GenesReunited advice needed

[uk2003]

beady - wrjones

      

[mc8]

I think beady and wrjones are being a bit harsh
this thread reflects two ends of the spectrum of opinion and I couldn't say either one was right or wrong, but all views genuinely held

my own two pennorth
if you think you will be upset if people use your work-don't offer it or make clear the terms and conditions under which you proviide it
but
its the internet-don't assume that others have or will follow your rules
and
 if they steal your research-the only thing that is damaged is your pride because they didn't acknowledge your efforts. I'd argue it isn't your copyright as they are public records of which you have taken advantage so if anyone needs to jump up and down its the ones who protect crown copyright

[wrjones]

I may well have been slightly harsh but I'm going to load the gun in my own direction again by stating;Secrecy is the enemy of genealogical research!

Regards
William Russell Jones
Cefn Mawr
Wrexham

[Nick29]

I may well have been slightly harsh but I'm going to load the gun in my own direction again by stating;Secrecy is the enemy of genealogical research!

Regards
William Russell Jones
Cefn Mawr
Wrexham

............. but is the saviour of your bank balance 

Regards
Nick - you don't need to know the rest
Somewhere north of Cambridge
United Kingdom

[Annie65115]

I started off, as I guess many of us did, by sending and receiving lots of requests to view trees on GR.

I've never copied wholesale anyone else's research though of course I'll pick people's brains - that's what sites such as this one are for! And I'm happy to try to help anyone else if I can, though I don't consider myself to be any sort of expert.

I spent quite some time trawling around parts of the country looking around graveyards and church records for one of my more important family names and was quite chuffed when someone living quite close to me contacted me via GR. We're distantly related - anyhow, I was happy to share my tree which was rather more, shall we say extensive, than theirs.

Blow me down if they didn't copy the whole bloody lot -- not just the names etc, but even all the comments I'd made about gravestones, other relatives via marraige etc etc. Where's the fun for them in that? But what really stung was that they never emailed back again -- not even a thankyou! I know there are no "rules" but to my mind there's an etiquette involved.

I still open my tree to people who seem genuine from a couple of mails and have made contact with some quite close relatives who were "lost" so that's great . But I guess that we all learn from experience and I am considerably more circumspect now about who I share with.

[Tricia_2]

I have been contacted by someone who has done a huge amount of research on my family, but I wouldn't copy his tree, because I haven't checked it out for myself.
It's his research, not mine.
I have kept a note of it, to help with my own future research, but I haven't added it to my tree.
Yet others have copied mine ~ the whole lot ~ that I & other relatives have spent years researching.

I do still open my tree to relatives, and I accept that this is the nature of the game, but I don't have to think that it's ethical. Sharing and helping each other ~ even keeping notes of the information, yes, fine, but adding it all and passing it off as research isn't ethical in my opinion.

On the whole, though, I think that by opening up trees, etc, and contacting distant relatives, we all benefit. I have thoroughly enjoyed 'meeting' lots of distant cousins via the Internet. I wouldn't knock it.

[andycand]

Hi

I upload my tree to GR by GEDCOM but only include the bare minimum that a GEDCOM will allow such as birth, marriage and death and withhold all the additional data such as notes etc. That way if someone copies my tree and disappears (they actually have to have a connection before I open it) they only get the bare details but if they are genuine I ask them to contact me on my email address and then forward copies of source material etc. This gives them a chance to check and add it themselves.

One of the problems with GR is that it seems to attract a lot of short term enthuiasts who enter a few generations, possibly by asking relatives, and then lose interest and the other problem is that there is no way of knowing whether a person is a subscriber or when they last accessed GR.

Andy

[Nick29]

Blow me down if they didn't copy the whole bloody lot -- not just the names etc, but even all the comments I'd made about gravestones, other relatives via marraige etc etc. Where's the fun for them in that?

Some people do it for the joy of doing it - others do it just to make themselves look clever in front of their friends and family.

I know several people who have taken up family tree research after I've spoken to them about mine - and all but one gave up at the first hurdle.  Of course, you don't need to be clever to research your family tree - you only need a little dedication and a lot of determination.  Some just prefer the easier way, but that's their problem, not mine 

[wrjones]

When I first started my research in 2003 I didn't know the proper names of my four Grandparents.As a result of help I have been able to access from contacts plus my own research via Census and BMD etc I now have over five thousand in my Tree.When I see that other contacts have more info than I have,I always check out the info for myself.On GR I have access to over fourteen hundred trees and have given access to my own Tree to probably more than that.I have often quoted from these Trees to help people with queries on this Site.I would consider it bad form for myself in remembering the help I have received when I first started,if I were to refuse anyone of info from my own Tree that could help their research.

Regards
William Russell Jones
Cefn Mawr
Wrexham.