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Is it necessary to prvatise your research to keep safe on internet FH sites?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by florrie1066 (U15005536) on Tuesday, 1st November 2011

  Perhaps the point of putting family trees on geneology websites like ancestry.com, is to discover more about our ancestors by finding links with others. Therefore, to privatise my tree defeats the object. Yet to go public with details of my whole family on the tree is a risky thing to do - identity theft and all that.
  
  SO I have a rule. No living person in my tree gets uploaded onto the internet. My work-around is to keep the living on my computer using compatible software (like Family Tree Maker). Once a year, I upload only the departed end of my updated tree onto the website.
  
  There has been some criticism from members about my call to share research by keeping trees public on the websites. The main criticisms were around such things as 1) others taking my Gt Grandad to paste onto their completely different families 2) lack of courtesy from data grabbers - they should message us. And I don't like my photos being scooped up. Yes, it is annoying but does it really matter? I will get on with my research to my satisfaction just the same, and at least my photos are in a safe place for the future.
  
  And now and then, someone contacts me about an ancestor who belongs to them too, and we get to comparing notes....
  
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by clematised (U3233879) on Tuesday, 1st November 2011

  
  
  Hello florrie and welcome to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ board,
  
  I see this is your second post here as your first one was in reply to the above thread with a similar question.
  
  I think some people like to share with others and some like to keep their tree private but will share with people who have a genuine link to their tree.
  
  I like to keep my own tree on my own computer and I dont often come across people with my names but then again I have a small tree of several hundreds not thousands as I only do direct lines myself.
  
  I am sure you will get some variations in replys but it is down to personal choice really.
  Lots of people her transcribe to pay back what they learn and hope you get through the pre mod that Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ insist on so you can join in with instant replys soon.
  
  Edna

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by Marymog (U2978107) on Wednesday, 2nd November 2011

  Florrie
  
  I agree with you, though I do it different.
  
  After my Grannies photo was plundered and pasted on a tree in America as married off to another man(poor woman never went any further than Bognor) I made my tree private, but then had a problem with how to connect to others.
  
  So now I have all the info , photos and living people on my private tree, and I set up a tree in each surname that I have a direct line to, on the public trees, with information that can be easily obtained on the BMDs, birth, marriage and death for the deceased,
  
  I keep them updated to 1911, then after that just names and years of birth. I have had real success with my public trees. Got three or four lost rellies from them.
  
  mm

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by dmatt47 (U13073434) on Wednesday, 2nd November 2011

  Apart from the fact that you have done the research youirself and others have just added it to their own family trees I don't see a problem. Companies like ancestry do do a good job in restricting information on people who are less than 100 years old and are likely to be alive, I have issues when they are long dead and about 125 years old and the trees are still closed!. In my view it is for everyone to make a decision whether or not to make the information on their trees available (subject to the above restriction) and most researchers are helpful and it should be a two-way exchange of information. I do find the family trees helpful, I spent 30 years doing one line without knowing quite a few others had been doing the same and most of them are at the same stage and stuck at the same point. The point about ID theft is a good point and should be borne in mind and also the Data Protection Act.

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by jc (U1902680) on Wednesday, 2nd November 2011

  last week I started looking over some of my lose ends again and found one of the names on an ancestry tree... as I've been looking for near on 7 years for this lot that went to america in 1866, as you can imagine I was keeping everything crossed when I hopefully contacted the tree owner on Sunday. All people lower in the tree were down as living so no real clues.
  
  thankfully the treeowner came straight back to me and gave me his link, which was a little indirect because of a divorce in the family but advised me to contact the living people after filling me in with the names. Well, it took an hour or so but I got there and made contact via Facebook to a son as his parents were elderly and might be a little taken aback by some strange English woman making an approach with lots of personal family data.
  
  Anyway, the son came back the next day (yesterday) and said yes he would be delighted in filling in the details and I offered my work on earlier relatives who came from Ireland. He said his mother is very interested in the family tree and would be delighted but it would have to wait as her husband had just died on SUNDAY! now that is spooky! the very day she lost her husband, she has gained a whole new distant family. I appologized for my bad timing but it seems it has eased the tension and given then all something else to focus on. phew..!
  
  See, you don't have to put ALL your information on ancestry trees to make connections, I'm just very happy that this connection is going to be a good one!

