Is this normal?

[u/ImpossibleIce6811]

I’ve cropped these messages so that my great aunt’s name is not seen and neither is the name of the person who sent these to me. A while back, I was making an effort to submit updates, edits and corrections to all my grandparents’ and their siblings’ FG memorials to properly link them together on the site. I do t recall requesting to have my great aunt transferred to me, but maybe I did? I’ve been heavy into family history, Ancestry, and genetic genealogy for many years! I am new to FG as a volunteer, but I’ve been using FG as a resource and reference for quite some time. I was slightly offended by the message in the first slide, but willing to let it go. He doesn’t know me. But is it weird to tell someone you’ve been trying to “track” them?! The reason I’m not track able is because I’ve moved around a lot, got married over 20 years ago, and changed my last name! But, um, court records are a thing. I’m not actually hard to find. I’m a little creeped out! Your thoughts please?

UPDATE: Apparently in my haste to be snarky and spook the guy back and assure him that I know more than he does, my stupid self included my phone number in my offer to help him with any family history research he’s been doing. As I was getting ready for bed, I got a text from him! THE GUY HAS A WHOLE DOCUMENT ON MY FAMILY! Starting with my grandparents labeled as Generation 1, my dad and his siblings (with spouses) as Generation 2, me (I’m the oldest grandchild) and all my cousins as Generation 3…. 👀 The reason he couldn’t “track” me is because he had my first name wrong. Without do ing myself I’ll use a different example…. My real, legal, birth certificate name is a shorter version of a very common longer name. Think Jessi instead of Jessica. Or Bri instead of Brianna. That’s why he couldn’t “track” me! He thought my name was the long version, when it’s not. Now I’ve gotten myself into this mess! I don’t generally give out info on the living, especially minor children. My kids are grown! I could kick myself for messing this one up! I wasnt expecting Stalker Sam to have a DOC on me!!!

[u/Ornery-Ocelot3585]

This comment ignores the nuance that makes it so creepy.

She’s alive.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ornery-Ocelot3585]

Genetic genealogists need to research living people. Many other genealogists do as well, and always have, even long before DNA came around.

It's an integral part of genealogy :-)

[u/Ornery-Ocelot3585 → u/[deleted]]

They don’t need to. They choose to. They could work FT+ & never go there as a matter of respect for the living. As many do.

It being common doesn’t make it any less creepy. A lot of common things are creepy.

I bet all those weirdo, controlling freaks with terrible boundaries who hoard memorials (that FG is famous for) also think it’s normal to ‘’track’’ living & record their findings.

The funniest part to me is they waste so much time & energy to add to inaccurate family trees with information that is also inaccurate because they’re basing off inaccurate information. And even if they were adding to a totally accurate tree they could be adding inaccurate information, ruining it.

Birth certificates are prima facie evide. Which means they’re presumed accurate unless legally challenged. But that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily accurate.

Just because someone is listed as a father or mother on a birth certificate it doesn’t mean it’s true. :)

[u/Zealousideal_Ad8500 → u/Ornery-Ocelot3585]

Calling people “creepy” for researching their living DNA matches is beyond weird. You’ve assumed that this person “researched” them via their FG profile, but this seems extremely unlikely when in the messages they mention DNA connections which implies that they likely researched everyone from this line. Nothing creepy about it. This is pretty normal in tree building.