----- Original Message ----- From: Laura Johnson To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 9:38 AM Subject: [Italy] Boycott Ellis Island Website Boycott Ellis Island Website http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/ Many of you are familiar with the Ellis Island records website but you may not be familiar with Steve Morse. Steve created a front end or gateway to make it much easier to search the Ellis Island records site. He had this gateway up at: http://home.pacbell.net/spmorse/ellis/ellis.html . He offered many other parameters to search the Ellis Island site and it was remarkably user friendly in it's ease of use and search options. In fact it is the front end that Ellis Island records should have offered to begin with. Steve did a remarkable job and it's my opinion that he should have been hired by them rather than be threatened by them since he obviously has a much better grasp of what is actually needed than the people that designed the site. Ellis Island records org. has decided that Steve Morse is in violation of their terms of use and has notified him of such. He feels that it is not in violation but has taken the website down because he does not have the resources to fight them. If they feel this is cutting into their revenue, why not just ask Steve to put up a banner on his site encouraging donations or membership to the Ellis Island org.? I am including two letters here that can be copied and pasted and sent to (1) the Ellis Island records org and (2) to the sponsors of the Ellis Island site requesting that they change their position on the terms of use and Steve Morse's site and that they restore 'right click' functionality to the Ellis Island records website. ============================= Letter to the Ellis Island Records Org. and the National Park Service note * please copy and paste this letter to a new email and send one copy to: [email protected] and one to the National Park Service at: [email protected] --------------------------------------------- To whom it may concern, This is to inform you that I will be boycotting your website at: http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/ and will encourage all my friends and other genealogy groups to do the same until you change your position and allow Steve Morse's website at: http://home.pacbell.net/spmorse/ellis/ellis.html to operate. I don't believe he is in violation of your terms of use and I feel the public would be better served if he were hired by you to provide a search engine rather than being threatened by you. I am also requesting that you restore 'right click' functionality to your website. I will no longer donate to your organization, join your service or purchase products you offer. I am also notifying the sponsors listed on your website that I will be boycotting their products and services until this situation is resolved. Shame on you. This isn't how Ellis Island, the National Park Service or the memories of our ancestors should be represented. Sincerely Disappointed (your sig and email addy) ------------------------- =============================== =============================== Letter to the sponsors listed on the Ellis Island site. email addresses included at end of message. ----------------------------------------------- To whom it may concern, You are currently a sponsor listed on the Ellis Island Records website at: http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/ and this email is to inform you that I will be boycotting your products or services and urging my friends to do so also. This is in response to Ellis Island Records Org. decision to notify Steve Morse ( http://home.pacbell.net/spmorse/ellis/ellis.html ) that his website is in violation of their terms of use. I feel Steve Morse was not in violation of the terms of use and provided a service that Ellis Island org should have provided themselves. It is also in response to their decision to disable 'right click' functionality on their website. Until these issues are resolved and you remain a sponsor, I will no longer purchase your products, use any services you offer or visit your website. I am sincerely disappointed in the actions of the Ellis Island Records organization and am sorry it needs to reflect upon your company in such a negative manner. (your sig and email addy) -------------------------- note * please copy and paste this letter to a new email and send one copy to each of the sponsors listed below, I am sure some of these addresses wrapped, both lines are one single address. Compaq: [email protected] Genealogy.com must be contacted on their website at: http://genealogy.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/genealogy.cfg/php/endu ser/ask.php Kodak must be contacted online at: http://www.kodak.com/cgi-bin/global/en/service/contact/feedb ack.cgi?conf =/gl obal/include/en/service/contact/contact.conf Discover Card has no email address, you need to send the message from their website at: https://customerservice.novusnet.com/EMS/html/usemsform.html Oracle must be contacted online: http://www.oracle.com/corporate/contact/index.html?webmaster .html ================================ ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1 237 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.381 / Virus Database: 214 - Release Date: 8/2/02