Ancestor grabbing!

Wyldwood · 04-06-2014 9:58am #1

I need to vent. I recently took out another sub to A*****try and followed up on some of the hints on my tree and the majority were other family trees that had big chunks of my tree attached to totally unrelated people. There were even people who were clearly born and died in Ireland attached to people in the US & UK. Can't people read???

Why are people so lazy and not fully check that there is a relationship before stealing information. It makes searching on that site so frustrating. It already throws up a lot of random results without all these false relationships thrown in.

My tree is private but I gave access to a relative abroad who put all the info up on her tree

I have emailed a few of the culprits and politely asked them to correct the errors so I'll wait and see what happens.

Sorry for the rant but really annoyed at peoples laziness.

L1011 · 04-06-2014 10:03am

Plenty of people who're thick enough to assume that every Ancestry "hint" is 100% valid. I've seen some utter horrors, including people down as having had children either under the age of 10 or over the age of 70 because the names matched.

Hermy · 04-06-2014 10:19am

Sometimes you end up in a loop following certain Ancestry trees back through the generations.

Having said that, I have made some fantastic discoveries using user trees, including a path to Keynes, Darwin and Wedgwood!

Ponster · 04-06-2014 10:46am

Wyldwood wrote: »

My tree is private but I gave access to a relative abroad who put all the info up on her tree

What exactly did you expect once you shared your tree?

As long as you don't allow access to living people it shouldn't really matter.

Wyldwood · 04-06-2014 11:16am

Ponster wrote: »

What exactly did you expect once you shared your tree?

As long as you don't allow access to living people it shouldn't really matter.

So when someone asks do you say no?

RGM · 04-06-2014 11:27am

It's a necessary evil of putting your info out there that clueless amateur "genealogists" will misuse it. I say "necessary" because I think the pros outweigh the cons. There are things I've learned through making my tree public that I doubt I ever could have discovered on my own.

It's frustrating to see trees that are so poorly done, but in the end what harm is there really? The errors are so obvious that anyone who cares enough to look will spot them. Make your tree public so people who are doing legitimate research can find the truth.

Ponster · 04-06-2014 11:27am

Wyldwood wrote: »

So when someone asks do you say no?

My tree is public so I haven't come across the issue, sorry.

You should be able to share but hide the living people using the options in the 'Manage invitees' section.

Jellybaby1 · 04-06-2014 11:28am

I managed to contact a very distant relative on Ancestry and filled in a few blanks for them. So far they have been grateful for the information and have added them to their tree, which is private. Right now I am trusting that it will remain private, as mine is too. I have to remember that long lost cousins, are basically strangers and I should treat them as such. But who they pass it on to could be the problem. It is a risk. I saw a public tree on Ancestry which has three people with the same name as children in the same family - I put it down to a lack of experience in researching and using the site. It looked abandoned too, like they lost interest.

Wyldwood · 04-06-2014 1:02pm

I absolutely agree that online forums are a very valuable resource. I have made many contacts abroad through online connections. In fact, tomorrow evening I am meeting up with some distant cousins from Australia who I met through Ancestry a few years ago. It will be an interesting sharing of information, we share common gg-grandparents.

Hermy · 04-06-2014 1:03pm

RGM wrote: »

There are things I've learned through making my tree public that I doubt I ever could have discovered on my own.

This.

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I managed to contact a very distant relative on Ancestry and filled in a few blanks for them. So far they have been grateful for the information and have added them to their tree, which is private.

I messaged someone on Ancestry to enlighten them as to a shared ancestor and was a bit miffed that they never replied, even just to acknowledge my comment. However I recently noted that where this person had added the information I provided they included my name as a footnote.

pinkypinky · 04-06-2014 1:24pm

I've made some good connections through my tree on Ancestry but am waiting on one person's reply. I'm sure we're related, and she obviously cared enough to put her own tree up at some stage but maybe her sub has run out and she can't check her messages.

I think the good does out weigh the bad - I only put up dead people.

Hermy · 04-06-2014 1:37pm

@Pinky Could it be the individual has passed away? I had this experience a while ago. I attempted several times to contact someone on Rootsweb who had compiled some 30 generations of the Finucane family of Co. Clare which helped me enormously with my own research. I eventually I received an email from one of his siblings informing me that he had died some years previously.

