I was dismayed to find the following (and others similar, of recent date) at
http://www.gensoftreviews.com/?p=1247&sel=&new=&lic=&pla=&type=&sort=&paged=2
Are these just trolls to be ignored, or is there cause for their complaints?
David Wilson
WikiTree funnels your information to My Heritage, which is a paid site and which “sponsors” WikiTree. It may sell your information to other sites. Who knows.. Look closely and you’ll find no direct accountability, no direct contacts, no recourse if you want to remove all your information from this entity. It’s said to be a “volunteer” site, but all this means is that you’re welcome to share all of your genealogy but you will not be allowed to take it down if you change your mind or have a complaint about how something is used. It does no good to write to their one or two support email addresses as they will ignore you indefinitely. It’s a scam, not a legitimate community. If you want to keep your account private, it still shows up in searches and others can edit your people. The users like you and me who volunteer for the site are okay and mean well, but the motivation behind the company are not okay. This website is nothing more than a data miner even though it pretends to be working for a higher cause. (How we all connect.) They are dishonest. Your genealogy is a commodity. Think long and hard about joining this site because you’re signing away all rights to remove or edit your people as you wish. Even if you leave this site, try to delete your account, they retain your valuable genealogy material. Forever. That’s just not right, and not in the true spirit of genealogy. You’ll go in circles trying to get any resolution if things go wrong, and they expect you to fade away. It’s part of their business plan; they don’t care if you’re screwed. Those who rave about this site have never encountered the ******** behind it. It’s fine until it isn’t. Completely unethical use of your genealogy, of which they take ownership. Avoid this site, at all costs. All genealogy sites are making a buck beyond a subscription fee, but at least they’re open about it. WikiTree pretends to be something it isn’t: a safe, free community in which you can choose what to share and what to remove. They don’t like you messing with their database, and can block you from accessing your own account.. Read the complaints and problems in the forums, and know that these are most likely normal people who ran into brick walls in wanting to change or remove details, and not nut jobs with an axe to grind. This site is not what you think or hope it is; you are a revenue stream, not a member of a community. Perhaps a journalist will finally do an investigation about this company which pretends to be generous and noble.
p.s. I was a member of My Heritage, the site “sponsoring” WikiTree, and it was impossible. They allowed connections without any documentaiton or permission, and I spent more time removing invalid connections than I did finding new ones. I saw this happen in WikiTree as well, with other users allowed to edit my ancestors even if it was wrong or invalid. How can anyone trust this process or company? You can’t. Don’t get sucked in by their narrative of joining a cause to see how we all connect. Their only interest is in how you can be of use to them, and I’m not kidding. It’s like a pyramid scheme; they use people to use people to use people. Good souls who are truly interested in furthering genealogy for themselves and others. This takes advantage of those regular folks who generously share their time to run this machine. (The ones who are still unawakened to the true nature of this machine.)
TL;DNR Don’t be fooled because they call themselves WikiTree; this isn’t a benevolent, generous nonprofit for the good of all. Your genealogy is monetized; it’s a business. Don’t have to look far, as WikiTree is “sponsored” by My Heritage; another company to avoid. Think about it, and AVOID WikiTree. You’ll be glad you did. Be paranoid about who’s using the genealogy you share and why. Never submit records to any site/company that doesn’t allow you to keep others out of your business. Even after you go away, they still have your material. Forever. And since they lack ethics, they allow any number of dubious or incoorect records to modify your records. they don’t care if it’s correct, they just want to connect dots and sell those dots. There’s no respect for us or for our valuable records and family legacy. They hope we’re too stupid to see through this enterprise. (And it seems to be working.)
Biggest Pro: Real life volunteers with good intentions make this site possible.
Biggest Con: Those behind the site are shady as hell — dishonest, no accountability, information thieves.
