The message says 'This person *may* be doing research related to this name' [my highlighting], so I don't think it's really misleading. My own submissions are a mixture of one-name studies and whole pages, and I did contemplate having separate IDs with different privacy settings, but decided against it. The frequency of e-mails is increasing, but it's still no more than once or twice a month, and if there's no personal connection (as is usually the case) it takes very little time to send a standard reply saying so. This has nearly always generated a follow-up message from the other party, which without exception has been friendly, polite and full of praise/gratitude for the project. In short, I think my privacy settings have resulted in positive feedback rather than spam, but of course it's a personal choice. Peter Dauncey South London, UK ----- Original Message ----- From: Loraine <Lol_barnes@lineone.net> To: <FreeBMD-Admins-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 12:37 AM Subject: RE: Submitter details privacy-setting Given that there are loads of opportunities for unscrupulous individuals to 'lift' email addresses and use them for the purposes of sending spam I felt it was correct to remain anonymous. I don't think there was a reveal my name option when I joined. I do feel that the remark 'this person may be doing research related to this name' is misleading, as whilst it applies to those who send in results of their own private researches, surely they are a tiny part of the transcribed index, and therefore the chances of clicking on someone who IS doing research related to a particular name is small. Maybe this message should not appear. Loraine From: "Tony Hall" <tonyh185@hotair.demon.co.uk> To: <FreeBMD-Admins-L@rootsweb.com> Subject: Submitter details privacy-setting Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 20:11:40 -0000 When I signed up as a transcriber a few weeks ago, I wasn't sure what Privacy setting to use. I opted for "Show my email address and invite correspondence on the entries I have submitted", thinking that there could be 2 reasons why someone might want to contact a transcriber other than with a correction - either they were seeking clarification of an entry (say a certificate request failed and they come back and ask me to re-check the transcription), or the transcriber is interested in the entries themselves. In my case, the latter does not apply, but I still chose that Privacy setting thinking that it was the most helpful with the former reason in mind. However, I have noticed that the "Transcriber Details" page against my entries says "Note that this person may be doing research relating to this entry." That is much more explicit than I expected, and is misleading in my case. I am therefore inclined to change my setting to "Reveal my name but not my email address". What do others think? -- Tony Hall

I just checked in on some that I have done to see my name and email address (which I agreed to because I felt it would be handy for people as some of the data was not transcribable). I could give a good guess that might help them - the page number in particular. I am quite cautious not to put a number unless I am quite certain. I think the data has been up about a week now (I am a new transcriber) and I have not received any emails to date (no spam on that account actually as it is a secondary account - my husband gets all the spam!). This account gets a lot of spam (about ten a day) but the IP does do a good job of the first cleaning as my spamblock (which I check periodically) gets probably 100 a day! I wonder if spammers would bother doing searches to acquire email addresses. You can do it just as easily by random searches on the web. I actually liked the way you put the message - it would encourage people to ask if the data entered includes * or _. I think I will keep a list of how many and from where in a database that I can submit if anyone would like it. On Sat, 20 Mar 2004, Peter Dauncey wrote: > The message says 'This person *may* be doing research related to this name' > [my highlighting], so I don't think it's really misleading. My own > submissions are a mixture of one-name studies and whole pages, and I did > contemplate having separate IDs with different privacy settings, but decided > against it. The frequency of e-mails is increasing, but it's still no more > than once or twice a month, and if there's no personal connection (as is > usually the case) it takes very little time to send a standard reply saying > so. This has nearly always generated a follow-up message from the other > party, which without exception has been friendly, polite and full of > praise/gratitude for the project. > > In short, I think my privacy settings have resulted in positive feedback > rather than spam, but of course it's a personal choice. > > Peter Dauncey > South London, UK > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Loraine <Lol_barnes@lineone.net> > To: <FreeBMD-Admins-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 12:37 AM > Subject: RE: Submitter details privacy-setting > > Given that there are loads of opportunities for unscrupulous individuals to > 'lift' email addresses and use them for the purposes of sending spam I felt > it was correct to remain anonymous. I don't think there was a reveal my name > option when I joined. I do feel that the remark 'this person may be doing > research related to this name' is misleading, as whilst it applies to those > who send in results of their own private researches, surely they are a tiny > part of the transcribed index, and therefore the chances of clicking on > someone who IS doing research related to a particular name is small. Maybe > this message should not appear. > > Loraine > > From: "Tony Hall" <tonyh185@hotair.demon.co.uk> > To: <FreeBMD-Admins-L@rootsweb.com> > Subject: Submitter details privacy-setting > Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 20:11:40 -0000 > > When I signed up as a transcriber a few weeks ago, I wasn't sure what > Privacy setting to use. I opted for "Show my email address and invite > correspondence on the entries I have submitted", thinking that there > could be 2 reasons why someone might want to contact a transcriber other > than with a correction - either they were seeking clarification of an > entry (say a certificate request failed and they come back and ask me to > re-check the transcription), or the transcriber is interested in the > entries themselves. In my case, the latter does not apply, but I still > chose that Privacy setting thinking that it was the most helpful with > the former reason in mind. > > However, I have noticed that the "Transcriber Details" page against my > entries says "Note that this person may be doing research relating to > this entry." That is much more explicit than I expected, and is > misleading in my case. I am therefore inclined to change my setting to > "Reveal my name but not my email address". What do others think? > -- > Tony Hall > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > > -- Elizabeth (Blake) Kipp mailto:kippeeb@magma.ca