROM THIS SITE,
PLEASE TRY TO GIVE AS WELL AS TAKE.

So sorry to hear this has happened to you. It's a risk each one of us takes everytime we open our tree to someone. Thank God the general population has morals. Perhaps instead of the violation you may be feeling you can eventually turn it around to feeling proud that your research was so good someone else wanted it, but probably not yet. Please don't let this unfortunate event deter you in your research, but perhaps close your tree off from others until each is confidently vetted.
:(

There is a lesson to be learned, by not having your whole tree on a public site like this, only keep a skeleton tree here and the rest on a family tree program on your computer.

I agree it is annoying and can be upsetting, too.

I can empathise from experience: I sent a GEDCOM to a quite new relative who unfortunately then included all my information in his family tree programme and then sent a GEDCOM to another who has put it all on his site.
This caused tremendous upset in my family not just for me - why? - because of the many names of living people, including children, and much personal information that would not have been found in the public domain. Eventually the owner of that site removed a few names but refuses to remove more. Since then, I do not send GEDCOMs.

On this site I only have some direct ancestors.

Harrowing this may be, but the other member hasn't actually done anything wrong. The only provisio to this is that if there are living persons involved, then you can ask for their names to be removed on the assumption that they have not given their permission. (In fact I'm not even sure if GR still apply this rule)

The best advice is never to publish whether on this or any other site, information that you you prefer to keep private - just leave it off altogether.

In my experience, most members are completely genuine and are only interested in their immediate family lines. Over the years I have allowed over two hundred members to hae access to my tree and only one distant relative has ever wanted to copy parts which were not really relevant to her family, but so what.

The only one name collector I have come across got the bums rush.

Please don't be put off and certainly be cautious - but not everyone out there has an ulterior motive.

I am a little confused as to what a "Stolen Tree" is!

I too have researched my tree for over 20 years beginning at a time when there was little or no information on the Internet which was still in it's infancy. However I do not consider the tree I spent so many years researching to be my personal property.

I did not invent my tree, it already existed. All I did was uncover what was already there. I simply put together the many pieces of public knowledge available like a jigsaw puzzle. Due to the years of research, my tree has grown to a reaonable size. It has roots, trunks and branches but I am none of these. I am but a small living twig on the end of my tree. As a twig, there is no way I could have control over the mighty tree.

There are probably many other twigs on the various branches of my tree that are researching the same tree right now. Will I still own the tree or will it belong to the other twigs? Could we all own exactly the same tree except for the bits on the end? When I analyse my tree I find the concept of my personal ownership one that mystifies me. Despite all the years of personal research I have done, I make the tree as public as possible including on Ancestry. That is the purpose of my tree. I am proud of it and my research. I want the rest of the world to see it whether they are related or not.

Parts of my tree are as a result of shared knowledge. The people I have shared knowledge with know that I will make the none living part or it publically available just as I know they will do the same with my knowledge. If someone wanted to withhold information, I could simply research it myself. Research takes longer than verification but the result are just the same.

The one thing I never do is never to knowingly have any living relations on my tree. If I have doubt as to whether a person is deceased or not, they are not publically displayed. Why do I need living people on a public tree?

Am I not offended if someone who has a very distant and tenuous link to my tree copies it. That is their problem not mine. I like to regard the tree I have researched like a technical manual. If I need information on something I have no knowledge of I visit my public library. There I can find information on numerous subjects that others have researched that they pass on to others. That information has been made public. Is the tree that I have researched any different?

Even if I did not make the tree I have researched public, sooner or later some other twig on the tree will.


Michael

See General Board

" Why oh why do people copy others trees"

for recent debate on the subject.

I am with Mick on this - I cannot understand why so many people grudge the results of their research which they have made available being used - and apparently appreciated - by others. My information is not an invention patented by me, I haven't any rights to it, I make it public for other people's research and an grateful to those who make information available to me

I agree wholeheartedly with sharing helpfully whenever possible - in fact, I have just done so - but I still resent the fact that private and personal information that would never be in the public domain is on a person's site.

I have also experienced this problem, of people stealing my family, this man has even got my dad on his tree, its caused upsets with my living family members, i thought Genes never showed living relatives!
Cant we name and shame these family stealers without us getting into trouble just to warn others?

Tina

Mrs / Ms Meercat you are after my own heart,. I have also have put a plant in my tree that is completely ficticious.

If this doesn't catch them then query their research when

i) you suspect they have copied from your tree and
ii) you have changed your original info because you have new info which proves it was a load of whatsits.

at which point.... let them squirm to come up with their proof, which by now you know doesn't exist

Simples.....!

This is a public site any info you post on here including access to a tree is liable to be copied to anybody you open that tree too, if you do not wish people to copy your information then it shouldnt be on the internet but on a hard disc for your use only.

I personally have no living relatives on my tree on this site, the tree i have on here is opened to people who have a proven connection and if I open it I am basically saying I,m willing for the information to be shared.

Tina,

If you read the debates on this subject you will see that these so called 'tree stealers"' are not doing anything wrong, so there is no-one to name and shame.

Those who 'steal' information from other trees also risk copying incorrect information, there are several trees on GR which include my surname, the majority have all copied errors from others without checking their source of infomation. If you are not happy, you are under no obligation to share.
Jon

I agree with Mick in the Sticks on this, I have been a little surprised on occasions to find myself on other peoples trees but its not really a problem. Loads of my info comes from other people (though I do ask if I can add it to my tree) and I pass on as much as I can. Surely the more of our trees that are published, the more chance there is of tying up with distant family members.
Jayne

As I said, I am happy to share; however, I am not happy at personal information, just one example being family nicknames, being put on a person's site.

This happened to me so I removed the tree and replaced it with a very basic one. I have put name, year and place of birth and nothing more and have left off living relatives and all the personal information that I don't want to share with just anybody.

'My' tree does appear on Ancestry (twice by the same person) but I can't do anything about that.

having my research "borrowed" does not annoy me too much.
What annoys me is the people who take all the information, and the £££ that I have spent on getting certificates and then do not give anything back.
They do not get the certificates for their part of the tree, they don't do their own research, and they don't have anything to back up their claims other than other family trees.

Just because 4 people tell you a lie does not make it the truth.

I have now got to the stage where I don't even accept a tree on ancestry as a source unless I have looked at it and it is obvious from the exact dates on it that they have carried out extensive research of their own and can back up the facts that they have.

Fiona

I understand helen's point - okay have the information if you are related - but why do you want info on people who have nothing to do with you?
someone wanted info on my dad's adoptive father - therefore no relation of mine or my mum's at all, and not much to do with my dad's side, as dad was 14 when he was adopted! I offered him info off my own back, but unfortunately GR had a 'glitch' and my tree was opened to him.
He took everything - including my mum's side of the family.

I realised my tree was open and closed it - and he 'assumed' where my ancestors had come from. Now there's a family tree that is totally wrong on the internet - and he's giving this information to others!

Oh - and he never did find out the slightest personal thing from me about 'The Commander'- who was a very interesting man!!!