GENI is only the latest in a string of these on-line ventures to contribute to what
I call a genealogical Tower of Babel. Once you share anything with anyone you lose
control. In my case it happened when a relative submitted all my research to that
outfit that asked for donations of family trees and sold them on CDs. The version
of the tree at that point had a serious error, and there was no way I could change
what he uploaded any more than I could ask for all the paper and electronic copies
I had distributed. Then that company was absorbed by another who dumped the
contents of those CDs on their site without even listing the submitter. It's been a
headache ever since, and more than one person isn't talking to me anymore.

Probably a dozen of our relative started trees on GENI using the data it has taken
me twenty years to collect. I have done my best to mitigate any damage by
correcting when I can, even signed up for the paid subscription. I have been able
to contact more living relatives in a week than I could in a year probably. These
are branches I knew about but couldn't find. And if you find a relative in a tree
submitted by someone on another line, you have another avenue of contact. Not
documentation, but contacts.

What do they say? Make lemonade?

Martin Miller
Syracuse, NY
millerm214@gmail.com
http://home.roadrunner.com/~themillers/ for my genealogy site