General Chat

I am incensed that my personal research findings have been used to swell someone else's supposed tree. This is the second time this has happened to me on genesreunited WITHOUT MY PRIOR CONSENT and I have asked the perpetrators to kindly remove the offending material which has obviously been plagiarized from information I've entrusted to them in good faith. Their actions call into question ethics of useage of others' research and could result in no further free exchange of information, to the detriment of everyone concerned and particularly subscribers to this website. Family History is not about NUMBERS: it's about PEOPLE and should be treated with sensitivity.

Are you saying that you gave someone information regarding their family tree and are now incensed that they have used the info on their tree. Someone contacted me this year and after lots of comming and goings sent me pages of info but said I was not to put it on GR tree. So this is now dead info. I have not put it on tree even though these people are blood relatives. There is no point in giving info if you do not want it used.

dorothy, i really dont see the problem, I have managed to contact quite a few cousins through Gr and we have all used the info, each one of us adding bits a pieces as we go, as you say, GR is about PEOPLE, so what is the problem. The only way that someone can stop you using info, theoretically, is if they are still alive and dont want their names to appear Confused of Stevenage

Why give them the info if you do not want them to add it to their tree? Again it raises the question ''who owns GGGrandma'' and has the right to have her on there tree answer: ''who ever 's GGGrandma she is'' I had a new contact yesterday. Seemilngly the info tallies- if she adds my bit to her tree and i add hers to mine , we are all happy bunnies, aren't we? Jess

You've missed the point. Neither of the people who have done this are related to me, yet they entered my FATHER - and worse still - my HUSBAND! ANY and ALL of my research findings have previously been freely given to those sharing a common ancestor but publication of someone else's subsequent line of descent should be 'taboo' to any genuine family historian.

i cant understand why someone who is not related to you could make it 'fit' if you see what I mean, if you husband or father is still alive, then they can legally object and have their name removed, GR will do this for you

think i am missing something... Why on earth would they put your father on their tree if he isnt related to them? Why did you give them access to your tree without first establishing if there was a connection? jess

If you pass on your tree to others you are giving them permission to add their tree to your own. If you have living rellies you dont want to pass on, then I suggest you only put a skeleton tree on genes and have a family tree type prog for your full tree. or you just pass on names and dates of rellies you rather than let your tree be viewed. Elaine x

Hi Dorothy, Then that is totaly different. When I first joined GR I was contacted by someone who had Brewertons in the Midlands. We exchanged trees but I realised we did not share the same chap since mine had never been married. I was outraged some time later to see he had put my tree, including my name, on Gr. He had decided that it was a 'best fit'. I contacted him and GR and he removed my family. I do understand why you are angry.

The last contact put one of my ancestors - I'll call him 'JH' - onto the website, to which I responded. At that time he requested further details, with which I complied, and he stated: 'i am not aware that i have any actual H...... Anscestors - J...... i have down as my 1st Cousin 6 times removed'

Dorothy - it does rather sound like your contact shares blood with 'JH', and is therefore entitled to include him on his tree!

I have only had one occassion where someone was included without prior consent. Speaking through GR to a distant cousin, I mentioned living relatives to explain my conection. When I saw them appear on her tree, despite not being on mine, I asked her politely to change the names to 'Male' or 'Female' and the relavent surname. All personal information should be deleted. This distant cousin was happy to do so. RW

Other than including the details of living people without their permission, which is against the rules, the only thing really to be miffed about is someone else gaining from your hardworked research - in which case you shouldn't share it in the first place. All of this information is in the public domain and accessible to anyone. If I chose to, there's nothing at all to stop me researching the family tree of the chap who lives across the road, or Tony Blair, or anyone I care to. Simon

A distant relative of mine ( we share a 7x great grandfather) has worked incredibly hard on her family tree, and she has been equally generous with the fruits of her research; in fact, it is freely available on her website. I suppose it all depends upon your take on the matter.

What is it all for, if not for sharing? Recently, I was glad to hear from someone who is not my relative, but who does share blood relatives with me! As I discover more about those particular relatives, I will be very pleased to share the new information with her, and hope she will be pleased to do the same with me.

I always add people who aren't blood related to me. (But obviously are through marriage) I think its interesting to see who we're connected to. I like to add living people to my tree also, but will always ask their permission first.

I found out the other day I had a GR members mother in my tree. She asked me why she was in my tree, and I told her because I had found a connection between an ancestor of mine and her mother. Her mother was deceased, so I warrent that as being legible for entry. Sorry if that sounds harsh!

A Tree - It grows up and out, and down and out, creating new branches, and new branches and new branches upon branches and new branches upon branches upon branches. It creats seedlings, which seperates, and grow. It grows up and out, and down and out, creating new branches, and new branches and new branches upon branches and new branches upon branches upon branches. It creats seedlings, which seperates, and grow. It grows up and out, and down and out, creating new branches, and new branches and new branches upon branches and new branches upon branches upon branches. It creats seedlings, which seperates, and grow. It grows up and out, and down and out, creating new branches, and new branches and new branches upon branches and new branches upon branches upon branches. It creats seedlings, which seperates, and grow. Get the point? Surely thats what a family tree is about too? We're all related somehow huh?

Dorothy, Have you only included in your own GR tree people who are related to you by blood and not by marriage? If you have added people to your tree who are related to you or your blood relatives by marriage, then you have done exactly the same as the people you're complaining about. It doesn't matter how many 'times removed' they are, they are still related. Wherever you got your information, someone, somewhere has reseearched it, so that you and others were/are able to obtain it. If you've paid fees for that information and you are upset because someone else hasn't done the same, there is nothing to stop you asking that person to contribute towards the costs you incurred to obtain it. None of us 'own' other people, whether or not they are blood relatives, but I don't see the point of giving information to other people if you don't expect them to use it. I have made contact with three distant cousins who were very keen to find out what I'd researched and promised to help me find out more about the family I've always wanted to know but was prevented from knowing due to family estrangements between my elders. Not one of those three cousins has given me any information at all, and I'm very annoyed about that. Personally, I think famiy history IS about finding connections between families, as well as finding one's own ancestry - after all, it takes two to produce a child, so each parent's family can lay claim to that child as their own. I find it fascinating to see the diversity of people who married my ancestors and their relatives, and they are ALL related to me by marriage. If you do not want your research to be used, you have no alternative but to keep it to yourself. In which case, I don't see there is any point in your belonging to a website set up to encourage the exchange of information. CB >*|*<

I've waited a while to take in all the different viewpoints from contributors, for which I thank you, but I do not think I am being paranoid in expecting anyone who benefits from my research of my MATERNAL ANCESTORS to stop their input of my personal line of descent with my MOTHER's details. I respect my siblings' and cousins' privacy and so have put the barest of details on this site, enough to attract those who share common ancestry. Surely that is the objective of the website, not to merely 'collect' numbers?