"Geni
is solving the problem of genealogy by inviting the world to build
the definitive online family tree." True. Right there on their
website.
"
... the problem of genealogy."
I
can think of numerous, typical genealogical problems in the course of
any family historian's pursuit. But I didn't know genealogy itself as
a study has an unspecified, overwhelming problem that necessitates
constructing a "definitive" world tree.
Apparently
others do, because Geni.com
and its sister MyHeritage.com
are overflowing with individual contributions anxious to help
assemble and define The World's Answer To an All-inclusive Family
Tree (TWATAFT©).
Not to forget that FamilySearch.org
and Ancestry.com
and how many others also encourage ―
the
growing
of,
as they like to say ―
online trees in the expectation that their respective efforts will
mesh somehow, some day, like magnificent tectonic plates finally
thundering into their ordained slots. And who knows, maybe then
everlasting peace on earth won't be far behind because we will then
finally recognize we are all truly sisters and brothers.
(Do
the geniuses in these companies have nothing but bliss and hugs at
their own family gatherings? Do they not have the drunk uncle; the
mouthy grandmother; the petty criminal brother; the vicious teenager;
the schizo cousin; the sullen in-laws; the hidden skeletons? You know
what I mean. The old saw about never discussing controversial
subjects in order to get along is something someone always does. Some
family gatherings are more like an initiative for World War III
instead of World Peace.)
So
will those companies ultimately merge their gigantic trees with each
other? Or is this a competition among them?
In a moment of weakness
some time ago I joined the basic free service of Geni.com ―
despite my growing aversion to public "family trees" and visions of impossibly-tangled, unsourced, unverified truthiness where
the well-researched bits are lost in the glorified stew. The
operating principle at the time seemed to be nothing ventured,
nothing gained.
 |
| Not exactly as shown |
Why did I really do it?
Because ... Latvia.
What I knew was that
plenty of Latvians and Estonians were sharing on Geni and maybe, just
maybe, they knew something I needed to know ―
hopefully breaching the walls of language and culture.
Hesitantly I put my (deceased) mother and a few earlier generations
online. Right away I didn't like their dating format and married
females being shown with their married surname, birth surnames in
brackets e.g. Liso Jurikas (Riis). If I remember correctly, Geni also
wanted email addresses for these DEAD
people till something in the system figured out they were
offline. To show that Merriman was not my birth name, I inserted
ex-husband who somehow came out as my father. This did not look
encouraging for a start. My clumsy, perhaps; I can't blame Geni for
everything. Or was collaboration
already underway?
Soon this newbie had
dozens of relatives / references to other trees from mystery
submitters. In fact, every imaginable ascending relationship began
showing up from well-meaning people adding to my supposed distant
ancestry so what is this: my tree is only 10% complete, I'm told. And
"Invite your relatives to complete your tree." Well, I
don't see a HELP button to find out what will happen if I click on
them. Never mind, it appears they are toiling away for my benefit
regardless of any invitation. Will I see borrowed iterations coming
from myself? Am I really the manager of "my" tree? If
only the citations were there ...
Unlike its sister site,
MyHeritage, Geni does not send me continual messages about "smart
matches" to other trees whereupon I must upgrade from the free
site to subscription status for access to fellow submitters and
enhancements.☻
After registering with Geni I have not been stonewalled with requests
to Pay Up; I can contact the toilers. Well, okay, I do get
weekly "family reports" but that is acceptable ―
i.e. who has messed
around done what
lately. I believe MyHeritage sends similar messages to its free
members but immediately blocks you from new information unless you
upgrade.
☻ It's not as
if you genealogists haven't heard that whine before. Be sure
to see Kerry's post on Clue Wagon. Changing horses in mid-stream
seems like emotional blackmail. She said it SO well four years ago.
Statistics: Geni
says I am connected to 99,854,343 people on Geni.com and 5,000
of them are blood relatives. Dazzling, isn't it? The figure changes
day to day. My tree spawns: two hundred and fifty pages of it.
Glancing at page 10 of this compilation starts a zillion entries for
second cousins thrice removed. Lots of unknown
names in the "managed by." Dare
I look at page 25? Yes. now it's third cousins twice removed. Page
49: fourth cousins twice removed. At this rate it would take me all
day to reach page 250 just for idle curiosity. Plus extra time with
Google translate for things that
look like remarks. Just imagine if my tree were 60% complete. Or 90%.
So even on my micro level
the whole concept is dazzling. Should I care if my quintuple
great-grandfather's alleged great-grand-aunt's purported
sister-in-law has an automatically generated relationship to me? I
didn't sign up for a full-time job policing outta control floods of
repetition (did I?) as coattail hybrids join the fun. It's a
challenge to my preference for sharing prolonged and often painful
research in traditional narrative (old-fashioned?) ways. But less stressful my way!
I observe my weekly
reports and the exponential explosion with a weary
wary eye. I do want to love all the toiling genies but I'll pretty much stick to my way. If you should find my Geni tree don't believe a thing you
see. There are other ways to create and share a tree
privately. Just as I'm wondering what I
wanted to say here wrapping this up, I found she did it again (where was I when the email notice came?). Viva Kerry.
Next family reunion: let's
get on with the peace and love.
~~ Posts to be resumed,
hopefully, once a residential move is completed. ~~
©
2016
Brenda Dougall Merriman
