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Archiver > ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY > 2000-09 > 0969918358


From: Lisa Conrad <>
Subject: [Ethics] Re: ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY-D Digest V00 #38
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 14:45:58 -0700
In-Reply-To: <200009242000.e8OK0L720082@lists5.rootsweb.com>


From: "Janice M. Parker" <> Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000:

Janice wrote:
"...I have a few files posted on the internet and I always make sure they
are as perfect as they can be before I post them. I am willing to share with
anyone. I send more than I recieve. That is fine, too. But, my nightmare
began last night. ... It makes you not want to share with anyone." --------

Janice: You sound like me, and many of the more-seasoned family researchers.
We strive to research original source material, document sources, check and
check again on accuracy ... and then want to share. Only to have our work
decimated
or gobbled up by "quantity-eaters," if we happen to post to a larger
(untested and
potentially less ethical --stupid?--) audience.
I am often sad. I have become tight-fisted with what I share, and
particular with
whom I share. As a result, my 'audiences' for what I have researched, and
the ensuing
benefits, are small.
I have never posted files on the Internet. Or the LDS, if I am
allowed to say.
I feel I have no control over how my information is seen or used or
abused,
if I were to post to them.
So, that's the sad story.
I recommend publishing in a different, slower way: on paper, in book(let)
form.
It is a little harder to 'mutilate' than the I-Net. I don't care if it takes
longer.
And it sounds like the time taken for your own work was enjoyed by you ...
to me, paper-publishing is more permanent. Good luck. And be discerning!
--Lisa.

From: Reply-To:
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 13:00:21 -0700 To:
Subject: ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY-D Digest V00
#38





ETHICS-IN-GENEALOGY-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 38

Today's Topics: #1 [Ethics] Ethics ["Janice M. Parker"
<] #2 Re: [Ethics] Ethics ["Lee Morse"
<>] #3 Re: [Ethics] Ethics ["L. R.
Mills" <>] #4 [Ethics] Re: Ethics
[] #5 Re: [Ethics] Ethics []

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______________________________


From: "Janice M. Parker" <> Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000
21:15:41 -0400 To: Subject: [Ethics]
Ethics

I was so happy to find this mail-list. The internet and the availablity of
records for genealogy has changed much over the past year. I have a few
files posted on the internet and I always make sure they are as perfect as
they can be before I post them. I am willing to share with anyone. I send
more than I recieve. That is fine, too. But, my nightmare began last night.
I found a file with two of my children posted with a different father. I
have had that happen before. I went back to see if this person had sources.
She had 200 sources. I found 10 citations with my name applied to sources.
The first one was in regard to the two children. I was put as a source for
children that I know do not belong to this father. How can anybody do that.
My husband thinks it is stupidity. I cannot condone stupidty or ignorance
or newbies or anybody else when they put my name on bogus material. The
next 9 sources were claimed to have come from my genealogy file on this
family. None of these people are in my file. I wrote to this person and
demanded that she take my name off of these citations. As of now the file
is still up. This is becoming bad news for all of us. There are people
that want a quick fix and they will put anything on the internet. The worse
part is that others are copying it as truth. Now I am becoming part of that
untruth. It makes you not want to share with anyone. Help!! What else can I
do?

Jan

______________________________


From: "Lee Morse" <> Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 22:59:20
-0400 To: Subject: Re: [Ethics] Ethics

Jan, There will be people better qualified than I to advise you on the
specific situation. My only advice regarding that is to be VERY PERSISTENT.
Send the offender a message every day until he/she corrects the problem.
Make a real nuisance of yourself if necessary. Eventually I think the
person will just give in to shut you up. Let's hope so.

I echo your husband's explanation of what gets published on the internet.
Stupid people. Not just ignorant or inexperienced or uneducated people.
Those folks eventually learn something. I refer to people who lack brain
power and don't have the mental capacity to understand basic ideas. I have
looked at so much atrocious genealogical garbage proudly displayed at
websites that I just about gag.

Good luck. Please keep posting to this list and let us know what happens.