Jellybaby1 · 04-06-2014 1:43pm

You can check if the author of a tree is still 'active' on the site by clicking their user name. Some of the ones I'm seeing could be on the site daily others haven't been on for over a year.

pinkypinky · 04-06-2014 3:27pm

She hadn't been on in a few months but judging from the tree, was in her 60s, so no reason to suspect death. I think subscription expired is more likely. I left my email address in my message, because my sub was running out shortly after I found her.

Jellybaby1 · 04-06-2014 4:29pm

There is a chance that if you leave a message that the person will get an email advising them there is a message waiting on the site. I suppose it depends on their settings.

pedroeibar1 · 04-06-2014 10:44pm

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

There is a chance that if you leave a message that the person will get an email advising them there is a message waiting on the site. I suppose it depends on their settings.

If only that were the case - too many people just do not care and get annoyed when you imply that they might be 'kidnapping' an ancestor just to fit another generation on their tree! I’m not at the ‘rant’ stage yet but I’m a bit unhappy about an issue that is a little similar.

Person B has been much thanked for contributing a considerable amount of wide-ranging genealogical data to a 'reputable' genealogical site and recently posted details there of my family line. I have serious/valid doubts as to the accuracy of some of that information, as it is contrary to many years of research by me and other family members. I strongly suspect that B’s information was copied from an old message posted by Person A on Genforum - at the time I had challenged that by a response post and by a private email, neither of which obtained a response.

I’ve subsequently written to B and c.c.’d the site owner (an ‘official’ body) setting out some facts and asking for B’s sources for his post or that he comment on my remarks on his data – (“I would be very pleased to hear you views on the foregoing, as I am reluctant to have incorrect information multiply on the web.”)

Three months later no response from either him or the site managers. Annoying. (FWIW the generally accepted details on the family already are on a GO Mss file, with an appropriate 'health warning').

What to do?

Ponster · 05-06-2014 8:34am

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

What to do?

Ignore it? I fail to see how someone else's incorrect research has a bearing on your own?

pedroeibar1 · 05-06-2014 11:38am

Ponster wrote: »

Ignore it? I fail to see how someone else's incorrect research has a bearing on your own?

I probably will ignore it – the alternative is to submit my version and ask the site owner to post it also. The issue really is not about right/wrong because much of what he has written is accurate, e.g. cut & paste from Nick Reddan’s Deeds project pages, or from ffolliot's work, lists of Freemen, etc. The claim I consider incorrect relates to a 1600’s ancestor who is a 'gateway' individual and while I strongly suspect he is wrong, it would be nice to know what sources he has relied on and if he has found something that has remained hidden to the rest of us.

CassieManson · 05-06-2014 2:15pm

Wyldwood wrote: »

I need to vent. I recently took out another sub to A*****try and followed up on some of the hints on my tree and the majority were other family trees that had big chunks of my tree attached to totally unrelated people. There were even people who were clearly born and died in Ireland attached to people in the US & UK. Can't people read???

Why are people so lazy and not fully check that there is a relationship before stealing information. It makes searching on that site so frustrating. It already throws up a lot of random results without all these false relationships thrown in.

My tree is private but I gave access to a relative abroad who put all the info up on her tree

I have emailed a few of the culprits and politely asked them to correct the errors so I'll wait and see what happens.

Sorry for the rant but really annoyed at peoples laziness.

To be honest that would not bother me too much, but I did have an experience with my family tree on MyHeritage that I found very annoying. I found a match with the family of someone who would have been the granddaughter of a first cousin of my grandfather - so reasonably closely related. I sent her a message looking to swap information. I never heard back from her and the next time I looked at her family tree she had made the whole thing private (all people dead and alive). I was amazed, as I thought the whole point of these type of websites was to share information and find long lost relatives. I also suspect (could be incorrect) that she would have been able to take a lot of my research as I was able to trace our family back about 4 generations earlier than my grandfather as he had documented a lot of family information about 50 years back.

Now anytime I find matches I take all the info I can from their tree before making contact. I find that the majority of people dont reply to messages. Maybe they get started and lose interest in the whole thing.

magzer · 09-06-2014 12:33pm

My sympathies to you. I know exactly how you feel. I always thank people when I get info from them. I've also made my tree private for the same reason and very careful who I give it to!

Ancestor grabbing!

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