Caveat Submitters & Searchers: As we are ALL learning.....there are many places out on the net that take our research and post it as their own. This includes Commercial and Personal sites. If you look at any of the Commercial sites, they all have a place to "send your Gedcom files". As of this date, I cannot find one of them that does not have a great deal to gain by getting their hands on a Gedcom submission. Even our old stand-by, Rootsweb (compiled by volunteers, Genealogical Societies, etc. over the past few years) is now owned by Ancestry.com. Does that mean that all the data once posted to Rootsweb sites is now their property? It seems that we are all at risk, from all of the Commercial groups. Data to an individual is also at risk. I had one large batch of data end up on a Personal site, with nothing to indicate MY name as submitter, or MY sources (which were all cited in the body of the data). So, lesson learned, I now have a personal policy: I hate to "hide my work in a box"...but until I am very sure of the future USE of my data, anything I post to any place is screened, with only the bare-bones given. Nothing gets posted to a Public site, other than QUERIES or a notice that I HAVE DATA to share. People I correspond with understand that WE will work on a line, and make sure it is right (& documented) before releasing data - to a site that we agree meets the ethical standards of Genealogy. We share - but not blindly trust the rest of the world. If someone cannot contact me personally, (my email addy is always at the bottom of the post) I prefer to pass on the opportunity to work with them. This also applies to any person putting together a "Family History of XXXX" in any format. If they accept submissions, but require no documentation, do not list the submitter-contact and cannot/will not publish changes once in print, they can publish without my input. A lot of these Home pages are being put together as ego-sites, and the people are too inexperienced (or lack ethics) when it comes to citing sources, showing submitters, etc.. They present themselves as the official place for a certain surname, and that the work is their own research. This is (my own term) "Junk Genealogy". It hits the net and becomes permanent, harder to work through than any of the old books of 100 years ago. If anyone thinks the LDS' Ancestry File site contains error-filled data, and is next to impossible to get corrected, they can add the CD's and Home Pages to the list of problem areas. Anyone who sends their GEDCOM to a Commercial site is literally, GIVING it away. Once you hit the 'send' button, it becomes THEIR property to use as they want. The Commercial sites have become the Halbards of the electronic age. They compile and sell. That is how they make money. Period. Just be careful, and consider WHAT you are doing for ( and to) the future Genealogists. Ask yourself: "Is this site/person research-driven?" If not, the potential for abuse of YOUR data is there. Anyone wanting to discuss this with me, please contact me directly. Permission to send to other sites is granted. Susan Bidwell Williams slw02@sprynet.com