Lee Morse

Lee Morse ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janice M. Parker"
<> To: <> Sent:
Saturday, September 23, 2000 9:15 PM Subject: [Ethics] Ethics


> I was so happy to find this mail-list. The internet and the availablity of
> records for genealogy has changed much over the past year. I have a few files
> posted on the internet and I always make sure they are as perfect as they can
> be before I post them. I am willing to share with anyone. I send more than I
> recieve. That is fine, too. But, my nightmare began last night. I found a
> file with two of my children posted with a different father. I have had that
> happen before. I went back to see if this person had sources. She had 200
> sources. I found 10 citations with my name applied to sources. The first one
> was in regard to the two children. I was put as a source for children that I
> know do not belong to this father. How can anybody do that. My husband thinks
> it is stupidity. I cannot condone stupidty or ignorance or newbies or
> anybody else when they put my name on bogus material. The next 9 sources were
> claimed to have come from my genealogy file on this family. None of these
> people are in my file. I wrote to this person and demanded that she take my
> name off of these citations. As of now the file is still up. This is
> becoming bad news for all of us. There are people that want a quick fix and
> they will put anything on the internet. The worse part is that others are
> copying it as truth. Now I am becoming part of that untruth. It makes you not
> want to share with anyone. Help!! What else can I do?
>
> Jan
>

______________________________


From: "L. R. Mills" <> Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 22:13:45 -0700
To: Subject: Re: [Ethics] Ethics

> But, my nightmare began last night. I found a file with two of my children
> posted with a different father. I have had that happen before. I went back
> to see if this person had sources. She had 200 sources. I found 10 citations
> with my name applied to sources. The first one was in regard to the two
> children. I was put as a source for children that I know do not belong to this
> father. How can anybody do that. My husband thinks it is stupidity.
>
Well, I agree with your husband. You might want to find out:

a) what your rights are under state/federal privacy laws, and b) what you
might be able to bring under slander/liable statute since you and the
children are alive.

Not that I like to see anyone take this course, but it might change a few
attitudes if a case or two cleaned up some of this stupidity.

Too many people believe anything that is published on the 'Net. After all,
if it's on a computer, it must be right, eh?

Good luck and best wishes.

Lou

______________________________


From: Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 13:58:02 EDT To:
Subject: [Ethics] Re: Ethics

Circulating undocumented information is a time honored tradition in
genealogy. So is if it is in print it has to be right. Several years ago I
questioned some of the traditional information circulated on a family and
the publisher of the newsletter gave me a list of 30 names who all stated
this fact. When I pointed out to her that if these people all got their
information from the same source then they were all wrong. Many folks in
genealogy never add any new research to the body of knowledge but spend
there entire life looking for the person who has done the work rather than
get out there and look for new information. There are so many skill levels
in the genealogical community that one must evaluate the reliability of the
work as a whole before they use it. If I were in the shoes of the person who
had her information posted wrong I would contact the very top sponsor of the
list. Usually they will take action to correct the information or to have it
removed. As a professional I have inserted in my contract that I get to
review all material before it goes into print. [the Internet is publishing]
I have had the problem of someone using my name as the source for twisted
information and it is maddening. I have also had people use the consensus of
several different people when a fact is either right or wrong. The bottom
line is one is left with how much time do you want to spend correcting the
mistakes of another. In my case I write an article and when it is published
it gets indexed in PERSI . But not all are inclined to write up their family
research. Margaret

______________________________


From: Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 14:50:20 EDT To:
Subject: Re: [Ethics] Ethics

In a message dated 09/23/2000 10:15:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:

<< I found 10 citations with my name applied to sources. >>

I, too, have been given "credit" for misinformation.

In one of the counties I'm researching, there seems to be a competition to
have the largest database. Some of these people grab names from queries and
turn questions into "fact." I'm particularly irked when I offer to mail
documentation for events and relationships I have shared and these
"collectors" aren't interested. Then I see that information I've provided
has been added to their databases, sometimes with me as a source, sometimes
not. Once or twice, I've seen the documentation I've offered to provide
cited as the source.

I've become very cautious about what I share. If I get the feeling that
someone is more interested in adding names to their database than they are
about learning about my family, I discontinue correspondence with them. I
tend to work with people who are at my level of expertise. Amateur and
curious - with more questions than answers.




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