I have been concerned about this for some time and even moreso since the merger of Rootsweb. But what can we do? We have all been sharing our information freely because we enjoy this hobby. For companies to gather it to sell without having to pay for it makes me angry too. I have found my reseach info submitted to FamilyTreeMaker by others I gave it to without even asking my persmission or giving me credit for my research. And, we don't know if their portion of research is accurate either. Everything should always be checked and not taken as the gospell. I have continued to share genealogy information freely, but this problem has been making me wary of posting online. I know the Internet has been wonderful for genealogy and a help to those not near research facilities, plus it has helped us meet so many cousins. I really worry about the future of free sharing of genealogy information online. I wonder how long it will be before Genealogy.com will next make Rootsweb and all the work we have done gathering data for the various state and county pages a monthly fee genealogy service. I hope someone out there has the funds to take them to court should this happen. Rootsweb is our data and should remain so without charge. Colleen Pustola wrote: > Hi everyone, > > In the interest of keeping everyone informed, I'm forwarding a message > that's begun to circulate around the genealogical community. You may > have seen this before and if so, please just delete. But if not then > you'll definitely wanted to read this. In this particular instance mine > is not to sway your opinion, but to enable you to make an informed one > with regard to your wallets and the information you possess. > > If I hear anything more, you can bet I'll be posting it for you. > > I hope you're all having a super Saturday! :) > > Colleen > > ~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~ > > In a message dated 3/24/01 1:36:16 AM Eastern Standard Time, > DtwRaver@aol.com > writes: > > Subj: Fwd: Important Regarding GenForum > Date: 3/24/01 1:36:16 AM Eastern Standard Time > From: DtwRaver@aol.com > To:OH-L-request@rootsweb.com > > Subject: Ethics > > Hi everyone. this came as a message from the listowner for the > Rockingham, New Hamspshire list that I belong to. I thought everyone > ought to see what is going on. Mr. Marston has asked that we send this > along to the lists we belong to so I am doing so. Please read the whole > message to see what is going on. I think at the very least we ought to > take it as a warning and a reminder that not all we find is correct > information and just use it as a tool to look further. > > Lee Neilsen in Eastern Utah > mailto:lloydi@ubtanet.com">lloydi@ubtanet.com > > ************************* > Dick Marston wrote: > > Listers: > > I have naively included a link to GenForum for those wishing to post and > respond to Rockingham and Marston surname queries. Furthermore, I have > innocently posted several responses on those forums. Today, I have > amended the link on Rockingham's Queries Index Page to read as follows: > > **If you want still another place to search and post, try the Rockingham > County message board on <genforum.genealogy.com/nh/rockingham/> > WARNING!! Any information which you share on GenForum's message boards > may be copied by Genealogy.com [/FamilyTreeMaker.com] and sold by them > for profit either as data included on a monthly/annual subscription or > as a CD for purchase. Much of this information is totally unreliable. > Caveat emptor [Buyer beware]. In order to see what, if any, information > Genealogy.com has acquired from your voluntary contributions, you will > first need to subscribe to their service available to paying members > only.** > > I am SO angry I could spit!! Until I started checking up on this fiasco > about my father's pedigree, I had NO clue that Genealogy.com was doing > this. I want to declare WAR! I can't get through to their leaders, but I > sure would like to get through to their potential customers and > unwitting voluntary contributors. > > Please feel free to copy and paste [or send] this warning wherever, or > to whomever, you think might do the most good. You may post it as your > own message or as a quote from me, whichever you prefer. Your help will > be greatly appreciated. > > > Denise > dcmeta@interx.net > One Planet ~ One People > > ==== BOWER Mailing List ==== > To post messages to the Bower discussion list, send them to > BOWER-L@rootsweb.com

Hi Donna, I'm also extremely concerned about Rootsweb eventually going commercial ... something I know that's bound to happen. It's just a matter of when. There is only one thing I've been able to come up with since their merger and that's to keep all our data out of their sites and on our own. Then we have to promote the domain like crazy! That was a prime reason I tried not to move us to Rootsweb when we were having all those problems with Crosswinds and GeoCities. I feel we need to keep ourselves separated from the genealogical sites just in case they do go commercial. Like you, it frosts me that freely-given data is being sold via subscription or cd. If you or anyone else can come up with a better solution, I'm certainly "all ears" and would love to know your idea(s). The family's Retreat was moved off MyFamily.com because of them rumored to be lifting data from sites. I've even given thought to figuring out some way to bringing the Retreat to our domain, but I don't know all the programming we'd need to do a live chatroom. All I know is... I don't post at GenForum any more, nor will I. The GenConnect boards at Rootsweb, I'm even hesitant to use them now, though I have once for several places/names. *sigh* ... here everyone had a good thing going until... Well, at least we're all getting forewarned. We have the opportunity to fully contain ourselves on our own domain and promote it like crazy, or continue as things are for a while and see what happens. But whatever we do, we should do it as a family... or a majority thereof. The more united we are, the better our chances of keeping our material protected... at least, that's the way I see it. Besides, we're all family... we SHOULD be standing together in this! :) Colleen Donna Hinson wrote: > > I have been concerned about this for some time and even moreso since the > merger of Rootsweb. But what can we do? We have all been sharing our > information freely because we enjoy this hobby. For companies to gather it > to sell without having to pay for it makes me angry too. I have found my > reseach info submitted to FamilyTreeMaker by others I gave it to without > even asking my persmission or giving me credit for my research. And, we > don't know if their portion of research is accurate either. Everything > should always be checked and not taken as the gospell. I have continued to > share genealogy information freely, but this problem has been making me wary > of posting online. I know the Internet has been wonderful for genealogy and > a help to those not near research facilities, plus it has helped us meet so > many cousins. I really worry about the future of free sharing of genealogy > information online. I wonder how long it will be before Genealogy.com will > next make Rootsweb and all the work we have done gathering data for the > various state and county pages a monthly fee genealogy service. I hope > someone out there has the funds to take them to court should this happen. > Rootsweb is our data and should remain so without charge. >