MESSAGE FROM THE ROOTSWEB HOME OFFICE by Jake Gehring, RootsWeb Executive Producer Another week of work on the message boards has gone by. I just wanted to send out a quick note to report progress on bug fixes and enhancements as well as clarify my copyright statements which appeared in my last message. --- Users can now filter messages by category (queries, deeds, Bible records, obituaries, etc.) to see only messages of a particular type. --- Advanced searches may now be performed within a particular board and this option has been set as the default when the "Advanced Search" link is clicked from within a board. --- Combining the board hierarchies from GenConnect and FamilyHistory.com has progressed quite a bit since launch and is nearing completion. We realize this part of the launch has caused some problems, so thanks for bearing with us as we get one structure for all those millions of messages! Regarding the ownership of messages posted on the boards: RootsWeb states in its Acceptable Use Policy: "When you post messages to mailing lists, message boards, and other facilities at RootsWeb, those posts remain your property under copyright law." The Terms & Conditions at Ancestry.com are the same on this point: "Portions of [Ancestry.com] will contain user provided content, to which you may contribute appropriate content. For this content, Ancestry is a distributor only." And again from the MyFamily.com, Inc. Internet Services Copyright Policy: "Content which has been contributed to public area of the MyFamily.com, Inc. sites by users remain the property of the submitter or the original creator and we are a licensed distributor of such content." I really hope to resolve any concerns here by stating that "if you posted it, you own it." Please feel free to read these legal documents yourselves for clarification: RootsWeb.com Acceptable Use Policy http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/aup.html Ancestry.com Terms and Conditions http://www.ancestry.com/legal/terms.htm MyFamily.com, Inc. Internet Services Copyright Policy http://www.myfamilyinc.com/about_us/copyright.htm That's it for this week. Please keep your input and comments coming so that we can continue to improve the message boards and make your research easier!

Happy Summer everyone, Thank goodness for the Doughboy pool in our back yard. Most of you have probably heard about the 4 firefighters who died fighting the forest fire. It has hit our community hard. Our area is not that big. One of the men treated and released was here. Three of the dead were from surrounding communities and those who didn't know the firefighters probably know someone who did. It is quite a tragedy. All Barrs has updated the BARRS and BELL Surname Project on Old Dobbers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~paday/dobbers/1barrs_bell.htm He has done a great job and looks forward to hearing from other family researchers. He was very patient with me as my mailbox kept filling up on him. I have a 6mb email limit at yahoo. I need to empty out the old messages that I have there. FYI if you have attatchments of 1mb or more to send, please let me know before sending and I will make sure the room is there or give you another address to use. Sue has sent three more New Bern District Court Records and they can be found in the Craven Co. Archives. She is a real trooper to take on the challenge of transcribing these items for us. Thank you Sue. Our counties are fortunate to have the people who are willing to transcribe records for posting. Thank you for taking the time away from your personal research to assist those of us who live far away and do not have access to these documents. Martha does a great job of coordinating this effort and keeping you supplied with documents. Everybody PAT yourselves on the back and please know how much you are appreciated. Patty ===== Old Dobbers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~paday/dobbers/index.htm Greene Co., NC US GenWeb Project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncgreene Greene Co. Archives: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nc/greenenc.htm Lenoir Co. NC, US GenWeb Project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nclenoir/ Lenoir Co. Archives: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nc/lenoir.htm Anson Co., Craven Co., Dobbs Co., Mecklenburg Co., USGenWeb Archives are linked from: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nc/ncfiles.htm __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/