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World
Family Tree How-To: Frequently Asked Questions About Contributing
How do I contribute to the World Family Tree? To see instructions for contributing your Family Tree Maker file, click here. Can I contribute someone else's family tree? Only if you have the permission of the person who researched and compiled the information in the family tree. Even if you did the research for another person's family tree, you must have the permission of that person before you can contribute their family tree. We want to ensure that no one is surprised to find their family tree in the World Family Tree (unless it was contributed by a person who has researched common family lines!). If another person
researched or compiled the information in the family tree you would like
to contribute, we recommend that you encourage that person to send the
information to us. Can I send you my family tree online? Yes, you can send your family tree to us using most any browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer, as well as CompuServe, America Online, or Prodigy's browsers. Follow our detailed instructions to find out how.We recognize the importance of preserving all of the information in your Family File just as you entered it. However, we must balance this priority for maintaining your information as you entered it with the need to maintain the quality of the data at the highest possible level and to protect the privacy of living individuals. Therefore, in processing the files, we do the following:
How will I know when you have my family tree? If you contribute to the World Family Tree online, we will notify you of the receipt of your family tree by e-mail. If you do not have an e-mail address, we will send you a letter verifying that we have received it. If your file is damaged in some way, we will request another copy of your family tree.What if I don't want to give my name, address, and phone number? There are two main reasons why World Family Tree contributors must give us their name and address:
To ensure that contributors are aware of our intention to release their address, our Contributor Agreement ("Your Rights as a Contributor to the World Family Tree") stipulates the following: "By contributing your Family File to the World Family Tree, you give Genealogy.com the permission to provide your name and mailing address to family history enthusiasts who are interested in contacting you." What if my family tree isn't done? Most people think their tree could use more work, but even a small tree is extremely valuable to someone who finds a connection to it. Therefore, we encourage everyone to contribute their tree no matter how complete or incomplete, large or small. We will periodically give contributors the opportunity to contribute updates to their family tree.What if my family tree isn't completely accurate? We realize that much of the information in people's family trees was probably collected by speaking with relatives. For this reason, we do not expect complete documentation of family information. If you did get information from sources outside of your family, we encourage you to record those sources in Family Tree Maker's Source fields (see "Recording Sources" in your Family Tree Maker manual). We also understand
that the potential for data errors exists, even in the most careful genealogist's
family tree. We encourage you to research carefully, and to try to avoid
contributing confusing or misleading information. By the same token, when
people use the World Family Tree, they should recognize that it is meant
to be a research tool, not a source of completely error-free data. The
genealogical information in the World Family Tree should be a starting
point from which you continue your research. I contributed my family tree, but it's not in a World Family Tree volume. Why? There are four key reasons that someone's family tree may not have made it into a World Family Tree volume yet:
If I contribute to the World Family Tree, are you going to publish my name and address with my file? We are not putting the names and addresses of the contributors in the World Family Tree volumes themselves, but we will be providing contributors' names and addresses through World Family Tree Contributor Contact Information Service. By keeping all contributor
addresses in a central, up-to-date database rather than putting them in
the volumes themselves, we are able to provide more accurate information.
Also, by keeping addresses and phone numbers separate from the World Family
Tree volumes, we can minimize the number of letters and phone calls that
contributors receive, especially from direct mail marketers. We believe that one of the best reasons to contribute your family tree is the chance that you will help distant relatives with their genealogical research, and that these distant relatives will be able to help you in return. We therefore have set up the World Family Tree Contributor Contact Information Service so that World Family Tree customers can contact us to get the address of a contributor at no charge. Some contributors find errors in or make additions to their family tree after they have already contributed it to the World Family Tree. Unfortunately, it is impractical for us to make these changes or additions manually to every contributor's file, so we can't update your file once it's been submitted. Please be sure to double-check your research before contributing it to World Family Tree. |
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