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Rootsweb does nothing to your gedcom but "hide" living individuals. It copies the entire gedcom as you have it on your computer, adding nothing. The only action taken by Rootsweb is hiding names of living individuals. It does not remove them.
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I know. It doesn't make sense to me either. I can tell you though that it does happen. And I've had to clean up my own gedcom a number of times.

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I still don't understand why you download your own gedcom after uploading it.
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I have two gedcom files. The original I try to keep seperate in case something happens. I have it backed up in several places. It is significantly larger than the one I have posted online. Were I to upload it, I would be inundated with "connections" that aren't really anything to do with the people in my tree (but people with same names and similar birth dates).

I don't really want to put my full original gedcom online due to, as someone else already posted, name collectors, but also identity theives. I know sharing gedcoms carries that risk, and appreciate the efforts that have been made to block living individuals from being shown, but experience has proven to me it's not 100% foolproof.

Therefore I limit what I post to only that which is needed by family members to conduct their own research.

Hope that makes sense.

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I have one file on my computer that I work with, always. When I post it Rootsweb, I use the old method, tell them the path to my gedcom, and it uploads.

I go back to my original file, work on it for a while, go back to Rootsweb, click "update gedcom" give it the same path to my gedcom. It then copies my "newer" gedcom and replaces the old one on Rootsweb.

I go back to my original file and continue working.

My user name and password don't change, nor does the name of my gedcom.
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Yes, I used to do things exactly the same way.

I have had problems in the past wherein various programs on my PC, as well as glitches in the Gedcom upload/download process, as well as suggested connections has added to or taken away from the information that I have been able to verify without the use of the web.

Most of those problems can be chalked up to my own inexperience with using the various programs and online features though, so I'm not here to complain about them. I have had to redo my tree a number of times as a part of my own personal learning curve.

The end result is I always keep the original file in reserve. I generally only work with the copy. And I generally only download the Rootsweb.com version to verify what others have told me is incorrect.

I don't change the Rootsweb.com downloaded copy then turn around and reupload it, I change my original copy and reupload that just the same way as you described you do above.


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Curious. I can only think that it something in FTM.
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I've been wondering that very same thing.