Terms of Use
Last updated: April 2026
1. What this site is
The Diers Family site is a private, family-run genealogy archive for every branch of the Diers family — by blood, by marriage, by name, and by extended connection. It exists to preserve our collective family history for the next generations, not to generate profit from private family data. Access is free for verified family members. Whether your line has been researched for thirty years or you're the first to document yours, you belong here.
2. Our promises — the six we will never break
- No auto-renewals. Ever. You'll never be charged without explicitly asking to be.
- No cancellation fees. If you leave, you leave clean.
- We will never sell or share your data with third parties.
- If you ever pay for lifetime access, we will never raise your price retroactively.
- We will never remove or paywall features you already had.
- We will never paywall public-domain historical records inside our interface.
3. Getting approved
Sign up with your name, email, and (after confirming your email) your date of birth, birthplace, and your parents' names. A family administrator reviews each request and links you to the right branch of the tree — existing or brand-new. If your branch hasn't been mapped yet, approval includes starting it. If we can't verify you're a Diers family member by blood, marriage, close connection, or a common ancestor, we may decline your request.
4. What you own — and what belongs to the family
This is important and it's the core of how we do things:
- Your account is yours. You can delete your account at any time. When you do, we remove your login, email, and personal contact details.
- Photos and stories on your own profile are yours— while they're just yours. Before you share them with the family, you can edit or remove them freely.
- Once you share a photo or a story with the family tree, and a family administrator approves it as verified family record, it becomes part of the Diers family history. It is no longer just yours — it's ours, together. Those verified contributions cannot be deleted, because they're now part of our collective family truth. They survive you, they survive the administrator, and they pass to the next generation.
- Structural facts — names, dates, relationships, places of birth — once verified and connected into the tree, are permanent family record for the same reason. Correcting a fact (typo, wrong date) is always allowed. Erasing a verified ancestor or relationship is not.
If this feels strict, it's because it is — and on purpose. Every genealogy site we've ever used has treated family history as individual property that can be deleted, overwritten, or locked behind a paywall when convenient. We reject that entirely. Our family's past is ours, collectively, forever.
5. Family Historians
A Family Historianis our name for a verified member who reviews and approves what gets added to the tree. They can approve or disable member accounts, correct structural data when records are verified (census, birth certificate, cemetery record, etc.), and decide what contributions move from "just yours" to "verified family record." Family Historians cannot delete verified contributions — only mark them as corrected or superseded.
6. Adding your branch
Approved members can add themselves, their spouse or partner, their children, and their parents to the tree. We encourage this — every added person helps another cousin, niece, or great-grandchild find their place. Details you add about living people (like a current city or job) can be edited by you or them at any time. Details about ancestors that become verified follow the permanence rule above.
7. Respecting each other
This is a family site, not a public forum. Don't post private contact details of other family members without their permission. Don't upload photos of living people without their consent. If a living family member asks for their current location or contact info to be hidden, administrators will honor that.
8. If we ever charge in the future
We may one day charge a one-time fee for new accounts to cover hosting and research tools. The six promises in section 2 still apply. Existing members will never be charged for features they already had.
9. Accounts and contact
To request an account: use the signup form on this site. To request changes, corrections, or account deletion: contact an administrator. For Phil directly: philipdiers@gmail.com.