Find A Grave Reviews

(based on 53 reviews)

24 of 50 people found this review helpful

As someone who has researched all sides of my family tree, Find A Grave is a cleverly disguised money maker for the owner filled with inaccurate information. Ads on the memorials generate revenue for the owning entity (alleged to be the cleverly disguised business entity of Mormon Church--headquartered in Lehi, Utah). Sources list the "owner" of the site as a business entity in searches to find the actual ownership.

Inaccurate information is provided by a largely proportionate group of territorial posters who have no ethical problems about stealing "memorials" from each other with zero regard for family relationships.
Too many memorials are guesses at burial information with no source documentation. It has and always will be a numbers game of who can post the most memorials until Find A Grave removes that aspect. There are literally "contributors" who sit at their computers adding memorials from the internet 24/7 who have zero interest in the people they post or how doing so affects grieving families. The ethical reality that most families would strongly object to the information copied and pasted about living relatives and their families, locations, and relationships. Additionally, many devout Catholics and other religious families would not want to... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would not recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

53 of 88 people found this review helpful

I volunteer(ed) to fulfill photo requests, nothing more nothing less. I contacted the person maintaining a memorial for clarification as she did not post a location within the cemetery. I called the cemetery office to obtain and was told that person was not buried with them. I contacted the person again who maintained the sight and she informed me she assumed the person was buried there as closest cemetery to his death. She has yet to remove the information. She advised me she was a member of the local Genealogy society (not sure what that has to do with anything and didn’t impress me) and then she told me I had two choices: 1) contact the state for copy of the death certificate or 2) contact the funeral home. What? I volunteer to take photos. This was not research I was doing - I volunteer to fulfill photo requests. I chose option 3- I’m out. I’ve gone to the forum for assistance and been demeaned and scolded. Have they forgotten these are volunteers? I’ve seen numerous errors, info and data unsourced, wrong obits attached to wrong names,... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would not recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

224 of 441 people found this review helpful

I am a member, have posted some memorials.

Members who behave like pseudo-administrators and demand you change the data on graves you submitted--if if they are your direct ancestors. Members who want things their way or the highway. Members who take bits from the internet and create "memorials" for people they do not know -- you may find your dead grandmother was posted there by someone who has done just that. Row mowers who post photos there without research or understanding of the person whose only motivation is the kudos they get for uploading mass quantities of photos. I have been personally nagged by one poster in particular.

Sorry, I am not impressed. Technical support there is poor and lacking. The quality of data is not there. In fighting and backbiting. Completely unfriendly environment and "community." These people are so obsessive they will check on you time and time again to make sure your submissions meet their criteria. Nuts. I cannot find much, if anything, positive to say about the site. There were categories I wanted to give zero stars, but that's not allowed here.

Buyer beware. You get what you pay for and it's free. Some posters I've encountered are not... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would not recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

185 of 417 people found this review helpful

Search is not accurate. Example: There is a memorial in a certain cemetery in a certain county. Search for that name by county, no matching records.

This makes it hard for somebody that does not have the memorial information and trying to find somebody in a specific county, knowing they are buried in that county. Numerous cemeteries in the county just creates frustration. Do you spend all day searching each cemetery? This also causes duplicate memorials.

Another similar problem: Known cemetery, try to go direct to that cemetery, no matching records. Go to county, cemetery is found alphabetically.

Another problem: Contributors do not respond to public msgs or private email. How can a member find out if the contributor is still active or not and if not, access memorials for editing, linking, updating, etc.

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.