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Not unlike a drug user you want reaffirmation that what you are doing is acceptable. So you'll selectively seek the sentiments of those that behave or think like you do. It will be biased until someone like me that doesn't care about what you do with your time expresses how they feel about it.
It's up to you to connote what I just wrote as a positive or negative message.
I wouldn't want to be contacted by anyone that does what you do. I consider it healthy to think suspiciously of you. You don't need to make a thread to find that most people feel the same.
I've done limited research on in-laws and friends, but nothing anyone cared about. Just for practice, fun and to satisfy my curiosity.
I have a BIL that is retired and bored. He finished his families geneology and had the b*lls to contact me demanding info on my family so he could "research" them. Um... No. Not his business and an invasive of my privacy. I keep getting emails asking for info and keep on deleting them. Hope he gets the message soon.
Since the internet got going, it's like there's really no privacy anymore. This is sad. Someone who claimed to be a "genealogist" doing "research" took down my wife's license plates, looked her up, and traced her ancestry back about 8 generations. My wife was furious (she worked with this person, but not in the same office). We also found out that someone was doing general and criminal background checks on one of our grown daughters...you know, those sites you have to pay $30-40 for "full details"?
Where do we draw the line between nosiness/stalking and true "research"? These internet tools are valuable if used for a legitimate purpose, such as law enforcement, employment, tracing your own family tree, or being hired/asked by the subject to conduct the, uh, "research". Just picking somebody's name out of a hat, or deciding to look up someone that you find romantically attractive, is not fair game. And it certainly isn't "professional".
I know someone in Pittsburgh who gets paid to do this kind of research for people who want to know but have no interest in the work. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would love you if you would do it for them for free. So why stalk strangers when there are people who would appreciate your involvement?
Yes, "genealogy hobbyists rarely have nefarious intentions," but it's possible some do. Or some may stumble on possibly unpleasant information on the search. Then what do they ethically do with THAT information? I think you know you are on shaking ground doing this, or you wouldn't have posed the original question.
So here's the thing; I frikin love genealogy. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my parents are immigrants and our ancestral records in the old country are burned, lost, or difficult to access. Recently (a few hours ago) instead of tracing "famous" lineages (Royal mostly) I've started choosing a random, European, historical figure of note and tracing their descendants. I'm not quite proud of myself but I managed to trace a family more than 250 years right down to the current day + Facebook profiles (I couldn't resist once I had names). My question is one of ethics and propriety, did I go too far? Should I message the family? Is it weird? Will they be creeped out? I know you all obviously cannot answer for the people involved, but what would you think? Would you share your findings with the family?
There's nothing unethical about researching descendants or genealogies of people you're not related to, but I think contacting strangers and telling them about their ancestry (completely unrelated to yours) is a step too far. I'd be pretty weirded out that a stranger found my details and parents details, because we are all young enough that the only public documents we might be found in are outdated phone books. You could find my grandparents on the census records, and some military records, but my parents were born well after the 1940 census, and all their vital records are private, etc. Maybe my grandparents marriage records are public by now, but how would anyone even find who their children are? That shouldn't be public info.
Especially on a medium like Facebook, which has nothing to do with genealogy, you have no way of knowing whether these people would even be interested. Having a stranger contact you and start telling you more than you ever wanted to know about your own ancestry? Yeah, that could definitely creep some people out.
At the most, I might find people on Ancestry.com who have a tree and it looks like one of their ancestors is among the descendants you found - it would be appropriate to contact them since they are into genealogy and you only found them through a deceased ancestor in their public tree.
So here's the thing; I frikin love genealogy. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my parents are immigrants and our ancestral records in the old country are burned, lost, or difficult to access. Recently (a few hours ago) instead of tracing "famous" lineages (Royal mostly) I've started choosing a random, European, historical figure of note and tracing their descendants. I'm not quite proud of myself but I managed to trace a family more than 250 years right down to the current day + Facebook profiles (I couldn't resist once I had names). My question is one of ethics and propriety, did I go too far? Should I message the family? Is it weird? Will they be creeped out? I know you all obviously cannot answer for the people involved, but what would you think? Would you share your findings with the family?
Why not start a side business to do this for others who pay you? I would pay you.
As far as the research goes, if you have no agenda other than use for yourself it would not bother me a bit however, I would not send the family a message.
Why not start a side business to do this for others who pay you? I would pay you.
As far as the research goes, if you have no agenda other than use for yourself it would not bother me a bit however, I would not send the family a message.
That's a great suggestion... some people who don't have the time to do the research would probably be willing to pay you to do the work for them. And if this is something you find fun... then that sounds like a nice arrangement to me.
I wouldn't contact strangers to tell them you've been researching their family tree, though. Some people would rather maintain their privacy. They might also know some information that you don't... adoptions, illegitimate births, etc., so it's a good idea not to contact people you don't know.
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