Terms of Use

1. What the service is

Shejire is a community platform where the Kazakh genealogy is built together. Members add person records, create family links, upload sources and photos, and post on Aulet pages.

The tree is shared. The records you add are not a private file of your own: other members may edit the same person, merge a duplicate record or correct its position in the tree. Some changes are reviewed by a curator or an Aulet moderator before they go live.

We give no warranty of accuracy. Content comes from members; we do not guarantee that records are correct, current or complete. Do not use genealogical information in place of an official document.

We may improve or change the service, or remove some features. Uninterrupted access is not guaranteed.

2. Your account and responsibilities

The minimum age is 18. By registering you confirm that you are at least 18 years old.

You provide accurate account details and keep them up to date. You do not open an account in someone else’s name or under a false identity.

You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for activity carried out through your account. Tell us if you notice unauthorized use.

While using the Platform you must not:

• publish private data about a living person without their consent (private contact details, health data, address, etc.);
• post insults, threats, hate speech, harassment or spam;
• upload content you do not hold the rights to;
• harvest data with automated tools, overload the system or attempt to bypass security measures;
• impersonate another member or evade moderation decisions with a second account.

If these rules are broken we may remove the content, restrict your contribution rights or suspend your account. Serious or repeated breaches may lead to permanent closure.

3. Your contributions and license

You keep the copyright in what you upload. Your photos and the texts you write remain yours; we do not claim ownership of them.

When you upload content to the Platform you grant us a royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable and transferable right of use: to store the content, display it on the Platform, reproduce it, adapt it technically (for example to generate thumbnails) and host it on the infrastructure needed to run the service. This right exists solely to operate and maintain the service.

You confirm that you hold the necessary rights to everything you upload: you must own the photograph or have permission to publish it.

When you delete your content, the right of use you granted ends. Deleted content may remain for a limited period in technical backups and audit records.

Shared genealogical data is an exception. Factual data such as a person’s name, years of birth and death and family links is not protected by copyright and forms part of the shared tree. Even if you delete your account, these records remain in the tree with your contributor name anonymized; otherwise the branches other members have built on them would be severed.

4. Records of living people and privacy

The record of a living person — including their name and the years shown — is currently visible to everyone who visits the Platform. Who can see the place fields (place of birth, place of residence, place of burial) is set separately.

When you add a living relative, enter only information you have the right to share. Do not add contact details, health data or intimate details without that person’s consent.

If a person claims their own record (links it to their account), only they can edit the private fields of that record; edit suggestions from other members do not apply to those fields.

If you want a record about yourself or a relative removed or restricted, use the route in section 5 below. We weigh shared data (name, family link) against private data case by case.

You can produce a sharing video from your family tree. The names of your living relatives also appear in the video; when you upload the video to another platform, it is you who carries that information there, and we cannot remove the copy over there. Share only a family tree you have the right to share. If a named person objects, we will take the share down; this does not relieve you of the responsibility to delete your own post.

5. Content removal and appeals

Person records, posts and comments each carry a “Report” link. A report goes to one of two channels: the Aulet administration (on this channel the reporter stays anonymous to the Aulet) or the site administration. Reports concerning the private data of a living person always go to the site administration.

We review the report and, where necessary, remove the content or correct the record. Every report closes as open, resolved or dismissed.

If you consider a curator’s decision unfair, you can raise an appeal from the “My contributions” page; the appeal is reviewed by the site administration, not by the person who made the decision.

Send copyright complaints to [email protected], including a link to the content, the basis of your rights and your contact details. Content is removed where the complaint is upheld.

6. Deleting your account and what happens to the data

You can delete your account yourself under Account settings → Account. Deletion takes effect immediately and is irreversible; the same email address can no longer be used to sign in.

On deletion your name, email address, “about” text and profile photo are removed, your open sessions are ended, and the ownership link to your own record is released (the record becomes claimable again).

What remains: your contributions to the family tree and your posts and comments stay, with the author name anonymized to “Deleted user”, for the integrity of the shared tree and of the discussions. If you also want that content gone, remove it yourself before deleting the account.

Before deleting, you can download a copy of your account data from the same page.

7. Changes, governing law and contact

We may update these terms from time to time. The current version is always published on this page; the version number and date at the top show which text is in force.

If we make a change that materially affects your rights, we will notify you at your registered email address before it takes effect. Minor corrections (wording, clarifications) may be published without separate notice. Continuing to use the Platform after a change means you accept the new text.

These terms and your use of the Platform are governed by the law of Massachusetts, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, where Shejire LLC is established. Rights granted to you by the consumer legislation of your country of residence that cannot be waived by contract remain unaffected.

For questions about these terms: [email protected]