uploading your tree/research to a site for others to access

[Ann from Sussex]

Penny, you are right to be cautious. When I first started family history I was a bit indiscriminate about sharing my information but after a bad experience where someone appropriated my late parents and added them to their own tree where they didn't belong (and ignored requests to remove them) I now only share with proven relatives. It may sound silly but I can't tell you how hurtful it is to see your much loved and missed parents claimed as relatives by people who have no connection to them. I am more than happy to share with the right people (and have discovered some lovely, previously unknown, relatives as a result) but I have never put my tree on a public site and never will. Remember that, once something is out in the public domain on the internet, there is no going back; it's there forever.

[Olde Crone]

I have a tree on Tribal Pages for my own family and it is only to view by invitation - relatives only. It starts with my grandparents, so little risk of upsetting living relatives.

OC

[Margaret in Burton]

The problem with giving relatives a gedcom and asking them not to put it on a public tree is that they may agree to this and the next thing you know there it is for the whole world to see. It's happened to me. Given research privately and there it is splashed all over the internet.

Only a couple of days ago I found my husbands great uncle on someone's tree which said he was born in Belgium. The poor chap, he died in WW1, was born in Burton on Trent and only left England to fight for his country. He DIED in Belgium.

I left rather a terse note on that persons tree, expressing what a load of rubbish it was.

[Ann from Sussex]

Whenever I send a Gedcom these days, I end it with OH's or my great grandparents who were all born in the early to mid 1800s.That way, it doesn't matter to me if it does get out into the public domain.

I am more than happy to share any information that I have but with reservations.
I have been very fortunate by posting specific ancestors on here and then it going onto google, relations on different lines have contacted me from all over the world.
I have my and Peter's trees on FTM, but I have never shared my tree as such, apart from bits of it at a family reunion.
The quandary is that I have used research done 20 years ago and it was very hard come by for the researchers. It was then published by family members for a number of lines (Some made a number of mistakes when it was checked.) However partly because of their generosity I like to share what I have since found, but because of misappropriation of research, I won't share my complete tree. I also have too many living people on it.
I must admit though that I have used research of others on Ancestry trees, but I put it on my tree and say from ancestry and I then go and check it with primary sources. If I am still not sure I say not proved. Julie