Just a thought; I've downloaded my Ancestry trees to Family Tree Maker. It's in my computer so, even if ancestry makes changes online, I have my peeps and their documentation.
On Thu, Jan 13, 2022 at 12:32 PM robin dennis via CoTyroneList < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I'd like to weigh in on this fascinating conversation, too -- I wrote this > last night but didn't send it, and it seems as though Roger Cousens has > beat me to the dark side! > > I myself have a (very large) tree on Ancestry, which I've found to be a > useful tool -- for me -- as I've scaled up my research over the past > few years. > > I agree that there is a loss of control when taking this approach. To my > eye, the biggest issues are: > > 1) Relying on Ancestry (or another paid site) means that if you build up > your tree while attaching records there, but at some point in the future > cannot afford the subscription fee, you can of course download the GEDCOM > file but you no longer have access to your evidence. You can download the > documents, but then you have to manually attach them again, which is very > time-consuming if you have thousands in your tree. And, in my opinion, a > tree without evidence is useless. I've tried to tackle this by setting up a > system to archive all the evidence attached to my tree so that I have it > when/if I leave Ancestry in the future. But it's slow-going and frustrating. > > 2) As Margaret in Oz noted, Ancestry has changed its terms of service so > that uploading information to the site is a grant of (unfettered) use to > them. Which is a loss of control. I haven't worked out how to handle this. > I still assert copyright (fwiw) on any images I upload, but I also consider > how I'd feel if an image I upload was used by Ancestry in an advertising > campaign. Any media that's set as public can be viewed and downloaded by > other users, and I think about this, too. > > > I have, however, also weighed these up against some benefits: > > 1) Public photo settings mean that I've also been able to see photos of > grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents that I > never would have seen if other users hadn't been generous enough to make > their photo uploads public. For this reason, I do try to share and share > alike. > > 2) Having a tree on Ancestry has led to new connections and discoveries. > I'm in touch with second cousins that I never would have met otherwise -- > some of whom have stories of my direct ancestors, such as my great > grandmother, that our family had never heard. And a couple years ago, > a stranger contacted me when he found a family bible in a charity shop near > Birmingham and built a tree on Ancestry to see if he got any hints from > other user trees. That bible once belonged to one of my 3x great > granduncles and contained a watercolour portrait of my 4x great > grandfather. My family has since been reunited with both the bible and the > portrait, all because I had a family tree on a site where someone else > could connect with me. > > 3) DNA testing has helped me to break through some break walls, and is > helping me to uncover my mother's Irish origins. The only reason I'm on > this mailing list is because my great aunt has matched with a number of > people with her maiden surname, Hagan or O'Hagan, whose families have never > left Ireland and all lived in the area of Strabane or Sion Mills in the > 1860s to 1880s. I've now got a cluster of O'Hagans in Ireland with whom I > share research ideas -- we don't know how we're related, but DNA says that > we are related distantly, in some way. > > 4) Searching for evidentiary documents is MUCH faster -- for some > documents and some areas of the world. I use a mix of sites to find > information, but the search tools on Ancestry and FindMyPast are very > powerful if you focus only on records (not member trees). > > I personally find FamilySearch trees to be just as messy as member trees > on Ancestry and elsewhere. I recently had to ask FamilySearch to mark a > living relative as living when another user entered a death date for her > based on the (incorrect) assumption that someone born in 1926 would no > longer be living. > > Most of the time, it seems people just copy information without checking > it themselves; one of my favourites is seeing a tree with people > whose baptism or marriage records date from before their birth or after > their death. I've also observed people copying stuff from my trees that > I've marked as WILD SPECULATION (all caps) while trying out a hypothesis. > > Essentially, I think of others' trees -- no matter where they are -- as > something > between a nudge for future research (at best) or misinformation (at > worst). Having the tree on my own computer would give me control, but I > benefit a great deal from the network of connections that I get from having > a tree online. > > What I love about CoTyroneIreland.com is that it provides an orthogonal > avenue for research -- both all the great transcribed and indexed > information that is geographically specific (thank you, Len, especially!!) > but also this list-serve which sparks ideas. > > And Jim has now convinced me to put higher priority on making my private > tree to be as robust as my online tree; I don't need all the people in my > online tree. (I've got 30,000+ people in it, between my family and my > partner's family and shrub trees that I've made to explore a > hypothesis.) But with a lot of American immigrant ancestors with > documentary evidence back to the 1600s, even my confirmed direct-line > ancestors number in the four digits, so it's going to take a lot of time! > > With all best, > Robin Dennis (researching O'Hagan and Wallace and possibly Mills in Ulster) > > > On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 11:43 PM Shirley Harper via CoTyroneList < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Please nobody rely on the “trees” you find on Ancestry. Many of them are >> now fictitious because of people taking them for their own and adding their >> details in. Some of the trees now there are a real mess. >> >> You