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At Ancestry, they can't edit your tree but they can TAKE INFO from you tree and use it as they wish. My uncle uptree was pasted on another tree at Ancestry.
Look back on this day and know that I tried to tell y'all. It has happened to me.
Yes, we've acknowledged that. Any time you make a tree public anywhere, the data could be copied and wrongly used. The OP is talking about something different - she uploaded her data to FamilySearch and people are editing that original data, not copying it. It's a different situation. It is not possible to edit the original data on someone else's tree at Ancestry unless they have given you permission. People can copy that data, but they can't edit someone else's tree. At FamilySearch, it's different, anyone can edit anything, and this is what the OP is about.
And btw. Let us revisit another recent post here at CD.
A user thought that she did not belong to her own family because one side didn't match at Ancestry. Hhm. That one side of her family actually tested at 23andMe.
That family tree at Ancestry does NOT address all things DNA testing. And 23andMe isn't their only issue.
I will only test at Ancestry when and IF I need to. With all of the free sites, including Gedmatch which has Gedcom, I really see no reason to test with them at this time. Especially considering that I got extremely accurate Health Reports from 23andMe.
This topic has nothing to do with DNA - why are you going off topic?
What info are you speaking of that can be "taken" that is actually owned by the creator of the tree?
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Well someone took my grandfather and gave him sisters. Seriously, it is a problem when some people take your relatives and information including pictures which I don't really care about IF they are related; however, connecting them to other people because the last names match and they came from the same area in Germany is pushing it without at least trying to contact us to ask if this is possible. There was no documentation to prove this and since it was my grandfather I knew he only had brothers. Took several emails to have her finally remove him from their tree. I know little about my grandfather's family but I would like it to be as accurate as I know it.
Well someone took my grandfather and gave him sisters. Seriously, it is a problem when some people take your relatives and information including pictures which I don't really care about IF they are related; however, connecting them to other people because the last names match and they came from the same area in Germany is pushing it without at least trying to contact us to ask if this is possible. There was no documentation to prove this and since it was my grandfather I knew he only had brothers. Took several emails to have her finally remove him from their tree. I know little about my grandfather's family but I would like it to be as accurate as I know it.
But this cannot happen on ancestry.com.
If you have a FS tree, you should put your relatives on watch and just delete information that may pop up from other users.
I am black and had someone put a picture of a white man, with the same name, attached to my great great uncle on my FS tree in the past few months. I knew my uncle, he died around 10 years and I knew him all my life so I know who his wife is who his children are, and that he wasn't white lol.
The person attached the picture of a man with the same name as my uncle, they also attached a new white wife and new white children and even attached sources from FS for these people onto my uncle's profile.
Technically though they didn't "take" my great uncle! They just added things to a profile online. I contacted them and told them they made a mistake and that I was deleting all that information, which I did (I will admit it was a PITA to do, especially since they added new children and sources). But it was done within 30 minutes and now I have this uncle on my watch list to make sure he is not changed again. The person who added all that information apologized to me via message. I understand that oftentimes people don't look/read thoroughly the genealogical information they find online. They feel since it is the same name/same birthdate (which was the case for my uncle, their relative also was a WW2 vet, as was my uncle) that it is probably the same person and they just link it up. I think everyone has done this one or twice.
It happens all the time, unless your tree is private. "Taking" is the wrong word, perhaps. Ancestry have a "save to tree" tool that allows you copy data, photos, etc from someone else's tree into your own. Then you can edit and add to that data within your own tree, and it's not uncommon for people to do this and wind up changing the copied data so it's incorrect. They attach someone to the wrong family, they attach pictures to the wrong person, they wrongly combined two people into one, etc.
It does not alter your own tree, and I don't think anyone is saying it does. But people copy the data to their tree, and then change it in their own tree so the data is incorrect. It's nothing to do with ownership or copyrights, some people just find it frustrating because it's lazy research and I think they find it disrespectful to their deceased loved ones (like someone as close as a grandfather) when info about them gets corrupted. I do think it's important to remember we're all human, and we all make mistakes. Generally, if you just contact the person and politely explain their error, they correct it. But it absolutely can and does happen on Ancestry.com.
Quote:
If you have a FS tree, you should put your relatives on watch and just delete information that may pop up from other users.
Or I can not put my tree there and not have to constantly correct it, lol. And what happens if the same person comes back and keeps changing it so I have to keep changing it back? That's called an edit-war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit_warring - Wikipedia has policies against edit warring, does FamilySearch have any policies to prevent this? Will admins step in and block/ban someone for edit warring if it carries on too long? I don't think they do.
