Generally the rule is no dates for living people within 100 years of the
date you're posting, if that makes sense; I use familytreemaker and there is
an option to private the information which makes it quite simple to have
private rather than living information but that still shows the
relationships and mother's surnames (maiden names), etc. One does need to
be careful about notes in your database and other items that are not
privatized if included.
I'd be very careful with what you post and what you give out. Although some
say it is very easy to gather information about anyone I don't feel the
normal everyday person goes out of their way to find private information.
Same with pregnancies before marriage in older generations - and any
secrets - that you may not feel need to be kept secret - if they were told
to you in confidence, tread carefully - they can be hurtful whether
adoption, or any other number of situations.
Gloria Davis
kg_davis(a)msn.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Betty Obst <Betty.Obst(a)skycon.com>
To: <Campbell-L(a)genealogy.org>; Baird List <BAIRD-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 8:10 PM
Subject: Public Posting of Descendancy Charts
Hi All:
I'd like to pose a question or maybe conduct a survey re: a recent concern
I
have. How do you feel about putting a list of
descendants that includes living relatives on an email list like this
or
on a web page that is open to the public?
I've been thinking a lot about this recently, because I'm ready to post my
information and I'm having some bad feelings about this.
My list begins at my grandparents and most of the names are living
relatives, many of them young people. I don't like the idea that
a "lurker" on the internet could have access to some of
this data and use
it to get close to someone. I'm thinking of them
pretending that they know "so and so" or were good friends
with "so and
so" in order to cultivate a friendship on-line.
I notice that at the Mormon Family Research Center, most of the
genealogies I
pulled had blank data and a statement "living
relative" when this occurred. This has also been the case in
most of the
GED com data I've looked at. It makes me think that these
professionals, who've been around for a while, may recognize
problems with
publishing this information publicly.
I have no problem with sharing the information one-on-one, but if I don't
post
this myself, I wouldn't want anyone else posting it
either!!! I know a lot of the parents in my family are not real
comfortable about this, even though they recognize that I would
never have been able to get the information I've gotten, if
people hadn't
been willing to share. What are your feelings regarding
this?