There are many threads about the name-gatherers, leaf-clickers and junkologists, but I hope what I am about to propose has enough merit to be considered.

Almost every day someone links to my tree – sometimes accurately but, often, without a thought – just in a hurry to click that wiggling leaf.

A recent example: James Edwin Smith 1814-1882, born, died and buried in Georgia. I don’t know for certain, but he probably never left Georgia – perhaps never set foot outside of Oglethorpe County.

Recently the photo of his grave marker has been copied to a Smith 1814-1881 in Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts, along with a member connect to my tree. We know Smith is a common name, so perhaps this is not the best example, but it was the most recent in a long line.

I’ve contacted the owner of the other tree and explained and asked, but, as is often the case, no response and no correction.

In such a case, I would like the ability to break that member connect. Since it is not valid, removing it would, one hopes, keep the error from being perpetuated by other copyists or at least slow the roll.

I could be wrong (and if I am, I am positive someone will correct me) but - I don't think you can control someone else's decision to connect to a profile in your tree (thus getting alerts when you do something to that profile). I am pretty sure that you can only control with which trees you yourself wish to be connected (that is, the ones that will generate alerts to you).

What you are describing is not a problem generated by someone connecting to your tree (where they would get the correct information - which is what you want), but someone connecting to the other (incorrect) tree, copying from it, and spreading the errors in it - which you certainly would not be able to prevent.

I doubt it would be high on Ancestry's priorities if they'd even bother to consider it! I can understand a tree owner wanting to "unlink" their tree from a incorrect link to their own! You are alerted to erroneous hits and worst of all cited as a source to an error! I think the only way to prevent another tree from linking to yours is by setting your tree to private and controlling who access to yours. Even then there is no guarantee that they'll use it accurately.

You did not state in your posting as to how long it has been since you contacted the member who copied your grave marker photo...sometimes it has taken a month for a response.

Having said that...
1) You could put a comment on the photo explaining that it does NOT belong to this other James Smith...comment on your site and on the site that has the copy (if that is possible)

Virginia

I find that quite frequently with the really common names in my family-Smith, Jones, Brown, Johnson-to name a few. I have tried repeatedly to inform some tree owners that the James Johnson they have in their tree in 1860 in North Carolina was not my gg grandfather since he was living in Tennessee in 1860 and my great grandfather was living with him. This to no avail since these tree owners pay no attention. Most times it's just an exercise in futility. However, I have had some feedback and corrections on some other families in the last few weeks so sometimes it works.

In terms of the length of time it takes, keep in mind also that Ancestry has been very spotty for the last few months in terms of when (or whether) an e-mail goes out to tell a member that someone has left a message for them. If this is someone who is not very active right now, it could take quite awhile before they even notice that they have a message.

That said, however, there seem to be a lot of folks out there who truly think that each name is unique, and there only ever has been one "John Jones" or "William White" or "Frederick Smith" in the history of the world, so whenever or wherever the name appears, it's all referencing the same person . . . .

I do hear you about how poorly ACOM has communicated in recent times. It has, however, been 5 weeks since I contacted the other party, and I do see that the tree owner has logged in recently. Not stalking, I swear, but I have checked back periodically to see if the photo has been removed.

IMHO, the sooner the better for breaking the link, because the longer the photo and link remain on the incorrect tree, the more likely it is another leaf-clicker will connect.

Try posting a comment to the photo as it appears on this tree, something like: "FYI, this is not John Jones b. 1900 and d. 1945; it is my great grandfather (also named John Jones), b. 1890 and d. 1952, and this photo is from my family's personal collection."

Now - the person can just delete your comment, and there won't be much you can do about that, but now that you are alerted you can follow any copy that is made, and give the same information to those who perpetuate the error. About the only way to "break the connection," however, is to get it off that tree and that's not something you will likely be able to force, I'm sorry to say.

Thanks for the suggestion McComberdescendant, but the comment has long since been placed on that photo.

Well, sorry - don't know what else you can do! One thing you might want to consider (if not already done) is to make sure there is a correct entry on Find A Grave - then (even if you just created it yourself) you can add the Find A Grave memorial number to your comment, which might convince someone that you are correct. (Hey, it could happen, you never know - and besides, it's fun to cite yourself . . . )