Don't get me wrong, I can see the value of collaborative work, but I would never put my sole or original tree on FS or Wikitree, I'd only ever put a duplicate on those sites, and even then I'd want to be very careful I only added info I was 100% sure about. I have a lot of speculative data in my tree, it's there as a potential lead/clue, so I don't forget about it. I wouldn't want to publicize that data.
Or I can not put my tree there and not have to constantly correct it, lol. And what happens if the same person comes back and keeps changing it so I have to keep changing it back? That's called an edit-war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit_warring - Wikipedia has policies against edit warring, does FamilySearch have any policies to prevent this? Will admins step in and block/ban someone for edit warring if it carries on too long? I don't think they do.
It happens all the time, unless your tree is private. "Taking" is the wrong word, perhaps. Ancestry have a "save to tree" tool that allows you copy data, photos, etc from someone else's tree into your own. Then you can edit and add to that data within your own tree, and it's not uncommon for people to do this and wind up changing the copied data so it's incorrect. They attach someone to the wrong family, they attach pictures to the wrong person, they wrongly combined two people into one, etc.
It does not alter your own tree, and I don't think anyone is saying it does. But people copy the data to their tree, and then change it in their own tree so the data is incorrect. It's nothing to do with ownership or copyrights, some people just find it frustrating because it's lazy research and I think they find it disrespectful to their deceased loved ones (like someone as close as a grandfather) when info about them gets corrupted. I do think it's important to remember we're all human, and we all make mistakes. Generally, if you just contact the person and politely explain their error, they correct it. But it absolutely can and does happen on Ancestry.com.
Or I can not put my tree there and not have to constantly correct it, lol. And what happens if the same person comes back and keeps changing it so I have to keep changing it back? That's called an edit-war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit_warring - Wikipedia has policies against edit warring, does FamilySearch have any policies to prevent this? Will admins step in and block/ban someone for edit warring if it carries on too long? I don't think they do.
Don't get me wrong, I can see the value of collaborative work, but I would never put my sole or original tree on FS or Wikitree, I'd only ever put a duplicate on those sites, and even then I'd want to be very careful I only added info I was 100% sure about. I have a lot of speculative data in my tree, it's there as a potential lead/clue, so I don't forget about it. I wouldn't want to publicize that data.
The bold is what I took from that poster - that someone changed his/her tree on ancestry. Unless they gave them permission, that cannot happen. They stated he was "taken" and "given" another wife and children. That shouldn't happen on ancestry but it can happen on FS.
Also, not saying that people should put their trees on FS but if they do, then it is a risk. As stated I've had a public tree there for 5 years give or take, and I've only had this happen one time. It wasn't that big of a deal and it was an honest mistake given the person in question had the same name, birthdate, and was a member of the military at the same time as the other person's relative. They apologized, it was fixed and we moved on.
I have all my direct ancestors on FS on watch but I keep a tree there and update it more often than the one for my own family on ancestry.com because FS is free and I don't always have a paid subscription to ancestry in order to add source material. I often save stuff from FS or link to stuff from FS on my ancestry tree.
Both are great websites though IMO. But fact of the matter is no one can "take" our relatives and give them new lives. They can, however, be linked up to the wrong people on FS. Not so on ancestry unless the creator of the tree gave that person access to do so.
This is how I read/comprehended material on both sites, and I'm open for correction if this is not the case. Ancestry public trees cannot be changed by anyone except the creator of the tree unless they gave access to others to do so. FS trees are public trees and can be changed by FS members but they can be put on "watch" in order to monitor the records on FS.
Wanted to add on the speculative data - as stated, I keep my main tree on FS. They have places within the tree for "notes" and "discussions" and I often add that speculative data in those sections. I recently re-activated my ancestry.com account for 6 months and did so in order to look up people connected to a particular line of my ancestors along with build some trees of local families in my area from the 19th century.
I've connected with 4 people there so far who had "hints" to this particular family in my own family history. On my FS tree there is a "discussion" and various "notes" about this family and potential siblings of my 4th great grandfather and one member of his family who I could not tell if they were his brother or son. With sharing that tree to people on ancestry and in some online groups I'm a part of, we had a great discussion in that section on this particular individual and found out he was a brother of my 4th great grandfather.
So I see nothing wrong with speculative data or notes and I'm glad that there is a place on both ancestry.com and FS to put that information. I figure we all make errors and all have things to go back to and review later on if ever there are new leads that open up on researching a particular individual or family. I like that genealogical research involves constantly discovering new things and needing to update things. Also FS is not a site where I've had to constantly fix errors; however, it has given me an opportunity to consult with other people who, many times are very knowledgeable about a particular family. Most of the people on FS are also on ancestry who I've contacted and I've never had to fix anything more than that one time a few months ago.
I dont use Family Search as its owned by the LDS and its editable by anyone i wish there was a thing like Ancestry and Family Search but free and non editable except for you and people you allow
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