My Heritage Company

(No Name) - I can address one part - I believe MyHeritage allows 250 Profiles on a Free Tree - any more, you have to pay. Don't know about you, but I passed that pretty fast on Geni, so I can understand that forcing hard choices.

Not sure here - but if you grandmother was the one you had added gobs of descendants to, that combined with the fact she knew you had all her info might have played into her decision - without her ever thinking how it might feel to you like she was trying to deny your grandmother's existence or some such negative thing.

Have a MyHeritage account, but basically do not do anything there.
So was not familiar with their having such a thing as: "this individuals profile is being disputed or in question" -- Is that actually something they have, and how does it work?
Do agree, that by leaving your grandmother out, she does set the stage for folks wondering whether your grandmother really belonged. So it is a problem.
However - not sure we on Geni can do anything about what folks choose to do on MyHeritage or Ancestry or FamilySearch or etc.

On the other hand - re: "One of the rules on Geni states, .." - double-checked and I do not see anything about that in the Terms of Service. It may be something you and many believe strongly in - but on what basis are you stating it is "one of the rules on Geni"?

Sorry, I have problems understanding what you are asking about.

Geni and MyHeritage are two different companies as Rolls Royce, Škoda, Lamborghini and some other car manufacturers have the same owner without expecting that if you buy a Golf you would get a Rolls Royce since it is the same owner..

Hi Heather, let me give your questions a try.

MyHeritage is the parent company for Geni. MyHeritge has a business model that is more similar to Ancestry.com - separate family trees. Every family tree on MH is its own entity with its own managers etc.

Geni's business model is more similar to FamilySearch; a goal of one single shared tree, one profile per person. Geni has volunteer curators to assist in smoothing out technical and genealogical tangles.

Us volunteer curators for Geni have the same relationship with MyHeritage as any other Geni member: none, or if we choose, a data subscription; or if we choose, any of the MyHeritage subscription packages available, of which I have no idea of the current. :)

My Geni tree has been copied to more private MyHeritage trees also (which is fine with me). Therefore I "see" those matches and confirm them back to my Geni tree, which is an exercise in redundancy. :):)

If those cousins choose only to copy over a portion of my Geni tree to their MyHeritage tree, that's their perogative. It's their tree. if I don't want people to use family photos I won't put them on Geni.

It sounds like you inquired of your cousin about her MH tree choices and you got an answer: she has a tree size limit on MH and decided where to "not" include data. For example. If she's used up 225 of her free 250 profiles, perhaps she'd rather save it for a more direct to her line?

In any event, nothing to do with Geni, any more than Ancestry trees or trees on any other site.

Hope that's clearer.

I wouldnt call it that, Heather. MyHeritage has a staff of customer service agents. How it work I couldn't tell you, I'm a Geni - ite. But of course MH has terms of service and rules.

Not a need to re tag a member once we're in a discussion already, we get notifications of new posts in the discussion. (see - we can talk lots about how Geni works !).

I realize you are upset about your grandmother being left off a tree yet her photos being used, it's like adding insult to injury. I'm not sure that withdrawing those precious images is the right solution. My personal reaction would be to make my tree the best, ever. So that it's obvious others are a bad imitation,

(No Name) I apologize I didn't get to your message when you tagged me on Saturday. I don't have much to add to what has already been said above, except to point out that most photographs taken in the last 95 years enjoy copyright protection and you may contact MyHeritage at support@myheritage.com or 877-432-3135 (in the U.S.) if you feel that a MyHeritage user has appropriated your photographs without permission. [Geni and MyHeritage continue to be run as separate sites, so we have no control over what happens on MyHeritage.com]

Please accept my apologies for any offense caused because none was intended.

(No Name) your experience serves to reiterate why we feel Geni has the correct solution... you have no control over a MyHeritage user building an incomplete / misleading tree, whereas on Geni the collaborative nature allows all of us to make sure the story is told / recorded in its entirety! Where one person leaves a gap, someone else can fill it in.

Erica Howton and (No Name) -- re: "Not a need to re tag a member once we're in a discussion already, we get notifications of new posts in the discussion." -- NOT ALWAYS TRUE -- Mike changed that long ago so it is no longer true for any discussion that has gone on for a long time - possibly ten posts after you started following it or something like that. (As I said, it was long ago, and I do not remember the exact parameters - if it matters, one of you can tag him and ask him)

I waited on hold for one hour. When the service person came on line she said........"So sorry, we have no control over what the users do. We do not monitor these things. You are tough out of luck. So very sorry. So sorry for you."

Booooooo and hissssssss.

Was it your intention to have MyHeritage force that user to put your grandmother in her tree that she manages there?

No, just to talk to her and say that it would be better for everyone involved if you would add the sibling that is missing to her family. I really cannot wrap my head around why anyone would do this. It seems to me that an accurate reflection of history is necessary in order to preserve some kind of order. There should be consequences for deliberately using another person's historical pics and not showing common courtesy. A few posts back Erica said "My personal reaction would be to make my tree the best ever." I have decided to take her advice but it will be with records not photographs. I can admit defeat. For now. It was my intention to bring this issue to your attention Mike Stangel and the Curators, hoping that it would spark some discussion about my concerns regarding the topic. I hear an awful lot of talk about "community" here on Geni and now I have experienced firsthand how valuable the Discussion function can be, regardless of the outcome pertaining to my original concern. Just learning how to properly tag someone was entertaining.

I do not condone the use of force to achieve ones aims. Are you implying that?

"They ruled by law and not by force, coercion, compulsion, constraint, duress, oppression, harassment, intimidation, informal arm-twisting, bullying tactics."
Coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence.

(No Name) you're preaching to the choir, here on Geni! All of us who believe the single, collaborative platform is superior agree with you that your grandmother belongs in the tree, and anyone who would leave her out is perpetuating a crime against her memory and against the accuracy of the history we're (together) weaving.

MyHeritage trees are a whole different matter. People pay money for how many individuals they can have in a tree that they completely control... it's their right to make their tree as accurate or as inaccurate as they please.

Ok Thank-you ALL for your input and viewpoints! Please forgive me if I ruffled any feathers. I am learning to navigate these waters. :)