Fed Up With Genealogy Tree Thieves

[indiapaleale]

The only cure I can see for this is to post my work up myself, quote all the sources with attached images as proof, and hope people are discerning enough to see the difference; but what is to stop someone downloading it, posting it up later as their own work, and filling it full of so many factual and typographical errors and sweeping assumptions of their own that my efforts become negated? or else, as one other poster has said, trying to flog it on EBay...

I don't understand!
If you are so worried about people nicking your work....why do you post it at all?

Indi....thick as a brick!...as me old Ma used to say!

[Lloydy]

I have just read the whole of this thread, and I must say that Indi summed it up for me:

If you are so worried about people nicking your work....why do you post it at all?

Well said Indi

[cilvrnum]

I agree that if we dont want our work corrupted along the way we shouldnt share it.  How sad is that when clearly there are many out there doing genealogy work with a thorough approach.

GR's Conditions state that grabbing records is not the thing to do but it doesnt enforce it.     Genes Reunited's "View" permission is half way there.  It wouldnt be difficult for them to prevent someone from taking records, just as some websites wont allow anyone to copy from them.  For that reason GR could add a "Permit"  button.   I think its common courtesy to ask first before extracting someone's records.     

I wouldnt dream of taking someone's advice about a name or records without checking it before I insert them into my GEDCOM.   If I cant verify the details they dont go into my GEDCOM.

[Marmaduke 123]

I've read this thread with interest, and it made me (temporarily) a bit anxious about sharing my tree! I've got over it now though.

As a matter of interest, does anyone have any actual evidence about family trees for sale on ebay? As part of my temporary anxiety I searched for family trees on both ebay.co.uk and ebay.com. The only trees I found were in old notebooks, clearly not modern day. There were a few people offering genealogical research quite cheaply. Could the sale of trees on ebay be an urban myth in the making?

Anne

[Simon G.]

I full expect there are some people who've tried to sell trees on eBay (I'd be surprised if there's anything they haven't tried to sell on there...one person even tried to sell their virginity on there! ), but I doubt it happens every day.  Really I can't see there being an awfully large market for other people's research...data collectors can get plenty for free elsewhere so won't pay, and there won't be many genuine researcher for it to raise a price high enough for most unscrupulous people to bother trying.

[Marmaduke 123]

Yes exactly. So it would seem a very laborious and unprofitable exercise to "steal" other peoples research in order to sell trees on ebay!

Anne

[moors]

I also made contact with a person from Genes Reunited gave them info. re our family conection plus three other families connected, when I ask for assistance re our family connection as they lived in London and could easily get to Westminster the answer was too busy, so now I do NOT wish to know people from Genes Reunited. Rootschat have been extemely helpful I have not had any problems, everybody has gone "out of there way" to help me, so I do recommend them to friends.

[Uncle Reff]

...one person even tried to sell their virginity on there! ),

I must have missed that one...

How much did it go for?

[Lloydy]