How do you manage your trees? Myself, I use webtrees. The interface may be a bit “old” and the handling of media in particular could have been better, but it’s an online solution (so I have my tree available all the time), it’s open source, it’s 100% standards compliant, and the community is wonderful, so … What is your favourite programme?

  • @oddityoverseer
    3•1 year ago

    I’ve jumped around between a few different platforms. Started on ancestry.com, but didn’t want to pay for the subscription. Then self-hosted for a long time using webtrees. I tried Wikitree.

    Now I’m on FamilySearch, for a few main reasons:

    1. They have MANY sources indexed and searchable
    2. I really like how easy it is to link sources to individuals. That was something that was cumbersome in Wikitree and Webtrees.
    3. Probably most importantly, all the data is shared between everyone. So everyone is working on the same big tree. That way, if I work my way up to my g-g-g-g-grandparent, and a distant cousin of mine has already done the work of researching that person, I just need to link to them. That said, this is a double-edged sword. I get to benefit from their research, but if they did it wrong, I might have a bunch of cleanup to do.

    I also use 23andme to cross-check and find new relatives via DNA.

    • @eyolfOP
      4•1 year ago

      I agree that the source linking in familysearch is excellent. I’m a bit weary about using it as my main tree though: the lack of control, over the data and the architeture, the latter-day saints connection, and who knows when they will start charging? Etc. All the reasons why open source and open standards are always to be preferred. But I do admit to having a tree there … :)

      • @oddityoverseer
        1•1 year ago

        Yeah, fair enough. I’m pretty skeptical of the LDS connection too.

        If you’re looking for an open source, self-hosted alternative, I’d recommend Webtrees. It worked well for me for years. I just got tired of self-hosting, and I really like the collaborative tree model.