Every week I get notifications from wikitree.com about my relationships with famous celebrities. Some are actors, politicians, famous Canadians, and the list goes on.
The one niche that I don't see is my relationships with fellow sysOPs.
Once you have created your profile, you will be assigned a wikitree ID. Mine is Dippel-21
I'm sure that the majority of you are not interested in genealogy, but I thought this might be an interesting way to get into genealogy and to see how we are related to each other.
Re: WikiTree.com sysOps Challenge
By: Mike Dippel to All on Sat Jan 17 2026 10:14 am
Every week I get notifications from wikitree.com about my relationships with famous celebrities. Some are actors, politicians, famous Canadians,
and the list goes on.
The one niche that I don't see is my relationships with fellow sysOPs.
Once you have created your profile, you will be assigned a wikitree ID. Mine is Dippel-21
I'm sure that the majority of you are not interested in genealogy, but I
thought this might be an interesting way to get into genealogy and to see
how we are related to each other.
I think it would be interesting to find out more information about my family tree. Several years ago, I actually did a bit of research about it on ancestry.com.. Maybe I could still log in there and build my family tree on wikitree.com.
I'm nervous about sharing too much information about myself publicly though.
If there was a bad person looking up information on me, I'm not sure I'd want
them to be able to find out about my family as well, since who knows what they'd be up to or want to do..
I created an account on wikitree though, and I searched for you - It says it found no connection (yet). :)
Nightfox
I
never worry about invasion of privacy myself. Genealogical sites are very common and
so far I haven't had any issues. I have been doing this for many years.
The key to success is when your family gets linked up with other families. That's when
you will start seeing progress.
You're saying get on some website owned by who knows who and give them as much
information about you as possible :). So, what happens when their DB gets hacked and all this information is used to answer secret questions when recovering passwords or whatnot? Also, you know they use companies like "23 and
me" with the DNA matching for finding people (granted, usually criminals)?
It's probably odd to other people how paranoid I am, but it's odd to me how fascinated people are with giving away their (and everyone they know) personal info!
genealogists around the world, and something that is of no interest to
anyone not
interested in genealogy. It is information that is freely available in
You're saying get on some website owned by who knows who and give them
as much information about you as possible :). So, what happens when
On a similar note, has anyone tried out Gramps Web (gramsweb.org)?
I get that it's not a common occurance and doesn't happen to everyone. But, you've seen those security questions on bank sites.. "What is your paternal grandfather's first name?" or whatever. More people might be interested than you think :).
@DBID: 895807
genealogists around the world, and something that is of no interest to anyone not
interested in genealogy. It is information that is freely available in
I get that it's not a common occurance and doesn't happen to everyone. But, you've seen those security questions on bank sites.. "What is your paternal grandfather's first name?" or whatever. More people might be interested than you think :).
You're saying get on some website owned by who knows who and give them as much information about you as possible :). So, what happens when
I certainly have similar qualms, though after reading through their various pages about themselves, wikitree.com does seem like their heart is in the right
place, as far as the data goes.
I'm not sure if that's enough to put my worries at ease, but it's at least something that's less profit-centric than many of the other genealogy websites.
On a similar note, has anyone tried out Gramps Web (gramsweb.org)?
Evidently it's a self-hosted genealogy thing. Though probably more for showing
your personal tree, rather than compiling a family tree for all humanity.
SirRonmit wrote to phigan <=-
I also did the DNA two summers ago and that was strange. I had no idea about my father's side of the tree and only had limited knowledge. He
and my mom split when I was under 4 years old.
phigan wrote to Mike Dippel <=-
I get that it's not a common occurance and doesn't happen to everyone. But, you've seen those security questions on bank sites.. "What is your paternal grandfather's first name?" or whatever. More people might be interested than you think :).
information on file for someone to steal, and there are no security
questions asked of
But, in the end, I guess I will never know how you and I are related :)
We learned years ago that depending on the site you are using .. LIE ..
I have a list of fake security questions; I had someone I knew use my
personal information to reset a password on a financial account.
information on file for someone to steal, and there are no security
questions asked of
What I meant was that the answers to security questions on credit
card/bank sites are right there on the free geneology site :).
My sister did the DNA thing - she took all of the exposure, I'm genetically the same mix as her, so I get the results. :)
Indeed. Unfortunately, those jerks added "your answers can't all be the same!" filters/requirements now, too. Gotta write em down, I guess :D.
phigan wrote to SirRonmit <=-
We learned years ago that depending on the site you are using .. LIE ..
Indeed. Unfortunately, those jerks added "your answers can't all be the same!" filters/requirements now, too. Gotta write em down, I guess :D.
Thank you for the info on Gramps Web. I will check it out. Currently, I am hosting my
history here:
https://dippel-hollar.name/tree/
It uses a program made specifically to host your ancestry.
| Sysop: | Tetrazocine |
|---|---|
| Location: | Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
| Users: | 15 |
| Nodes: | 8 (0 / 8) |
| Uptime: | 169:13:02 |
| Calls: | 191 |
| Files: | 21,502 |
| Messages: | 81,850 |