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There seems to be many sites whereby you can search for records or even share each others family tree. But what I would like is a site that contains family trees (perhaps broken down by surname) where multiple users can contribute to that tree, rather than just making their own copies. Almost like a musicbrainz for ancestry where users could vote on the validity of a link so over time errors are weeded out and quality improved.

Does such a site exist?

Paul Taylor
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Several collaborative family tree websites do exist, such as:

The problem with collaborative trees in my view is that there are simply too few people contributing to them to ensure that all the data is validated. Genealogy in itself is more of an art than a science; we have to interpret records and draw the most likely conclusion based on the evidence. Little is ever an absolute certainty. And for that reason I do not think that collaborative trees will ever be successful (from the perspective of creating an accurate family tree).

Harry V.
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  • Thx, but more people then just one which is the case if just working on your own tree I think it could work – Paul Taylor Jan 06 '16 at 21:23
  • WikiTree looks to be just the thing. – Paul Taylor Jan 06 '16 at 21:24
  • Ive submitted a small part of my GFEDCOM tree to WikiTree for inclusion. BTW the link for OneGreatFamily doesnt work – Paul Taylor Jan 07 '16 at 12:35
  • WikiTree seems best option a bit like MusicBrainz, WeRelate is rather more basic. OneGreatFamily looks slick enough but there is no way to try it out without sighing up and then you seem to lose most of its features if dont keep subscribed, looks a bit suspect to me. – Paul Taylor Jan 07 '16 at 17:54
  • @PaulTaylor I added a few more sites that have a collaborative tree; I'm sure there are others but I believe these are the popular sites for this purpose – Harry V. Jan 08 '16 at 14:26
  • Note that the sites listed so far have a world-tree approach, where individual profiles can be created and modified by anyone (which seemed to be the original poster's intent for public collaboration). In addition, many individual tree sites (ancestry, myheritage, and others) let the submitter maintain separate trees, but have the capability to add guests or allow limited editing by specific people, which is also collaborative. – bgwiehle Jan 08 '16 at 16:54
  • @bgwiehle That's true, I only included world-tree sites here as that is what I thought the OP was looking for, and there are far too many other family tree websites to list here that allow you to invite specific people to edit – Harry V. Jan 08 '16 at 17:57
  • @bgwielde yes I make use of other trees on ancestry but I was looking to contribute to a public tree that was accessible without subscription for the benefit of everyone, for that WikiTree seems to be the best bet. – Paul Taylor Jan 08 '16 at 19:49
  • @PaulTaylor Geni.com is accessible without subscription, it's just that important features like its internal search and suggestions of merges are not available to non-paying folks. Google in combination with the keyword "site:geni.com" can be used a replacement for the former. – phk Jan 23 '22 at 13:38