<...> Added You To Their Family Tree! - Wrongly!!

[loobster]

I manage over a dozen kits, just got my first message saying so-and-so Added You To Their Family Tree!

Opening the e-mail, it tells me who so-and-so added - not actually me, but a third cousin whose kit I manage. And it says "Click here to see so-and-so's tree.

So I did - and there my third cousin is, on so-and-so's tree with a husband she never had, parents who are not her parents, as having died in 1999, etc.

So - how do I get her removed from that tree?

[KATM]

Does that person appear on your 3rd cousin's match list? If so, contact the person and explain that your cousin is not related as shown in the tree, not the person they think she is, and ask that they remove her.

FTDNA should look into creating a process for having the person who wants to add another person to their tree be required to get permission first from the person they want to add. Otherwise, FTDNA trees will just become like Ancestry.com's trees, with frivolous and erroneous information.

[Frank Kelch]

...FTDNA should look into creating a process for having the person who wants to add another person to their tree be required to get permission first from the person they want to add...

I disagree with this. Some people simply can't be bothered to answer questions or confirm anything. If we needed their permission, nothing would ever get done.

[KATM]

I disagree with this. Some people simply can't be bothered to answer questions or confirm anything. If we needed their permission, nothing would ever get done.

I know you are right about that. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place in this scenario, because it's either

• Try to nip it in the bud preemptorily (by requiring permission) and risking those who can't be bothered to respond, or
• Dealing with them afterward, when they don't answer your request to remove an obviously incorrect person from their tree.

Either way, it's infuriating. I suppose even if there were a requirement to obtain permission to link a DNA match to a tree, the tree owner could just manually add them in, anyway, whether correctly or not. Then we're back to square one.

[Fern]

It's all too easy to link an unknown person to your FTDNA tree. When I created my tree (manually; no gedcom) the 'suggestion' box frequently popped up, sometimes offering completely bizarre suggestions for the person whose name I was entering. All were so obviously wrong that it was easy to decide to 'dismiss' them.

But what happens if the suggested name and date(s) look right? The only options you're given are to 'link' or 'dismiss' ... and from memory (I last linked a known relative earlier this year) there's no second step, after you click on 'link', that asks 'are you sure' or 'do you want to see more about the suggested name'.

A second step like this would be helpful, and it might weed out accidental linking ... although it wouldn't do anything to safeguard against irresponsible mis-linking as in the ancestry trees

[2mo]

Someone added as LINKED RELATIONSHIP INCORRECTLY

How can I remove please

[loobster]

Same thing happened to me with regard to one of the Kits I manage - my recollection is I did find and send e-mail to the person, but nothing happened.
On the one hand, I really want FTDNA to provide a way for us to get them removed -- on the other, not sure that is where I want them focusing their limited resources.

(Also note - there is a choice whether to allow the message to be sent - or to just add with no notification - so there are undoubtedly lots and lots of false nonsense on trees on FTDNA)

[MoberlyDrake]

This is the main reason I have no tree at FTDNA. As long as people can link to a tree without contacting the owner, discussing the situation, and getting permission, I will not have a tree for any of the kits I manage.

I have a detailed surname list with locations and people can contact me if a name interests them.

I don't think linking is a good idea anyway. Copying is bad enough.