Fed Up With Genealogy Tree Thieves

[Springbok]

It is very difficult to know if you are offending a contact or if the info. one has entered will appear on another tree.

I try to only enter new ancestors on GR and then the contacts line down to c.1900.
The rest of their line goes on to my "familyhistorian " file.

Conversely there are some relations I would  not have  known about unless a rellie had not entered then from another contact(who I don't know about)

One lady who is not related  to my OH(but has a distant rellie who married into our family) has put my part of the family  (including me ) onto her tree. I shall ask her to remove my side and I think she will as  we have had an amiable correspondence.

It is only to be expected,the more people who search and find contacts then the more "our" and"their" trees will appear on the Internet, but surely that is what we have been trying to do all these years? Find our Families

Spring

[kate*k]

Hi Springbok

I do agree with you - we are all trying to find our families but my annoyance is with those people who copy your tree and your hard work and then hold out to others that this is their own research.

Kate

[prophetess]

Ah I thought it was just me, I have always opened my tree in good faith some folk do open theres and if there is 100% no conection i remove my tree permisions, However if there is a definate connection I will leave it open, Recently I found a connection through someone who contacted me i looked at his tree, and there on his direct line was my 2x great grandfather he had no info on him apart fron that he was the father an illigitamte daughter, I opened my tree and gave him my contact details because the tree is a touch complicated, looks like someone made it up lol but its for real,and i have all the proof, I have never heard from him again, I had printed of his tree, and we found several errors, the could have been typos with the dates etc, but guessed he decided, a) i had proof and his was partly leaps of faith, b) he did not like what he saw (all the inbreeding).
so i decided to get tough prove your connection, that dosent work either ,, tthey do you open your tree, and thats the end of it you dont hear from them again
Sadly I find it is getting more common on GR, If i want to used part of a tree that connects to mine i fist ask permision, why cant others do the same.
THANKS GUYS GOT THAT OFF MY CHEST NOW

[moiramount]

Hi everyone, yes i had the same problem on gr, mine was my aunties grandaughter who i made contact with. I gave her some info through the post as it was easier and hey presto she put her tree on with what i had given her, also she is asking for another line in the family which i now have but she doesnt know about and dont intend to pass on either. I have spent pounds on geneology and dont mind swapping details with anyone but not for them to just walk in and take the lot.


moira

[Bitza 5]

i hate it when you get a hot match and ask for info on a matched person giving as much detail as possible with out giving to much away. and the next reply you get is can i view your tree. or some times the first reply you get is can i view your tree?

i respond with which person are you interested in i would be willing to help give more info if i get no further reply i delete them i only share  my tree with people. who i know have to same info as me after much discussing.

some people will automatically let you view there tree which i think is risky.

also when i do make a correct connection i ask do you have any certs to this person etc and tell them i have certs I'm willing to share. only genuine people would have certs and be able to share. i do let them know i have certs and what certs i have regarding the individual hot match.  only when I'm sure 100% do i get and send copies and that is after we have exchanged a few other names to like our families. not just the one name on a hot match.

it is very risky and you do have to be careful.

like my son said pirates rob the treasure from ships your tree is your treasure chest, guard it with your life. you wouldn't give your Credit cards away. so don't give out vital info on your tree unless your 100% sure its a distant relative.

don't be afraid to ask questions regarding hot matches. and say no to demands.
name collectors soon give up.

          Bitz

[Inchworm]

It's the "copy & paste" brigade that I object to. They don't even check out any details. All they want to do is have the worlds longest family tree.
It feels as if they are stealing your ancestors. 

[Alangeo1]

Unfortunately the name collectors have been around on the internet since the early days, if they are not careful they will have a 200,000 name tree with no proofs as one Rootschatter claims. But think more seriously have you bought any, better go on the Company A principle here, Genealogy Cd's lately. This company has my tree on its Cd's, which it sells, even had the same mistakes I made in the early days, one is a whole line which I had to delete.

Not all Data thefts are made by Egotistic individuals or innocents.

Alan

[wheeldon]

You are right Alan.

It's the nature of the beast. 

If you put the info out into the public domain, then it's the property of the public.

I don't think it's ethical but it happens all the same 

[Les de B]

I find it a bit of a "Catch 22" situation. When I first started family researching some 10 years ago, other researchers freely supplied me their information, which I gladly accepted to get me started. Now after 10 years its me that is freely supplying my own researched information to other researchers.

I don't mind these researchers using my information, and some do acknowledge their source. Its the ones that use my information in the form of "copy/paste", which tends to annoy me. I had one researcher, who I did not know, supply me with a transcribed document that she thought I might be interested in. Amazing, that was my own document that I had transcribed several years ago - same spelling/typing mistakes included!!!

I even found one researcher who use my notes in her notes quoting the words "my grandmother", "my grandfather", "my great great grandfather" etc. etc. Unfortunately, these ancestors were MINE, and not hers!

At least if I use somebody else's research material I do retype it into my own words.

Les