MyHeritage -- Snaps Up Geni.com

Me, too, Eldon! I've gained 17 "new" siblings for various ancestors so far. And I think I do pretty careful research and am positively obsessive about entering collateral ancestors, so imagine what someone else might be finding! My big news, though, is that SmartMatch may have shoved past a brick wall that's been driving me crazy - one match showed previously unidentified parents for an ancestor who I've been struggling with for literally years, and unable to find anything. IF the information is correct - and I'll have to do some research to find out - then perhaps another branch of the family has had that little bit of information I've been looking for - and who knows how long it would have taken me to find without SmartMatch? Yay!!!

Great news Jennifer, Nothing on my brick wall, yet, but I am hoping.

Mark Harold Melmed, if you'll add me to your family group, I'll start chipping away at your matches. With 20,000 profiles, it'll take awhile - but what the heck, I'm a sucker for endless, tedious jobs! lololol

I had success in one brick wall, with contacting a MH tree match in my grandmothers tree. She still lives in Ireland down the road from the cemetery where our shared ancestors are buried. She had one generation further back than me and some siblings I didnt have.

Jennifer, Im not sure being added to a family group works to allow you access to confirming the matches. I am not able to confirm on "added" family group members, only "natural" ones.

Wow, Kris, that's awesome! I keep thinking if all these good matches are showing up in the first few days, what are the possibilities for the future? Very exciting!

Oh, well, it was an idea, anyhow. I was willing to try. Bummer that it won't work.

Sorry Jeff Gentes but it just does not ring true and I have asked the support team for exact details as to how this profile and others have managed to find their way onto MyHeritage.

The profile on MyHeritage is owned by an Andre Groeneveld and the only Andre Groeneveld on Geni has just recently joined and has had had no activity on Geni. This does not look like a one-off profile but a wholescale export and import of data.

I am disinclined to let this matter lie until I have had a full and clear explanation from someone at Geni/MyHeritage....

Theunis, I have found many of "my" profiles and photos on Ancestry and MyHeritage. People copy things on the internet because they don't understand they shouldn't, or they just don't care, or they think it doesn't matter. I always ask before downloading a photo and saving it, but many, many people don't.

If MH were really migrating Geni data without our permission and without telling us, then I would find ALL of my profiles and photos over there, and I have not. I found 12, out of almost 3,000.

Occam's Razor is a principle which states that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. In other words, most issues in life are very rarely conspiracies, and are much more likely to be the result of ignorant or unethical people doing things they shouldn't.

Btw, Andre Groeneveld doesn't have to have activity on Geni in order to copy your profiles/photos. They're visible to the public unless you've set them to private status, and available to anyone who uses Google. So the Andre on MH could be the same person as the Andre on Geni - or it could be someone else entirely. Have you contacted the person on MH to ask him how he got your data, and asked him to remove it?

Sometimes also, someone does ask someone for permission to use a photo etc, but later finds out that the person who gave permission had copied it from another person without permission.

Theunis - You might want to check out My Heritage's Terms of Service -- http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/popup.php?p=terms_conditions - specifically - first bulleted list, list of practices members are NOT to do, it includes the statement: "Be aware that content, including photographs, even if submitted to a site of which you are a Member, belongs to its creator or submitter and you should not reproduce it without permission of the owner."

Also see items listed after their comment: "The following guidelines apply to all MyHeritage members ..." -- which includes:
"Copying information or photos from other family sites without the permission of their owners is prohibited and members who do this are at risk of being banned from the Service at the discretion of MyHeritage Ltd."
and just above that:
"If a person has personal information in a family site that was entered by another member that they want removed, they should email a request to support@myheritage.com and .... " (read the rest!)
So it seems MH says in their TOS how to contact them about such problems and that they will take action. Give it a shot and let us know what happens.

The problem is that nearly all of the blue dots send me to a "pay or you can't see it" page. -- totally useless.

One get me to a census record for an uncle of mine, and I could confirm it -- that was the only useful one of all the blue dots.

A second got me to the same census page -- as a reference for my cousin (the younger son of that same uncle) who was 1 year old on the date of the census. But there was NO "confirm" button there, so I couldn't do anything but look at it.

None of the other blue dots, and I've checked a lot of them, got me to a page I could even look at.

So at the present time, I have to agree that the blue dots are more of a nuisance than a help.

Bruce, I can understand. I used to hate running into the paywall on NYTimes.com. I check the site several times a day for news and started getting disappointed that I couldn't see all the articles. But instead of being mad at the New York Times or declaring their site useless, I eventually just bought a digital subscription. Everyone wins from this arrangement -- they earn enough money to keep the lights on, I don't get annoyed anymore, and I get a thoroughly more enjoyable experience using their site (and actually use it even more now).

