Steve: Thanks for responding to the Bratton list about this matter. In my opinion, it would have been better if you had maintained your database with current information so that we could have corresponded and worked out the problem. I am the person who is referenced to in your email message as "the person who complained about his personal information on the web site provided the very information back in 1998 along with the entire family data base that his information was in". You are absolutely correct in stating that I provided my entire family database. You are also correct in stating that I knew that the information was and would be in the web site. There are some rather important points that you are not mentioning in your message. If you are going to have an online web site, it is important to perform maintenance on it to keep email addresses as current as possible, and respond to issues raised by users/contributors. I tried several times in the past three years to write to you via the email address shown in the website. The email was returned as undelieverable. Attitudes / perceptions about privacy in our country have changed considerably since 1998. Those of us involved in genealogical pursuits are aware that there are many avenues available to us via the internet to find personal information about individuals living in this country. However, the general public is not aware that so much personal information is available. There is great fear among many people regarding identity theft and other perceived horrors from having their personally identifiable information posted on the internet. I received numerous complaints about my genealogical database from people who did not want their birthdates, etc. displayed on the internet. Consequently, I modified my online database so it would not display that information on the internet. I tried writing several times to you with offers to provide a new genealogical file that omitted the personal demographic information for living individuals. When the email to you repeatedly bounced, I had no choice but to write to Gendex to request assistance. It appears that Gendex didn't have success in reaching you to resolve the issue, and subsequently took down the site. I applaude your efforts to make Bratton family genealogy available to so many users. I am sorry that the operator of Gendex felt it was necessary to remove your entire site. When you create your new site, and if you wish to post my family gedcom again, I will gladly submit a revised gedcom file that omits demographic information for living individuals for your use on the site. Tony Rockefeller

Tony, my email address has not changed since 1998. Only once during a week in 2000 when my domain registration was being changed from one hoster to another was their an issue. sbratton@borderlessworld.com I have only received (2) emails in (5) years from people concerned about the privacy of their information who in both cases I removed their information. I probably have received (50) or so emails from people who wanted to update their personal information by such things as name spellings or for example their mother died. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony" <arockef@cox.net> To: "Steve Bratton Sr." <hsbratton@charter.net>; <BRATTON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 10:44 AM Subject: Re: [BRATTON] Bratton Clan Web Site Down > Steve: > > Thanks for responding to the Bratton list about this matter. In my opinion, > it would have been better if you had maintained your database with current > information so that we could have corresponded and worked out the problem. > > I am the person who is referenced to in your email message as "the person > who complained about his personal information on the web site provided the > very information back in 1998 along with the entire family data base that > his information was in". > > You are absolutely correct in stating that I provided my entire family > database. You are also correct in stating that I knew that the information > was and would be in the web site. > > There are some rather important points that you are not mentioning in your > message. If you are going to have an online web site, it is important to > perform maintenance on it to keep email addresses as current as possible, > and respond to issues raised by users/contributors. I tried several times > in the past three years to write to you via the email address shown in the > website. The email was returned as undelieverable. > > Attitudes / perceptions about privacy in our country have changed > considerably since 1998. Those of us involved in genealogical pursuits are > aware that there are many avenues available to us via the internet to find > personal information about individuals living in this country. However, the > general public is not aware that so much personal information is available. > There is great fear among many people regarding identity theft and other > perceived horrors from having their personally identifiable information > posted on the internet. > > I received numerous complaints about my genealogical database from people > who did not want their birthdates, etc. displayed on the internet. > Consequently, I modified my online database so it would not display that > information on the internet. I tried writing several times to you with > offers to provide a new genealogical file that omitted the personal > demographic information for living individuals. When the email to you > repeatedly bounced, I had no choice but to write to Gendex to request > assistance. It appears that Gendex didn't have success in reaching you to > resolve the issue, and subsequently took down the site. > > I applaude your efforts to make Bratton family genealogy available to so > many users. I am sorry that the operator of Gendex felt it was necessary to > remove your entire site. When you create your new site, and if you wish to > post my family gedcom again, I will gladly submit a revised gedcom file that > omits demographic information for living individuals for your use on the > site. > > Tony Rockefeller >