Melanie, I like your Pennsylvania site, which I see is restricted to specific counties. Since Florida has a much larger population than Pennsylvania and a longer history of permanent settlement, I wonder why you only felt you could do a few counties in Pennsylvania but want to do the entire state of Florida now? Since others have now made you aware of some of the counties that already have tombstone and cemetery photos on genweb and gennet sites, it might be better to start with one or a few concentrated counties without such coverage. As a researcher, I am more likely to visit a site covering an entire cemetery or county, rather than one that has a smattering of coverage for the whole state. I also think it might be helpful to set standards for those who want to upload tombstones. If it is meant to be a genealogical site, then you should want tombstones that are clear and legible rather than just an interesting artistic exhibit. I also note you state on that site that you are [were?] a professional genealogist, although in your message below you merely state you are a genealogist. In either case, I note that you are not a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and would invite you to join. If you are now a resident of Florida, I would then invite you to join our Florida chapter of the APG. If you are still residing in Pennsylvania, there is a Philadelphia area chapter of APG to connect with your colleagues. For more information on APG and its chapters, visit http://www.apgen.org Gladys Gladys Friedman Paulin, CG Winter Springs, FL http://genealogybygladys.com Editor "OnBoard the Newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists" CG, Certified Genealogist, is a Service Mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and is used under license by Board-certified persons who meet program standards and periodic rigorous evaluations. > -----Original Message----- > From: Mela Karvoski [mailto:daisygambel@msn.com] > Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2006 8:37 PM > To: FLORIDA-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [FLORIDA] FL Gravestone Photo Project > > Hello. > Wow, I am surprised by some of the feedback about my Florida gravestones > photo website. > I'll try to address some of the comments. > > My name is Melanie Karvoski and I made this website and will be hosting > and > operating it. > I am a genealogist and when I discovered the Iowa Gravestones website I > was > very impressed. > A few years ago, I made a gravestone photo site for the county I live in > and > the surrounding ones. > However, I did not have a database. So, it was very slow going. When I saw > the Iowa site, I > knew the database and photo upload would really be helpful. You can view > my > old gravestone photo > project website at: > http://www.ancestralbranches.com/tombstones/gravestones.html > However, about a month ago I put up the database and started to move > photos > to the new site at: > http://www.ancestralbranches.com/graves/ > > I did not put a FloridaGenWeb logo on the website because they have > nothing > to do with this. > > I did not upload any gravestone images to the Florida website. The photo > that Gladys mentioned as illegible > was uploaded by someone on this email list who after reading your remark > asked to have it removed. > > Yes, there are some links to free and subscription databases on the > resources page. > And, there is a small banner that links to my business website. That is > how > I can justify > paying for the hosting and time to maintain the gravestone photo project. > > This website is providing a space for you to share and search for > gravestones photos for free. > If anyone does not want to take advantage of this project, that's fine. > But, I will continue to upload photos of graves to my county gravestone > photo project for others to search. > After seeing so many gravestones lost, I see this as a great way to > preserve > our past. > > As for the title graphic I made that from the state flag. I cropped the > middle out of the flag image. > I thought since I could have the American flag on my website, that the > state > flag would be the same. > I did not think a state flag was copyrighted. I have since removed the > image > from the website. > > Thank you all for your comments. > > Regards, > Melanie > http://www.floridagravestones.com >

Good morning, Gladys. The Pennsylvania website that I started a few years ago only had 3 counties because it was not an automated database website. I had to create all the pages whereas this new program uses Php and creates webpages on the fly as needed. The database also sorts all the images to the appropriate cemetery. And, having the ability to allow users to edit and upload their own photos is a real time saver. Because of the new technology, I feel I could handle a much larger scale website such as one for the whole state of Florida. I realized that there are other website that contain some FL gravestone photographs already. But, I think it would be much easier to have all the counties gravestones available at one place. The Iowa gravestone project is handling it very well. Thank you for your suggestions. Have a wonderful day. Regards, Melanie