So from Geni's perspective, what you're experiencing isn't a problem. It's giving you good matches and results. The system is working the exact way it's supposed to. You're exercising your freedom of choice to not purchase the product, and that's your right. But nothing is malfunctioning, so there's no reason for Geni to change it. And maybe, assuming you have the interest and can work it into your budget, you can upgrade and get even more enjoyment and use out of the site. But Geni shouldn't have to change its business model because some customers don't like the way a service -- one that is fully functional and is helping all of its paying users -- because some people don't like how it looks. That's the reality of capitalism.

Private User the price they want is so ridiculous that I could never hope to pay. How many people, who are not professionals, can just come up with over $100 for a paid membership?

The page I get offers a trial membership at "$6.35 a month" -- but this has to be paid all at once for a year, so we're talking about $75 approximately. And after the first year, it's "$9.95 a month" -- but again the true figure is 12 times that because you have to pay a year at once.

If it were really $7 or even $10 a month, I might do it -- but the requirement to come up with 12 times that all at once is a deal-breaker.

Private User In fact, the Times does not make you pay up a year in advance, and if ypu donn't choose to pay you can see 10 articles free every month. Geni's plan permanently prevents us from seeing certain classes of matches, not like the Times, which does not make articles totally unavailable.

Bruce, paying for the NY Times is a great analogy, but not perfect. They give you the present, so if you stop paying, you don't get it anymore. Geni gives you the past. You pay and then you have it - you're buying it The amount of money that the companies spend on content is vastly different. The NY Times pays daily and Geni / MyHeritage has to either pay once or pay an annual rate to provide you with that data.

You can rent an apartment or buy an apartment. What you're looking for is like buying an apartment monthly.

Bruce R. Gilson, I'll pass along to Geni/MyHeritage the request of a monthly payment method. I'm sure they've considered this, but it makes sense to me and it's easier to request something that says.. I'll pay for your service if you do this..., rather than I won't pay, now let me hide your advertising.

I'd have to disagree with your last statement though. They do provide some records and matches for free (WikiTree, 1940 US census, FindAGrave), which might expand in the future. Also, they do show you some details of the pay matches, along with dates - usually enough to make a positive id. It is only when you go to view the full record, the tree, or confirm the match that you're met with a pay wall. So, while not completely identical, they do seem similar. I can relay the suggestion that, for example, a pro member would get 10 free matches every month. I'm sure Geni / MyHeritage continues to evaluate the best way to market their products and provide a great customer experience.

Private User Other than the 1940 Census, I've found none that were free. And if I can't actually confirm the match, what good is it?

Private User it was Private User who brought up the NY Times originally, not me.

The point is I could probably pay $10 a month. But not $120 a year. The total may be the same, but to come up with $120 all at one time is a stretch. I don't get paid all at once for a whole year, and verty few (if ANY) do.

Bruce, are you asking why companies advertise if the customer can't take home the product free? The point of an ad is to get you to buy the product.

Sure, and the point of requiring full year pay up front is so they can hire more staff to handle the refund requests!

Bruce, - Geni did in the beginning have a monthly payment for Pro, and for me it did not work out well, because the transaction fee from the bank was higher than the amount of money I should pay per month.
I guess that also the company have to pay a fee, so I guess making such an offer is not economically worth it for anyone.

Should a monthly charge with an annual commitment be more palatable? We can ask them if they would consider doing that.

I believe the real question here is hezitation whether it is worth making such a large payment. People want to have taste of it or positive examples. I understand that, but the wishes of company and people who make the decision to pay do not always cross. It is about trust and certainty and expected results.

I expect that a monthly payment would include whatever extra fees, overhead, and risk were incurred by the business. Similar to the 1yr, 2yr, 5yr that offer different discount levels, I would expect 12 monthly payments would be more than a single 1yr payment.

... my insurance company charges extra $$ for monthly payments vs a single yearly payment.

Jeff, a business person would also know that some people are willing to buy a new Apple just to be the first one among their friends. Somehow a Geni PRO is still available on a 2 week free trial.

Dan, you sure it is an extra for monthly payment, or a discount for getting use of your money for a year for free?

Perhaps MH could offer a promotion ...the first two weeks free... cancel anytime before then, if not satisfied. I think we just want to see if it worth the money first.

re: insurance. It is noted as a separate line item on the monthly statement. Yes, one can think of it as a yearly discount, but that is not how it is "presented".

... re: insurance monthly vs. Geni subscription: However, note that the monthly insurance payment is considerably higher than a Geni subscription; $1/month extra is minor on the insurance total.