) ( ( ) Good Morning Family! ( \ .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \* ) \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . .=|=. \| |// ...and we even have decaf, |~'~| | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! | | \ / _|___|_ ------ (_______) Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. A continuation from last week's Coffee re: scams a. Genealogy Developments ~ is it familydiscovery.com? b. GedLink TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire 4H family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Howell lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Howell ancestors or any of the 9 variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. You have joined not just a list, but a family of cousins who are four teams of researchers combined into one family, the 4H. Although we are one family, we have two homesites and if you haven't visited these sites yet, you are encouraged to do so ~ Home for the HOWELL-L, HOWELLS-SOUTHERN-L, and HOWLE-L is the Howell Research Room (otherwise known as the HRR) which opened May 28th. You'll find it located at <http://howellresearch.com>. While not large in size yet, this site is to become a clearinghouse dedicated to global research of the Howell[s] surname and all her variant spellings. You're invited to submit material for display at the HRR. Simply let me know you want to house material there and what it is. We can display anything, provided it doesn't involve living persons. Contact me at <[email protected]>. Home for the HOWELL-SURNAME-L is the Edward Howell Family Association site at <http://www.ehfa.org>. This is a site dedicated to descendants of Edward Howell of Southampton, Long Island, New York. There you'll find an online transcription of "Descendants of Edward Howell (1584-1655) of Westbury Manor, Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, [England], and Southampton, Long Island, New York," Second Edition by Dr. David Faris. Web mistress for the EHFA site is Kristen Howell <[email protected]>. A CONTINUATION FROM LAST WEEK'S COFFEE re: SCAMS I covered the subject regarding scams last week and was supposed to have discussed two other subjects today (see, it's right here on my calendar!). However, I've received so many messages regarding Genealogy Developments and Gedlink that I decided I'd better cover both in depth. It seems that each enterprise has begun a publicity campaign and everyone is wondering, "is it a scam?" Here's the lowdown on each: a. GENEALOGY DEVELOPMENTS ~ IS IT FAMILYDISCOVERY.COM? "This is a new commercial enterprise!" No, it isn't. This has all the trappings of Family Discovery using a new alias; same ploy as before ~ just with a new wrapping. Avoid them like you would any of Family Discovery's other "enterprises." Tender newbies, if you didn't follow up on the links I gave you last week, then you still don't know and most definitely need to read this: The subject of Family Discovery is NOT new and yes, they are rip-offs. This is an old subject among those of us who have been doing online genealogy for at least the last two years. The storyline changes a little, but the players are all the same, and you should be made aware... Family Discovery, et al links their pages to free Rootsweb <http://www.rootsweb.com> sites and archive pages, GenWeb sites, and privately owned sites by way of frames ... sites on which all the information is already free. Unless the attached site has some sort of identifier on each page, you the viewer, will not realize that you're viewing free pages and *paying* for the "privilege" of doing so! Family Discovery is doing this without permission and are currently under investigation by at least two states' attorneys. Genealogy Developments advertises, "Currently we provide easy access to over 900 million records." Of course they can say something like that! Think about all the free sites there are to link to! We are here for your convenience as a researcher. (I'd like to know who COUNTED all those records that they can say something like that, by the way!) Then they go on to say, "We are working on a very large scale SEARCH ENGINE that will search billions upon billions of genealogy records." [my capitals] And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Genealogy Developments is advertising precisely what Family Discovery, et al does ... a search engine, and it's always "planned to be up and running within the next month." <http://www.genealogydevelopments.com/records.html> Please, heed this warning. A new ad has begun to circulate under the name of <GenealogyDevelopments.com>. Visit their site <http://www.genealogydevelopments.com>, have a good look around ... do you see a contact address? No? There's a good clue for you to realize that something isn't up to what it reports itself to be. (It doesn't really make a difference because even if there was one your messages would not be answered.) Now, while I'm at it, you need to know the other aliases so you're not taken in. Following is a list of sites associated with Family Discovery domain owners in one way or another: genealogydevelopments.com familydiscovery.com genealogyfinders.com genealogyfinders.net aboent.com genseeker.com genseekers.com genealogy-express.com Most of the above sites bill themselves as "the most comprehensive easy to use collection of online records ever compiled," or something close to it. Of course it is, if they link to every free website they can find! Save your money and do the search yourself! You DO NOT need to pay for a service that is already free if you know where to look. If you need assistance, send a message to the list and state in the top line of your message that you're a newbie needing help; you'll probably get more than you can handle! :) Gene Olson has has been a chronic thorn (yeaay!) in the side of the owners of the above sites