Geni.com - What do Rootschatters think??

[copperbeech5]

Hello Folks,

I have just heard about Geni.com, and wonder if it is worth joining as a free site - I would much appreciate all chatters input on the matter to help me decide if it is worth bothering with or not!

Thanks in anticipation...!

Kind regards,
Copperbeech5

[jim1]

It doesn't enjoy a good reputation.
Unless you're a paid member you won't be able to do much with it.
Like Ancestry trees the information is only as good as the person providing it which is often wrong & once you put your tree on it it can be copied by others whether they are related or not.
I've always considered it to be a site for rubbish collectors although there are genuine people on it I think they are few & far between & I'm not sure it's worth being bombarded with spam.

[BumbleB]

Coincidence, or what?  I've just received an e-mail from Geni, telling me that I've been a member for nearly a year, and offering me a 25% discount. 

As far as I am aware, this is the first e-mail I've ever received from them, and it is now deleted forever, having firstly unsubscribed.

I agree with Jim. 

Added:  Just realised my stupid mistake    By unsubscribing, I've acknowledged my existence to them 

[Ellenmai]

Double coincidence with BumbleB, I was looking for some Polish relatives for a friend yesterday and found them on Geni.com. I did get a few facts but after what I have read here think I will give this site a miss in future.

[chris_49]

Same here. I was looking for a French man who'd married in and Google led me to a tree on Geni which I had to pay to see - but it seemed the tree owner hadn't realised that he'd married in England, emigrated to the US and became a moderately famous microbiologist and author*, or even that he was dead. So I didn't bother.

*Claude Marmasse 1928-99 (his wife my relative still living as far as I know)

[copperbeech5]

Hello Chaps,

Thank you all so much for your input, and you have made my mind up for me..... I shall not be going down that road!!

I love this site  for folk like yourselves who take the time and trouble to help someone else out - thank you, Jim1, BumbleB, Ellenmai, and chris_49, help much appreciated!

Kind regards,
Copperbeech5

[Berlin-Bob]

I deliberately added myself, "My Father", my grandfather and step-grandmother to a tree in GENI.COM.  I was then able to link them to a very large MARGULIES tree (which already included my great-grandfather) and a BUNZLAU tree.
I was able to glean some more information from them, and they from me, so we were all happy

What is either annoying, or useful, depending on what comes up, is that they regularly find "smart matches" with trees on geni.com and, on their Owner's site, on MyHeritage.com trees.
Thes are always presented with the relationship (4th. cousin, twice removed, etc).

The software also shows how you are related to others in your tree, in case you didn't know, or couldn't fathom it out.
But their first effort for me wasn't encouraging ....
I entered my step-grandmother and was told that

Minna (Minnie) Margulies is your grandfather's wife's brother's wife's first cousin
once removed's husband's uncle's wife's nephew's wife's husband's brother's wife.

Well, I always wanted to know that !! 

Bob

ps.  All this without a subscription, I just needed to register

[jim1]

Sounds like a step too far Bob.

[HughC]

My experience was also not encouraging.

The "new" matches are usually repeats, and the person who submitted the other tree does not appear to be related -- a compulsive collector of other people's relatives?
At any rate, he or she does not respond or get in touch with me; nor does having a match allow me to contact the cousin concerned.  A dead loss, really.