Photos on Ancestry

Jellybaby1

If I put a photo of a family member on Ancestry and show it publicly, can others just take copies without my knowledge?

kanadams123

I have made one person on my tree and disconnected it from my entire tree.
I have marked this person as living and named him/her GALLERY. Whenever I add a new photo I link it to this "person" as well, as pictures of living people are not shown in search or on my public profile.

VirginiaB

That's why my tree is private and must remain so. I do share info with anyone who asks. I have also contacted matches and then shared info with them tho they did not ask--and maybe weren't even interested. But my tree will never be public because of the sloppy research so many do.

Ancestry has three levels of privacy--public, totally private, and 'searchable'. That is, someone can be searching a name. If they go to 'Private Trees', they can see the name and your user name. They can then contact you and ask their questions. I always reply and share info if they are related. If a person is good enough to find the "Private Trees' database, they are usually a pretty good researcher. That 'Searchable' option is the one I have chosen and it has worked well for me.

The only problem is if the person you helped then adds the info to a public tree and unrelated persons do what they do.

KildareFan

I have mixed feelings about sharing photos, but I've gained so much from the generosity of others who have posted photos of mutual ancestors.... so I put up photos that I have and let them go into the ether. At least if the house burns down, the photos live on.

Jellybaby1

Thank you for all the replies. I have one photo on my tree, of a grave, my tree is marked private but others seem to have the same photo on their (sloppy) trees which they must have got from another family member. I just wondered if they took it from me, would I have been alerted that so-and-so had just copied one of my photos. Mustn't have been my private tree then. Thanks again.

Hermy

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I just wondered if they took it from me, would I have been alerted that so-and-so had just copied one of my photos.

If you attach a photo from someone else's tree to someone on your tree the person who uploaded the photo will get a notification.
But if you download the photo and then upload it to your tree they'll be none the wiser.

Jellybaby1

I see. Well I never got any notification so I feel a bit better now. I'm not comfortable with the idea of others taking copies. I do give copies to family members in person but maybe I should add 'not for publication'.

Deja Boo

@kanadams123, that is brilliant!

I was stunned to see mine taken from one website and plastered on another. Doubt I would've added it find-a-grave had I known at the time it would be allowed to "go viral" on a hint-based searchable forum. Perhaps, had the (religious leader) asked on ancestry, it may've felt less like a privacy violation.

I had my tree set on private but searchable (since I didn't want any speculative research copied as fact), but when I began discovering little bits of odd data (I input in my private tree) being shared as little bits of data on ancestries search site, it became disconcerting. I am now unsearchable (not that it stops them for owning any info I input.) :rolleyes:

Earnest

I have copied photos from other people's trees, just as I have copied information (though I do ask myself whether it is credible, e.g. backed up by records, or level of knowledge likely to be possessed only by close relatives). To my mind if you put up a public tree you are inviting anybody to act on the hints that Ancestry will provide.

Jellybaby1

I take note of information on public trees but never add it to my Ancestry private tree. I would add it to my own tree on MS Excel with a question mark and note to self to check the record before I add it as fact. I also take note of the tree from which it came.

Deja Boo

ah Jellybaby1 closed account

wanted to ask how she organized her tree on excel