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by siamesewillow (U3516812) on Thursday, 3rd November 2011

  Was interested to read your thread, Florrie,
  
  For years I had been pondering about starting a tree on ancestry, have a tree on tribalpages which I was quite happy with but I thought why am I researching my family.
  
  My family are not interested, My Niece says she is but its only the immediate family line, so the research I've done will go to waste.
  
  So after much thought and pondering
  
  So this year I'm busy transferring my tree to ancestry. I shall keep the tree on tribalpages but only the immediate lines. First I thought I'll have it private than I thought why? what is the reason I'm doing this. Well, as well as a interest hopefully other people will benifit with my tree going public and the knowledge I've gained over the last 20 years research.
  
  Its very time consuming as I have to check all entries, and surprising the number of mistakes I've made, not just other people, eg a Mother had a child at 8 etc. I'm also sure I can only enter names and dates to the best of my ability and I'm sure there will still be mistakes. Yes I to do order certificates when I can afford them and most of my immediate family I have done so.
  
  I do find the trees helpful, a few contacts have been in touch but have not come to anything.
  
  I have not regretted making my decision and I'm sure it will take another year before I've finished if I'm lucky.
  
  Before someone says why did I not import my tree from Tribalpages the site will not allow me to unless I was a paid up member not a free member.
  
  siamese

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• Message 7

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by florrie1066 (U15005536) on Saturday, 5th November 2011

  Thank you for the welcome Edna!
  
  I started a post on the specific topic because I was surprised at the repsonses I got, and I worry about just how secure things are on FH sites. I have seen trees on ancestry complete with photos of 2-year old grandchildren. I have also got detailed search results on people even in private trees, but when followed through to the tree they are shown as 'living'. It is possible to avoid searchability in the way you set up the tree.
  
  I also sometimes wonder if some members on sites like ancestry FH sites might actually be heir hunting companies exploiting the system. There are some members who give no information about themselves - no interests, no location, no trees, no gender etc. But does it matter?
  
  Unlike your ancestors Edna, mine were an unremarkable lot, and when it came to names they were totally conventional. So they were all called John, Joseph, Sarah or Hannah and Rhodes families occupied half the village. By having a public tree, I get so many 'guests' hunting for information by fair means or foul! And I can then look into them for clues.
  
  Hail to all transcribers! That is wonderful.
  
  I am not going to be much good at instant replies, as you can see.
  Flo
  
  

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by florrie1066 (U15005536) on Saturday, 5th November 2011

  Hi MM
  
  I feel sorry for your Gran, but she might just be having a giggle!
  
  Yours is a good solution, but it sounds like a lot of work.
  I don't know, I would hesitate at putting C20 births on. Does the system recognise them as living?
  
  I have to say that most unknown relatives I have discovered have started from other people's trees. Must resist the temptation to write anecdotes!
  
  Flo

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• Message 9

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by florrie1066 (U15005536) on Saturday, 5th November 2011

  JC, it is so exciting when a line opens up in that way.
  Do you have your tree on ancestry?
  I hope you get to see them sometime.
  Flo

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• Message 10

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by florrie1066 (U15005536) on Saturday, 5th November 2011

  Hi Matt
  Soon we will be living to 125!
  Is it possible to privatise individuals on a tree on websites like ancestry?
  Flo

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• Message 11

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by florrie1066 (U15005536) on Saturday, 5th November 2011

  Hi Saimese
  
  I get blank looks when I get all enthusiastic about ancestor matters. But when the kids have flown the various nests and they can wind down a bit, they will be interested. Putting it all on the internet I think is the best bet to preserving our stories. The powers that be will find ways to preserve all that interenet data, whereas our personal floppy discs, cds and videos will end up obsolete.
  
  You really should be congratulated for putting in all the work of transferring 20 years of data manually. A good thing about doing it is that your data will be really, really clean. The benefits of your tree being available are that others will be able to rule people out as well as rule them in. One day, someone will turn up!
  
  Personally, as yet I only get certificates when I am stuck and need more leads eg marriage and wills. It is heir hunters who need documented proof. And there can be mistakes in certificates too. FH is only my hobby, and the proof I could really do with is a connection to one Richard born in 1580, but there is unlikely to be much documented about him.
  
  Flo
  
  
  
  

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