Publishing Family Trees

[maxcam]

As I am very much a novice at family research your advice on this subject would be much appreciated. During my meanderings ( the word should probably be " side tracked" ) I keep coming up with sites wanting to publish family trees. The latest of these is Wiki Tree.

Should I be aware of any particular pit falls?

I almost found myself, despite considering myself to be fairly astute, the victim of a computer SCAM and this has left me extremely wary of divulging any information which may rebound.

Any advice on secure sites etc?

Many thanks, as always, to all you very clever people

[pinefamily]

Your post may get moved by the moderators, but don't worry. I am sure there will be many opnions on this. Many people do put their trees up online, partly as a record of their achievements, and partly to find other researchers with similar interests. The pitfalls are there though, as you have mentioned. Depending on the reason you wish to put your tree online, you should always try to limit the amount of info any random searcher can access.
Myself, I have an online tree on a site called tribalpages, which has both free and paid options. You can set the amount of privacy you require. I use a password that people require to even look at the list of names I have. That way, I can decide whether an enquirer is genuine or not.
If a site does not allow you to make your tree private, I would avoid it, just to be on the safe side.

Darren

[GR2]

One possibility is not to publish your tree up to the present, but stop it at great grandparents. Then those who spot links could contact you without knowing details of your more immediate family.

I have not published my family tree anywhere, but do let genuine researchers have detailed files about the ancestors they are interested in. One thing about publishing your tree is that people might "steal" it lock, stock and barrel. Whilst you have worked hard to establish the facts and get acceptable proof for all the links you have made, many "genealogists" do not. They are just concerned to add as many names as they can to their tree or get back as far as possible. Most of these cobbled-together trees do not stand up to scruitny and are just fiction. However, that does not matter to some folk, who can be hostile to or ignore anyone who tries to point out any errors.

Graham

[falcybe]

Hello maxcam,

meanderings ( the word should probably be " side tracked"

haha, then you are a true member of Rootschat!!

you asked about secure sites: back in the early 70's I "took over" the family tree from my paternal grandmother when computers were a room you walked into...

and then a few (10-15) years ago I passed on the mantle to my sister. She has published our tree on tribalpages (mentioned above) and also ancestry. We have also put our toes into Genes Reunited, an offshoot of friends reunited and one or two other sites.

Now, you will hear good and bad things about each and every site. A few years ago, for example, Ancestry was very keen to keep as many people as it could so it started to get a certain reputation for not wanting to let go if people wanted out when contacts became invasive. Those days have gone in my opinion and it is a safe, friendly and very very useful site in this day and age. Their costs are not bad either when you consider that the people (like you and me) who work for them also have to make a living, pay their mortgages and grocery bills, etc etc.

Also, Ancestry has a lot of good information which is very useful. A serious site that really does help its members.

Genes Reunited is newer than Ancestry but from what I hear/read on the internet, they are becoming friendlier, less fearful of losing out so not so grabbing as in the past. A lot of fellow Rootschatters like them.

Tribalpages? Seems a jolly nice site but one that we have never got into for no particular reason. It has nice trees but that seems to be that. I would love to hear more about Tribal from its fans. Hopefully it is a very useful site like Ancestry and that we have just missed out.

Other sites - well just ask others who know. I don't want to comment on what I haven't seen. And of course, do be circumspect but without being overly cautious and especially not paranoid. My sister would not have found nine tenths of what she has, had she been fearful of communicating with strangers on the web.

cheers, falcybe

[pinefamily]

It seems we are all on the same page here, more or less. There are pros and cons about putting your tree on the net, in any wat shape or form. I still think the best and safest is to have just surname interests, just as we do here on rootschat. Any researcher worth their salt will be able to navigate their way through the names, and contact anyone with similar interests. Keeps the "name-collectors" at bay! 
Falcybe, I have had a go at several different sites over the years, with varying results. I think the point needs to be made that there is a difference between having your tree on something like ancestry or GR, and having it on a dedicated tree site. In my experience, you are more likely to get your work "pinched" on the above two, rather than a dedicated site, as long as keep your tree private, or password-protected. I know you can do this on A and GR, but in my mistaken belief in people's good intentions, I have been stung on both.
I have found tribalpages to be the best so far, and very easy to use and maintain. Anyone who contacts me to look at my tree is carefully vetted now.

Darren

[maxcam]

Many thanks for all your advice.

I need some organisation in my research and thought a tree would be the best way to go.

As I work my way through various sites I keep coming up with little snippets which " Might be useful at a later date" and the result is I end up with little notes/pieces of paper all over the table.

At the end of the day I can barely read my own writing let alone remember where the info came from.

I really will have to more methodical or employ an assistant. My OH is definitely not applying for the job, no matter the salary.

I take on board the privacy aspect and will investigate the sites which offer this.

TA to all

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Maxcam,

As I work my way through various sites I keep coming up with little snippets which " Might be useful at a later date" and the result is I end up with little notes/pieces of paper all over the table.

One possibility: keep a text editor (Word, or even Notepad)  open whenever you are browsing and just copy and paste the snippets into one open document complete with the URL or book where you found it.  And save it after every addition, just in case of computer problems.

Later you can go through this file and maybe transfer bits of it to different files for different family names.

regards,
Bob

[ambers]

One possibility is not to publish your tree up to the present, but stop it at great grandparents. Then those who spot links could contact you without knowing details of your more immediate family.

I have not published my family tree anywhere, but do let genuine researchers have detailed files about the ancestors they are interested in.

Graham

I started one Tree with my mum, which was Private, and the other Public, starting with dad's father....Welsh and almost impossible to followthrough on.. This was done before the 1911 census came on line, and worked very well until a few weeks ago,

So one added bit of advice, when people make contact with you. just be careful what you say,(how ever small) because I never thought of someone searching below where I started my Tree and putting it in full Public view, therefore not only compromising my ID but also others who were then easily traceable..well they would have been had their re-search been correct.

Ambers
 

[maxcam]

Many thanks once again.

I followed Berlin Bob and having never in my life attempted to CUT/COPY/ PASTE I googled it and followed the video. Great stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eureka.  BIG PAT ON THE BACK. It worked and I had a nice little file labelled research.

And now my Abi word has stopped working, what on earth have I done now? The info is lost in the ether!

Guess how I will spend tomorrow? and once I have it cracked it will suit me very well indeed.  Given the hash I am making at the moment I don't trust myself to publish any of my research for quite some time.

I Will get the hang of this ...........eventually Honest I will.