"Can you do mine as well?"

[suttontrust]

Soon after I'd done my own family tree I got a taste for it and researched those of some of my friends.  One I did for a close friend was run-of-the-mill.  I gave her all the print-outs, reports and charts and she made copies of the file for her two brothers, knowing they wouldn't be interested.  She was right.  But a few years after that I had lost the stuff on a trashed laptop, and she had a big house fire and her copy was destroyed.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago.  My friend's younger brother suddenly got interested, dug out his copy and computerised all the stuff.  He was apparently very impressed.  And so was his wife, who then asked me if I would research hers.  I explained that it would cost a month's sub to one of the pay sites plus whatever certificates were necessary.  Sure, go ahead.
It is the most difficult tree I have tackled 
How many of us have been sucked into "doing" the trees of most of the people we know?

[pharmaT]

nope, pretty much every one I know says I'm a nutter for doing my own.

[Dundee]

I don't have to be sucked into anything - they ask and I say yes because I have a black belt in being a sticky beak.   

Debra 

[Kay99]

I love being sucked in and complications are a bonus.     

Kay

[bodger]

I think it's a good way of warding off dementia but the downside is that it can drive you nuts !!!

[radstockjeff]

About 15 years ago my son Andrew, living in Melbourne at the time, sent me a photo from one of the local freebie papers(The Moonie Valley Leader) in one of those Then and Now features. It showed a group of chaps outside a Blacksmith/waggon repair workshop in the Ascot Vale area of Melbourne. The name of the blacksmith in a large sign over the workshop was George Parsons.

"Dad, do you think this is any relation?" So that was the start of a very long story and task, still unfinished.

As it happened Andrew was , a few weeks later, out walking with the family along the banks of the Moonie River Creek and came upon a group of people doing some clearing. He got chatting and lo and behold the person he was talking to was the one whose relation was in the picture. It was Roger Exell and George Parsons was his great great grandfather.

By this time I had realised that there was no family connection; none of my side of the family had emigrated to Australia.

One thing led to another and I managed to get hold of Roger by phone. The ice was broken straight away as we both had connections with LIONS and on our next trip to see Andrew we met Roger and thus started a very long relationship when I agreed to help him "find his English  family roots".
They were in East Anglia, a longish way from rural Somerset.

I am still working on it and despite numerous wrong turnings and blind alleys along the way I have been able to help Roger.

We are still in touch although we were not able to see him on our last visit.
One of the strangest links I uncovered was that he had a close cousin living in Perth WA of whom he was totally unaware.

So the answer, in my case was " Yes I can do yours as well!"

[Lisajb]

My mum was telling my cousin about “our” tree. He asked if I’d do his. Spent hours on it, subs, a few certs to check details when in doubt.

Loaded it onto ancestry, sent him an invite, got “yeah alright thanks” kind of response, and that was it. Left it a few weeks, expecting a couple of queries and questions - nothing. To the best of my knowledge he never looked again.

I deleted it.

[Girl Guide]

Oh dear Lisa, I would regard that as rather bad manners.  You have gone to all that trouble and all you get is an off hand response. 

Next time you get asked to do a tree I would check back and say well it does cost money, are you willing to pay for certificates etc?  He may have been your cousin but that is no reason why he should not contribute towards the cost of research.

I suppose an alternative would be to do what you could using free sites like freebmd, family search etc., send that and say further research will cost money, are you willing to pay for that.

Makes you wonder why you bothered doesn't it? 

[louisa maud]

I got into my own tree by accident after my mother said my grandmother married at 16, well she didn't, that started me off over 25 years ago, now if anyone asks I will find out what they want, but unfortunately I don't leave it there, I go past their initial interest, I must learn to curb my exuberance

I don't ever think family trees are completed

Louisa Maud