Am I to understand that by clicking the link any of my friends will be able to see the image even it they have not registered with Ancestry or Rootsweb and even if they don’t have an Ancestry subscription?

Andy Hatchett
agh3rd@aol.com

Ooo, good question Andy, since I’m the only one in my family who has a paid ancestry account (well, my mom and I do), but there are many more people who are interested in what I find.

I have been trying to find my bookmarks. Have they been discontinued? Please advise

I apologize for the length of this, but I’d like some answers on this subject. I don’t do Facebook or twitter, but I do “search the web” from my tree. I wrote a letter to ancestry about a month ago on this subject but have not received an answer yet: “I don’t understand the ins and outs of “search engines”, but I can’t help but wonder how information from one of my “private” trees can appear on a “German search” when I “search the web” for a name on my tree. It shows information I have entered about that person, as well as three others on my tree with that surname. Although the “tree” cannot be accessed from that “search”, I didn’t realize that the information from my “private” trees could appear on the internet, and it’s a mystery why these, or any names that I have in my trees should appear anywhere beyond the bounds of the ancestry website, especially since they are all “private” – I thought that leaving the “search box” unchecked only applied to access by ancestry members, not the whole internet. I did a web search on another name and it brought up information from my tree{in English} and I am able to open ancestry to the “search results” with this name – I’d like to know what happens when someone else comes upon this “search” – can be opened by anyone else who has an ancestry membership? Can anything else from my tree be accessed? Can my other trees be opened from this site? I would like that clarified.” I asked other questions as well, and hope to receive a reply.
Concerning all this information that appears on the internet when doing a “search”, I’m having a “discussion” with a distant relative who created a website and posted a great deal of personal information, photos, etc. on our whole family – ancestors long dead, and descendants, much alive, including information that I shared with her. When I found that this website could be accessed by googling any family name, I asked her to delete members of my immediate family. The names and information still appear when I do a “search”, although the website can no longer be opened from that source – but she also created a “calendar” so family names still comes up in a search, and her whole website can be opened. Cautioning her about posting information on living people {especially without their permission} has fallen on deaf ears – “with so much information available on the internet, what’s the difference”. I’ve been made to feel “anti-social” – am I wrong to feel that this is too much “exposure”?

Bee,

If your main worry is identity theft I’ll just say this. There has never been a case of identity theft where it was proved that a genealogy site was the source of information that lead to that theft of identity. All in all there is *way* too much worry about this. Look at Europe where you can get info on anyone from birth, marriage records down to voter rolls; and their identity theft rate is way below the US rate. Texas and certain other states have that info online for their state records. I’v recreated one texas family from 1864 to the latest birth in 2002 just by using those online records.

As to how that info got out on the web.. there are a variety of ways. The most likely is that someone who you invited to your private tree put it out on a website somewhere where it was copied by someone else who then posted it to another website etc.

Information is like water, it wants to be free and flowing and sooner or later it will find a way to achieve that state.

How likely do you think it would be for someone to find the information you are talking about if they weren’t searching for those names?

Odds are anyone searching for those names already knows something about the people involved.

I know I certainly don’t just type in random names to searh for on the web!
*grin*

I know this doesn’t answer a lot of your questions but I just wanted to give my thoughts on the subject.

Andy Hatchett
agh3rd@aol.com

Bee, #5,

Setting your Tree to ‘private’ deters others’ viewing the Tree.

If you did not set your personal settings not to index your entries, it will still be indexed by Ancestry.com and by external search engines such as google.

Ancestry.com has set up its interfaces so that external search engines can index it, to attract customers and page-viewers for ad ‘hits’.

What is now indexed will not disappear from web search engines, but if you set your preferences to not index your activities, future entries will not be indexed by Ancestry.com.

Tried this this morning with a 1910 census image. The only option that appeared under Share was email.

Apologies…I was clicking on “Share” within the actual image viewer. Not on the page with the image summary.

Why no support for Mac’s or Safari!!!!

Sounds like a winner. I have lots of family that would like to be included in some of the family documents and history.

To us this u must have a current subscription right?

This is a nice fun feature. I like all the recent changes and resources (Expert) new to the site. I wonder with this new inclusion to Facebook and others, will it be possible in the future for more than just Ancestry’s own databases to be posted? For example, I have a picture past down to me of a hanging in Texas, taken Sept. 10, 1891. I am told a certain man in the picture (the sherriff) is a distant relative of mine. It would be nice if I could post this in the same fashion as your records with a note, to see if anyone has info or comments that might help me figure out the name and exact nature of my relation. Plus, the ability to share certain finds or pictures I have included without giving full access to other info in my tree. Thanks!

Misty,

The easy way to do this would be to just start a public “tree” with the individual items, persons, etc. but without any links to anyone else on that public tree. It would be more a catalog of items, etc. than an actual tree – and people could only see what you put on that public tree without getting access to anything on other trees.

Will you ever have a link on ancestry where we can ask you a direct question and get answers?
I have been searching for many years and records you now have on your Historical records site,Were free at one time through other sites,But since you have taken them over no one can browse the actual record,Like the Tohickon Union Lutheran Church Bucks County Pennsylvania,Everytime I try to search it for my gggrandfathers rcords I get a typed thing showing he was a sponsor or the father of someone,And you have see image but you click it and you get more of the same,I would like to Browse this record myself,Not what you want me to see,Because as every researcher knows,One person can look at a record and maybe overlook something,That another researcher can spot right away.And believe me what I have seen with the transcribers work,I would rather veiw the record myself,So even though I am a paying subscriber do I have to pay again to see the whole record?Lois