Do everyone put real names on here ? Just wondering if it was safe ?

+12 votes
508 views
Wanting to know if it's safe to start a family tree with your real names?
in WikiTree Help by Mary Owens G2G1 (1.4k points)
retagged by Keith Hathaway
After a few years here it seems safe to me.
Thank you do much. I feel much better
I've been here about 20 months and not been kidnapped yet ;)
LOL Gillian, great answer :-)  But this is a good question.
Haha Gilligan. Better safe than sorry lol

7 Answers

+16 votes

Yes, we put real names on here. There are a number of privacy levels that allow you to protect the living. 

by Lynda Crackett G2G6 Pilot (673k points)
Thank you
I forgot to say that I would not add a living person without their approval and a discussion of which privacy level they feel would be appropriate.
Thank you for your reply
+10 votes
I am absolutely paranoid about privacy, hence the Anon Anon bit, you can put privacy levels on what you want to allow to show
by Living Anonymous G2G6 Mach 3 (36.0k points)
Thank you for your help
The way I look at it is:  Any info about my ancestory on our shared tree is not only mine but also relevant to my siblings and any children we have. And also for my parents and any of their siblings.  I don't want to guess how they all feel about that info being connected to us in plain text forever online or how it might affect any of us in the future.  By anonymizing, and by not making profiles for living people outside of [Unlisted] privacy, it would take at least a few minutes of competent genealogical work, and not just a simple google search, to connect whatever shenanigans our ggggggparents may have been into up to our real-world identities.
Thank you for your reply
+14 votes
I'm not bothered by having my real name and birth decade show on WikiTree. But I have only entered one other living person, an old aunt who is on red privacy. I created her profile in the very early days after joining and probably wouldn't do that now, simply because red private profiles can only be shared by putting people on the trusted-list. This is quite appropriate, of course, but my family doesn't have my level of interest in genealogy, so I prefer workin on stuff I can share with more distant cousins, i.e. where the connection  is further back in time.
by Eva Ekeblad G2G6 Pilot (573k points)
I am really interested in learning about where and who my ancestors are and from
Ancestors are fascinating! I have a lot of crofters and small farmers, with a sprinkling of charcoal makers and smiths. Some were very poor, which can be seen from the fact that very few of the children in a large family survived. Or that the children left home at a very early age. Others were a little better off, and when they owned a parcel of land (which the crofters didn't) they stayed there generation after generation, marrying within a very short distance from home. I think that with a bit of imagination just the data about the family structure can give insights about what their lives were like.
+13 votes
I see that since writing your original question you have changed the settings on your own name so that your first name now shows as anonymous. If this is what you decide is best for you then you also need to check your profile page and remove any references to first name in the text that you have written there.

Personally I prefer to use my name and since any competent genealogist could figure it out anyway as English records for my age group are online, there seems little point in hiding it.
by Lynda Crackett G2G6 Pilot (673k points)
Exactly my thought. There are Swedish address registers online, where I can easily be found by any scammer trawling the addresses in my block for old ladies living alone. I don't think those guys care a lot about my genealogy.
As a professional genealogist, I can agree with you Lynda.  There are quite a few ways to find out names of people trying to be anonymous.  Protecting vital information such as exact birth dates, social security, exact birth place, etc. I feel is more important.  I keep the profiles of my living family very sparse.
Very true. I will consider that. Thank you.
+11 votes

 In my case a good search would turn up more information about me than WikiTree would ever have on a very open US government database so why hide my name. In today's world there is no safe haven on the internet.

by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
Very true
+5 votes

There are some free sites like familysearch.org where you can find information on many people:

Phillip Wesley Bramlett

Find A Grave Index

Name Phillip Wesley Bramlett
Event Type Burial
Event Date 1945
Event Place Parks, Union, Mississippi, United States of America
Photograph Included Y
Birth Date 16 Aug 1896
Death Date 17 Jan 1945
Affiliate Record Identifier 15896146
Cemetery Oak View Baptist Church Cemetery

The image is viewable at findagrave.com. By clicking here you will be leaving FamilySearch.org. (fees and other terms may apply)

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Find A Grave Index

Citing this Record

"Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVD-XHC7 : 13 December 2015), Phillip Wesley Bramlett, 1945; Burial, Parks, Union, Mississippi, United States of America, Oak View Baptist Church Cemetery; citing record ID 15896146, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

by Frank Gill G2G Astronaut (2.6m points)
+5 votes

Phillip Wesley Bramlett

Birth:  Aug. 16, 1896
Death:  Jan. 17, 1945
image
 
Family links: 
 Spouse:
  Mamie Alice Howard Purvis (1910 - 1992)
 
 Children:
  Nathan Eugene Bramlett (1929 - 2012)*
  Billy Bramlett (1933 - 1986)*
  Phillip Wesley Bramlett (1937 - 2015)*
  Robert Shand Bramlett (1939 - 2005)*
 
*Calculated relationship
 
Burial:
Oak View Baptist Church Cemetery 
Parks
Union County
Mississippi, USA
 
Created by: Darrell Rakestraw
Record added: Sep 26, 2006 
Find A Grave Memorial# 15896146
Phillip Wesley Bramlett
Added by: LWB


 
by Frank Gill G2G Astronaut (2.6m points)
Thanks . I have done research on those site's. But I am new at this. Thank you for your advice

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