As a contributor to Geni, I am naturally pleased that when one Googles someone for research, one often gets as the top results Geni profiles (often the ones I have put in myself). There would be little point in contributing to Geni if no-one consulted it, and if it comes up first on Google that means it is attracting more hits than other sites.
So far so good. But I am dismayed that the message which comes up is "View so-and-so's complete profile on Geni". A good lawyer might argue that the crucial phrase here is "on Geni". But any normal reader will take it that there is a "complete profile". I (and I suspect most contributors) am very well aware that many of my additions are anything but complete genealogical profiles, that they are sometimes disputable and sometimes plain wrong (of course, it is generally easier to see mistakes that other people have made on Geni and which are still there than ones which one has made oneself).
There is a legal as well as moral issue here. The message which comes up on Google is presumably intended to encourage people to subscribe to Geni. There is nothing wrong in that, of course. But, in the UK, you can be fined for "misleading advertising", and companies often are.While I understand that Geni wants to attract new subscribers, could not the message be "View so-and-so's profile on Geni, Can you improve or add to it"? Does that not also give an incentive?
