Hi Steve, Thanks for your thoughtful response. Just to clarify, the person I'm referring to has asked for **ALL** of my research. He's related to me (if indeed he is related, see below) through my mother's grandmother. But he also wants information on all my other maternal lines, plus information on my paternal lines. I've already sent him everything I have on the line that I believe is his. He SAYS he is related, but has sent me no confirming information; in fact, he's sent me nothing at all. For all I know, he could be a troll just having a little fun. Or someone wanting to steal identities. (For that reason, I never share information on people born after 1900.) And no, I don't believe the information is **mine**. A lot of my data is already on my web site, free for the world to see. I respond readily to requests for information in other formats. As I indicated in my original message, I've already sent him the information that I think would apply to his line, plus copies of family photos. Happy holidays! Sazee On Mon, 24 Dec 2001 11:49:33 -0600, shmartonak@ticnet.com wrote: > >Well, let's back up a minute. Let's try to give him the benefit of the >doubt. It could be that he's making a legitimate request, but using less >than precise or tactful language. Let's also examine your own reactions. > >I want all the information about all the descendants of all my ancestors. >To me that is a fairly simple and a legitimate goal (not that I expect to >finish it in my lifetime). This means that I often end up asking some >new-found 4th cousin for "everything on your family". I try to explain >why I want it and also that anything I post on the internet will have >dates and locations of living people filtered out. This is usually >sufficient to get the information I want. On the other hand, some people >just can't understand why I want to information. Nor do they have any >interest in the information I've already gathered on other branches of the >family. If they don't want to give me the information, I don't make an >issue of it. But I still want it. > >What exactly do you mean when you say "it hasn't been established to my >satisfaction that he has any relationship to ME?" I think that my >ancestor and my corespondent's ancestor were brother and sister. For me >the evidence of this is sufficient. For her, it isn't. Does this mean I >shouldn't have any interest in her family? > >Why are you reluctant to share your information? What could he do with it >that you're afraid of? Just what are you planning on doing with "the >entire results of my years of research" if not share it? Also, keep in >mind that the results of your research do not necessarily belong to you. >You cannot, for example, copyright your ancestor's birthdate. It doesn't >matter how long it took or how much money you spent to learn it. Copyright >on pictures belongs to the person who took it, not to the person who >currently has the picture. If you have a 120 year old picture of your >great-grandmother on your website, anybody can download it and do anything >they want with it. > >But to your immediate question. If you don't want to deal with the guy, >just ignore his emails. Don't try to write a tactful response. Just >ignore him. Let him get his information off your website one name at a >time. > >JMHO > >Steve >http://users.ticnet.com/stevem/ >-- > > > > ========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======: Message-ID: <cancel.3c29dff6.1178806@news.cybercomm.net> Control: cancel <3c29dff6.1178806@news.cybercomm.net> Subject: cmsg cancel <3c29dff6.1178806@news.cybercomm.net> From: sarakay@cybercomm.net (Sazee) Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 05:56:09 GMT X-No-Archive: yes Newsgroups: microsoft.test,comp.lang.c,soc.genealogy.misc NNTP-Posting-Host: wonenara.ozemail.com.au 203.108.164.177 Lines: 1 Path: news.sol.net!spool1-nwblwi.newsops.execpc.com!newsfeeds.sol.net!news-out.visi.com!hermes.visi.com!nntp1.roc.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!sea-feed.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!msrnewsc1!cppssbbsa01.microsoft.com!tkmsftngp01!tkmsftngp05!u.n.a.c.a.n.c.e.l.l.e.r This message was cancelled from within Mozilla.