could try Family Search www.familysearch.org/ for better >> information. >> >> >> >> Advice. Do your own research!! >> >> >> >> Shirley >> >> >> >> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for >> Windows >> >> >> >> *From: *M L Jarvis via CoTyroneList >> <[email protected]> >> *Sent: *Thursday, 13 January 2022 12:43 AM >> *To: *'CoTyroneIreland.com Mailing List' >> <[email protected]>; 'Gordon Wilkinson' >> <[email protected]> >> *Cc: *'Gordon Wilkinson' <[email protected]>; M L Jarvis >> <[email protected]> >> *Subject: *[CoTyroneMailingList] Re: Family Trees >> >> >> >> Perhaps a page with a table that lists members who have trees, where the >> trees are located (Ancestry, etc.), and key surnames and locations is all >> that’s needed? Then individual members could be contacted directly. >> >> >> >> We could also list GEDmatch numbers. >> >> >> >> And, yes, I can help create the table! >> >> >> >> Mary >> >> >> >> PS Ancestry trees can’t be changed by others unless they have permission >> to do so by having been granted ownership. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> *From:* James McKane via CoTyroneList < >> [email protected]> >> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 12, 2022 5:22 AM >> *To:* Gordon Wilkinson <[email protected]>; >> CoTyroneIreland.com Mailing List <[email protected]> >> *Cc:* Gordon Wilkinson <[email protected]>; James McKane < >> [email protected]> >> *Subject:* [CoTyroneMailingList] Re: Family Trees >> >> >> >> Gordon - first, it is easy to eliminate living people when creating a >> Gedcom with most software so that is not an issue. >> >> >> >> Bill - while it seems like a good idea, there are a few issues on my end >> which would have to be overcome - >> >> >> >> 1) currently advertising revenues on the website have been dropping >> dramatically! It appears many users are using "ad blockers" to avoid >> seeing the advertisements. If this continues I'm not sure how we are going >> to cover ongoing expenses >> >> 2) to load Gedcoms we need to purchase software >> >> 3) we need the time to manage said software as I have experience in this >> area from a previous life......... it takes TIME >> >> 4) I would not wish to manage a "live" site where people can amend >> anything as it soon becomes so polluted ......... like FamilySearch and >> Ancestry trees are >> >> >> >> Jim >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Jim McKane >> >> Kitchener, Ontario >> >> >> >> >> >> On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:50 AM Gordon Wilkinson via CoTyroneList < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> An interesting idea, Bill, but my data base has info on so many living >> relatives and notes on many who value their privacy (DNA data, cupboard >> skeletons, &c), so I've actually shut down my family web site and only give >> the barest of information on the site now. Having said that, the most >> productive info has come from distant relatives who have found and >> contacted me through the the original website. Those inputs have been >> immeasurably valuable. I pondered the thought of stripping details from >> 'living' names, and editing the relevant pages, but the task got too big. >> I've got around 8,500 names covering the ancestry of my grandchildren and >> still more names to enter (proffered by one of those distant relatives.) >> when I get time. >> >> The original website still exists, of course, as a local entity (8Gb) and >> available only to select relatives. >> >> Gordon >> >> On 12/01/2022 7:37 am, Bill Young via CoTyroneList wrote: >> >> I have seen a number of mails on family tree research recently. >> >> >> >> Is there a move in this direction; and, if so, can we post family tree >> data to the site? Provenance and accuracy are always going to be issues >> but it may be worth hosting current versions of members’ GEDCOM files on >> the understanding that they are the responsibility of the individuals who >> post them, not of CoTyroneIreland. >> >> >> >> Best regards >> >> >> >> Bill >> >> >> >> J W (Bill) Young >> >> +41 76 391 6556 (WhatsApp & Signal) >> >> +44 74 2904 9955 (Telegram) >> >> >> >> >> >> ================================= >> >> Send a Message to the List - [email protected] >> >> List Archive - >> https://list.cotyroneireland.com/empathy/list/cotyronelist.list.cotyroneireland.com >> >> Join the list by sending an email to - >> [email protected] >> >> To receive the Digest version, send an email to - >> [email protected] >> >> Unsubscribe by sending an email to - >> [email protected] >> >> ================================= >> >> ================================= >> Send a Message to the List - [email protected] >> List Archive - >> https://list.cotyroneireland.com/empathy/list/cotyronelist.list.cotyroneireland.com >> Join the list by sending an email to - >> [email protected] >> To receive the Digest version, send an email to - >> [email protected] >> Unsubscribe by sending an email to - >> [email protected] >> ================================= >> >> >> ================================= >> Send a Message to the List - [email protected] >> List Archive - >> https://list.cotyroneireland.com/empathy/list/cotyronelist.list.cotyroneireland.com >> Join the list by sending an email to - >> [email protected] >> To receive the Digest version, send an email to - >> [email protected] >> Unsubscribe by sending an email to - >> [email protected] >> ================================= > > > > -- > ................................................ > Robin Dennis > +44 (0)20.8123.3960 phone > +44 (0)7947.589.050 mobile > +1 718.303.2080 US skype voip > [email protected] > ================================= > Send a Message to the List - [email protected] > List Archive - > https://list.cotyroneireland.com/empathy/list/cotyronelist.list.cotyroneireland.com > Join the list by sending an email to - > [email protected] > To receive the Digest version, send an email to - > [email protected] > Unsubscribe by sending an email to - > [email protected] > =================================
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