to the point of having a death threat put against him! At first he focused strictly on FamilyDiscovery.com in an attempt to get them prosecuted. He has since refocused his Anti-Family Discovery Web Site and broadened its scope. It now includes any company that uses illegal or unethical business practices. You newbies to online genealogy would be wise to go to his site and read up on this company so you won't be ripped off. Click on the following link and you'll be taken directly to his site: <http://www.compuright.net/badbusiness/>. Gene's email address is <[email protected]>. Another site has taken over where Gene Olson left off. The website, Census Diggins, which I gave you a link to last week <http://www.censusdiggins.com/familydiscovery.html> has messages online from quite a few people who have stepped forward to tell you of their dealings with Family Discovery and some of their aliases. If you haven't done it already, it would be in your best interests to check it out, if only for a quick look. Just please, remember the above list of aliases. These people will take your money, giving you little to nothing in return, and from their past history will not answer any of your messages. Hide your wallet, checkbook, credit card, and run! :) b. GEDLINK *EVERYONE* seems to be wondering about GedLink. Are they a scam, or what? Does anybody know anything? Well, I have to honestly say, I don't know if they're a scam. However, I DO know a few things which I now report here: We DO know that GedLink is in the middle of a major publicity campaign because mention of their messages is popping up all over the lists. I've been doing a little investigating on GedLink because I've received so many messages asking about the site. They ask you to register (not a problem), and you have to download a trial version of their program (free) to link up with others. The premise here is to be able to allow others to view your data at the same time you're viewing theirs. What they don't tell you until about four pages into the site, at the end of registration, is that they want you to become a member for $19/year which allows them "to develop, maintain and constantly upgrade the system and gives you access to the FULL version, allowing you to request family trees." Until you pay, you can't access the promised features. One of GedLink's designers said in an online message, "The GedLink Software can be freely used. With GedLink, you can search for names, issue requests, and send messages without becoming a paying member. We don't want to write that the user has to pay for GedLink before the registration, in order not to frighten him before he has first used the Software, and we think it's not necessary, because there is no cost involved for the basic features the user expects (search, requests...) . On the second hand, it's true that we want to offer more features to paying members, as soon as we end the test phase, but GedLink shall always stay satisfying and useful for simple users who don't want to pay." Further down the same message the Gedlink designers says, "let me try to reassure you a little about our company. "Infoduc" exists since 1994. Its main product was a French shareware for genealogy, called "Win Genealogic," until we decided 1999 to "go internet". We created "notrefamille.com", a still flourishing web based service for the family, including genealogical tools. We signed some partnerships with important French portals like "Wanadoo" (France Telecom) and "AOL France", where our genealogical tools, including GedLink, will soon be available. They can be presently seen on voila.fr (which belongs to France Telecom)." I checked and they are indeed seen on the following site: http://noms.voila.fr/s/f1/welcome/default.asp Most of the people I've read receiving posts from this project were apprehensive and backed out before they were charged. They have already learned an important lesson: do NOT download software, or register with a company, unless they tell you up front whether money's involved and if so, how much. When in doubt, do your own investigation and see what others are saying about it. This next message is from someone on one of my lists: "I use Gedlink and I recommend that you invest in Norton Internet Security. Gedlink works on you sharing a directory (in your computer) with your gedcom file in it which you would need to update everytime you made changes. I have asked Gedlink on several ocassions about security with this method of sharing and what keeps someone from hacking into other areas of your hard drive. On their FAQ page <http://www.gedlink.com/web/en/support/faq.asp>. Nothing addresses security, Gedlink has tried to assure me that their software prevents this....sure just as Microsoft prevented those from accessing Outlook and most recently Windows XP." At this point I need to reiterate ~ I am not saying Gedlink is a scam. I've found no negative messages about them after doing a major Web search ~ the nearest negativity being that in the last paragraph. People I've contacted have not heard anything negative. I'm willing to give GedLink a temporary benefit of the doubt, but I won't be giving them my money. I really don't get warm and fuzzy feelings from a company that buries their fees, not divulging them until you're already registered and they have your email address. How do you protect yourself? Apply to your Internet dealings the same good sense you try to use in everything else you do. However, on the Web you need to be more than just a little skeptical. As others have said, "Keep an open mind, but don't let your brain fall out!" Family ... it's what we're all about. I so enjoyed spending this time with you today. Thank you for sharing it with me. I wish each of you a week filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love and inner peace. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'