There was one fellow that I contacted because of his entry in WorldConnect because he supposedly had a date that I had been looking for quite awhile. His response was that he had thrown it in to see if he got any reponses that would help him!]] End of contact! Pat At 05:52 PM 7/28/2005, Anthony Roberts wrote: >I am interested in others views on world connect and sharing gedcom files. > >Worldconnect is a rootsweb/ancestry.com site that allows you to place your >gedcom data >on the web, where others can search from it. There is an option which you >can turn on >or off which allows users to download your gedcom. > >Do people here you this site? I do, because it increases the likelihood of >finding people with >common ancestors who may be able to share research. I also like the fact >that my research is >"published", in case unforseeable events mean that me and my gedcom file >vanish. > >However there are downsides as well. Sometimes there are 20 or 30 entries >for a single soul >(20 or 30 people have the person in there tree), and it is hard to >determine who, if anyone >actually did the research, so you can follow up on it. Ideally each entry >should be documented, >so that you can repeat the research more easily if you need to. On >numerous occasions I have >contacted owners and found that no little about person, they just copied >the person undocumented into their tree as they were distantly related (I >guess bigger is better?). > >For this reason I don't make my gedcom downloadable - I don't want vaguely >interested >people pasting my entire gedcom into theirs. If someone came looking to >share information >on an ancestor and encountered the 29 people who only have a vague >interest, they might never get to me.I sometimes get requests for my >gedcom from people who I have not shared >any research with, and I do not know how to politely convey my feelings on >these issues. >I am happy to share my gedcom with people who care about documentation, >will not >extract holus bolus data from it, and won't keep propogating it. One copy >on the web seems >enough. Do other people feel this way? Am I just being a stinge and >unfriendly? > >If the shoe were on the other foot, if someone had some beautifully researched >and documented line of mine I would certainly like to incorporate that >line in my tree (for >printing trees and reports etc). > >A second downside of using worldconnect is that ancestry.com emails me >every so often and asks me if I want to >pay to read my database ("Anthony, we have found an ancestor of yours, >please pay us >to expand your tree"). It annoys me that I place my data for tree and >ancestry tries to >hock it off for money, without saying it is available on worldconnect >(where they must have >sourced the names I'm talking about) for free. > >I am interested in your views on these matters. > >Cheers, >Tony > > > >==== PAF-5-USERS Mailing List ==== >PAF @ FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service >http://www.familysearch.org/eng/paf/

Everyone beware! Some people have acknowledged that they intentionally insert some wrong dates, etc., in the data they upload to any database or post to their own websites, so they can tell if someone has copied (stolen) from them Joan Lowrey At 05:59 PM 7/28/05 -0400, Patricia J Weisshaus wrote: >There was one fellow that I contacted because of his entry in WorldConnect >because he supposedly had a date that I had been looking for quite awhile. >His response was that he had thrown it in to see if he got any reponses >that would help him!]] > >End of contact! > >Pat

I do not understand why people would do this. Why don't they want to share with others? I don't mind sharing my information as along as the living people's information is protected. Jennifer On 7/28/05, Joan Lowrey <joanlowr@pacbell.net> wrote: > Everyone beware! Some people have acknowledged that they intentionally > insert some wrong dates, etc., in the data they upload to any database or > post to their own websites, so they can tell if someone has copied (stolen) > from them > > Joan Lowrey > > > At 05:59 PM 7/28/05 -0400, Patricia J Weisshaus wrote: > >There was one fellow that I contacted because of his entry in WorldConnect > >because he supposedly had a date that I had been looking for quite awhile. > >His response was that he had thrown it in to see if he got any reponses > >that would help him!]] > > > >End of contact! > > > >Pat > > > > ==== PAF-5-USERS Mailing List ==== > PAF-5-USERS Mailing List Archives > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PAF-5-USERS/ > > -- What do you think would be the best thing about being 104 years old? No peer pressure

At a certain point, you HAVE to share living info to be certain you're dealing with the same line ... and once you "share", you have NO control over what the other person does with it. Cheryl Jennifer Jackson wrote: > I do not understand why people would do this. Why don't they want to > share with others? I don't mind sharing my information as along as > the living people's information is protected. > > Jennifer > > On 7/28/05, Joan Lowrey <joanlowr@pacbell.net> wrote: > >>Everyone beware! Some people have acknowledged that they intentionally >>insert some wrong dates, etc., in the data they upload to any database or >>post to their own websites, so they can tell if someone has copied (stolen) >>from them >> >>Joan Lowrey >> >> >>At 05:59 PM 7/28/05 -0400, Patricia J Weisshaus wrote: >> >>>There was one fellow that I contacted because of his entry in WorldConnect >>>because he supposedly had a date that I had been looking for quite awhile. >>>His response was that he had thrown it in to see if he got any reponses >>>that would help him!]] >>> >>>End of contact! >>> >>>Pat

Yep, I sometimes did that. It might not keep other people honest, but it DOES keep me from taking their material as additional support for my own. I've already got four places where I can't tell "who published first" so I can't tell whether they are quoting us or we are quoting them. Cheryl Joan Lowrey wrote: > Everyone beware! Some people have acknowledged that they intentionally > insert some wrong dates, etc., in the data they upload to any database > or post to their own websites, so they can tell if someone has copied > (stolen) from them > > Joan Lowrey > > > At 05:59 PM 7/28/05 -0400, Patricia J Weisshaus wrote: > >> There was one fellow that I contacted because of his entry in >> WorldConnect because he supposedly had a date that I had been looking >> for quite awhile. His response was that he had thrown it in to see if >> he got any reponses that would help him!]] >> >> End of contact! >> >> Pat

Joan's message just reinforces one of the first rules of good genealogy--do the research and prove or disprove any fact you receive from anyone else. Pat At 07:28 PM 7/28/2005, Joan Lowrey wrote: >Everyone beware! Some people have acknowledged that they intentionally >insert some wrong dates, etc., in the data they upload to any database or >post to their own websites, so they can tell if someone has copied >(stolen) from them > >Joan Lowrey > > >At 05:59 PM 7/28/05 -0400, Patricia J Weisshaus wrote: >>There was one fellow that I contacted because of his entry in >>WorldConnect because he supposedly had a date that I had been looking for >>quite awhile. His response was that he had thrown it in to see if he got >>any reponses that would help him!]] >> >>End of contact! >> >>Pat > > > >==== PAF-5-USERS Mailing List ==== >PAF-5-USERS Mailing List Archives >http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PAF-5-USERS/

I too have concerns about GEDCOMs and generally do not download them or make mine available. If I talk to some one on mail for a bit, I might send part. WorldConnect is good about the living filter that is good. That way I don't accidentally forget when I make my GEDCOM and then upload living folks. I have had to revise some notes that referred to living. The advantage to me has been the contact with other family members who found me this way. One is the daughter of my Dad's cousin that I was named after. She was letting me know some additional info on the murder of our great grandmother that came from her Grandmother (the kid that did the crime apparently lived his whole life in regret and confessed on his death bed. If now we could only identify him! You might find some great contacts this way. Bill