Debbie <copyright@rootsweb.com> wrote: > In respect to Richard Pence's website, I have it in my favorites. If > anyone > wants to find Pence family information all they have to do is search > Google, > and his writings will pop up. If I were to link to Richard's website, I > would > go through the front page unless I had already been given permission to > do > otherwise. > The issue of linking to subpages of websites has been brought up, but I > don't know if there has been any litigation concerning this. Maybe someone > can > enlighten me. The Internet isn't fully represented in our laws yet. I know > some > webmasters that are very upset about their subpages having been > linked by > for-profit organizations. I appreciate the kind words about my web site. However, I do have to point out that depending on which Pence you search for Google will take you directly to the internal page where that name is found - and it will be cached by Google. I soon will be posting a database with 6,000 verifiable Pence marriages (that is I have the full names, dates and places of the marriages so that the original record can be easily found). My be it that soon after that Google will take you right to the page that contains the marriage you are looking for. I think Google is the cat's meow and am happy - even proud - that my little web site shows up in their searches and their caches. Wouldn't it be nice if Ancestry could do the same for all the other little web sites that may not have been spidered by Google. > I'm offended by OneWorldTree and am happy to have not submitted anything > to any Rootsweb tree. We shouldn't have to pay for our own submissions. I don't understand this argument. You never have to pay for it. It's still there free. Ah, but if someone wants help in finding what you submitted, then they can pay Ancestry for it. > The downside of these "freepages" are that Ancestry.com / Rootsweb > controls > them. Best to pay a small amount of money and go elsewhere. Where you would have less control? Don't be silly. Some days I sort of wish I wer the CEO of - what is it now? The Generations Network? I'd call in my top aid and holle, "You know what? I'm damned sick and tired of all the compaints we get for providing free web space at RootsWeb and the 4,000 mailing lists that we support free. Close RootsWeb down and let them find somebody else to be their angel and then they can complain about them. And look at all the money we'll save." > It's also true that professional genealogists crawl the Internet and grab > documents others have traveled far and paid much to obtain. The answer to > that is to alter the documents and clearly state in a light background > where > they were obtained and when. Same with any other graphics. Like I've said before, many times, what you pay the genealoist for is finding things, not the thing itself. If you don't want the professionals to download a document, don't put it on the net. It's the same thing I tell people who don't fully identify themselves in their emails: If you don't want anyone to know who you are, then shut your computer off, don't get a drivers license, buy a home, register to vote, title your car, or even shop at a department store. All of those things easily reveal who you are. And if you are afraid someone might steal your identity if andy data about you apears on the Internet, here are som facts: In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission - charged by law with keeping track of "identity theft" in the U.S. - commissiond a large telephone survey. It discovered, among other things, that in the previous three years some 27 million American had been the victim of "identity theft." But if you read the fine print, none of them actuall said that. What 95 percent of them said that their credit card, phone credit card or checkbook had been lost or stolen and then fraudulently used. The number of people who said they had been defrauded by someone getting their personal information off the Internet was so small it was lumped into the last 1 percent labelled "all others." Oh, and one more thing: Half of those whos credit cards or echeckbooks had been fraudulently used said that the perpetrator was a relative or some other person known to them. So it's OK to be vigilant about what you put on the Internet, but keep a much closer eye on your nephew. The chances are several thousand times greater that the grief will come from that direction rather than the Net. > I've been approached by professional genealogist wanting my work to help > them make money. These are the people with whom I do not share. A lot of > times they are also the people who refuse to share with an amateur in > fear >they will "teal "their" information. One actually told me "Well, they never >told >me where I had to get my information". Not from me, for sure. I'm all for > professional genealogists. They can do their own work, or ... At least ask > before they copy? There are simply too many allegations and innuendoes in the above to begin responding to. May I suggest you visit the sites of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Board for Certification of Genealogists and see for youself the high ethical standards to which true professionals aspire. And, aside from the fact that they aren't in business to give away what the find to nonclients, they are contractually and ethically bound not to reveal to others what they find without the permission of the client. And, as I suggested to someone else, if you have verifiable knowledge of unethical behavior (I believe you called it "stealing") on the part of a professional, please make sure that the genealogy world knows of it so that those persons can be avoided by the public. Richard A. Pence 3211 Adams Ct, Fairfax, VA 22030-1900 Voice 703-591-4243 / Fax 703-352-3560 Pence Family History <www.pipeline.com/~richardpence/>

> Some days I sort of wish I wer the CEO of - what is it now? The > Generations > Network? I'd call in my top aid and holle, "You know what? I'm > damned sick > and tired of all the compaints we get for providing free web space at > RootsWeb and the 4,000 mailing lists that we support free. Close > RootsWeb > down and let them find somebody else to be their angel and then > they can > complain about them. And look at all the money we'll save." They have no choice in the matter. It is, I believe, part of the terms of agreement under which they purchased Rootsweb from Brian Leftkowitz. Don't know the exact terms, but I believe that they have to keep Rootsweb up and running more or less in perpetuity as a free service. But I agree with the sentiment. > >> It's also true that professional genealogists crawl the Internet >> and grab >> documents others have traveled far and paid much to obtain. The >> answer to >> that is to alter the documents and clearly state in a light >> background >> where they were obtained and when. Same with any other graphics. Graphics copyrights are a bit different. If someone takes an image of a graphic in an original document that's out of copyright they don't own the copyright of the graphic in the original document but they do own the copyright on their image. Though perhaps that's not so different. Here what's copyrighted is the creative process of taking the image--- not the information contained in the image. Bill