Folks, I have asked Craig to stop misrepresenting the facts yet he persists in doing so. I asked that he address any issues he has with me privately and he has not respected that request. So, to set the record straight, yet again: At 10:17 PM 7/13/99 -0400, Craig Smith wrote: <snipped for brevity> >This is not true...The HCHS maintains that the data from the IRQ's are the >property of the HCHS. Data submitted by others are theirs to do with as they >see fit. The above is contrary to what you told me in May. >><snip> I cannot, and >>absolutely will not, allow anyone to own YOUR data. It is yours to share, >>AND to withdraw, as you see fit. > >This too is not true But it *is* true, Craig. Every piece of data contributed to SCGenWeb is copyrighted to the submitter with all rights reserved. <snip> >This too is not true...example....The 1820 Horry County, SC, Census >A - G Transcribed by Jim Farmer San Francisco, November 1997 It *is* true that most data contributed to the SCGenWeb site no longer reflects the name of the submitter nor an assignment of copyright. Your example is but one piece of the two years' worth of data which Jim generously passed on to the next Horry County coordinator. With few exceptions, the bulk of his website has been absorbed into anonymity. <snip> >Victoria you are the one that changed the return link only to the genweb >site. The board, as you well know, permits a single "return to" link. Since the Queries board was one set up for USGenWeb sites, of course I set it to link to Horry County SCGenWeb. If it becomes possible to create two links, I will gladly provide a link back to the HCHS site. In the meantime, why not create a second link on the HCHS Queries page to both boards with a notice to use the "Back" button on the browser to return to HCHS? >The whole problem with Victoria stems from the copyright of data that has >been published by the Horry County Historical Society. The HCHS will not >grant permission to post this data elsewhere and Victoria cannot accept >that. <snip> Good gracious, Craig, you know that's not true. I certainly accept the wishes of any society or individual to restrict the use and posting of their data, and you know all too well how strongly I feel about respecting copyright. Moreover you know that at no time did I request that any HCHS material be placed on any web site of any kind. The problem with which I was presented was this: you said the HCHS wanted to host the Horry County SCGenWeb site yet you later told me that the HCHS would not allow their material to be posted on ANY "GenWeb" sites. To me that meant you either *weren't* hosting an SCGenWeb county site or you were violating HCHS rules in posting their material to the site. Either way, it posed a serious dilemma for me and though I (and others) tried for weeks to reach a workable solution, you insisted that there was no problem, refused to separate the two sites in any way, refused to "wear two hats". Instead of working to reach a mutually beneficial relationship, you chose your own "solution" which you spelled out on this list: to create a "dummy" page for SCGenWeb with the "absolute minimum requirements" in order to funnel data and point researchers to the HCHS site. You even went so far as to state that you wanted to *use* us for that purpose. Surely it would have been better to have been straightforward with me and said, "Look I've got a problem, I'll have to resign but please ensure that the new Horry County page contains a link to the HCHS." Once again I beseech you, Craig, to cease and desist from posting misrepresentations. If you'd like to work toward clearing up any misunderstandings, please address me privately, but please let's get this off the list. Victoria