Copyright Issues Raise Their Ugly Head Again

Will it never end? It seems many web surfers don't understand copyright. When something is published on the internet on a website or a blog, it is copyright to whoever wrote it. It is not up for grabs! 

I don't know why folks can't grasp that an article I write, for example, and publish here on my blog or on one of my websites, is copyright to me.  That means it cannot be published elsewhere without my permission. Think of this way - if you go to a Library and borrow Stephen King's latest book to read, you cannot copy it and republish it anywhere - online or offline, without Mr. King's permission. (which of course he would not give) If you do publish without his okay, even if you clearly state that Mr. King wrote the piece, not you, you can bet your life he will sue your (ahem) off.

So why then do some folks think they can come to a website, read something they like and copy and paste it on their own site? That is called COPYRIGHT VIOLATION! And you can be sued.

I have copyright notices on every page of my site. Yet some still continue to take my work and republish it as if they are entitled to do so. Some plead innocence when confronted but ignorance of the law is no defense. Some leave the author's name on it and even provide a link to the original website, as if that makes everything okay. But theft is theft and violating someone's copyright is, in my opinion, theft. 

Many people also confuse plagiarism and copyright. 

Plagiarism is when someone takes your work and presents it as their own.  I've had that happen to me. A genealogist with a weekly newspaper column took an article from my website, published it word for word in a very large American newspaper and put her name as the author. After a thorough investigation, the newspaper fired her. These are serious offenses we're talking about. And I don't back down. If you take my work, I'll pursue every legal avenue available to get you to stop. 

Copyright violation or infringement is when someone takes  work which is protected by copyright laws without permission.

What can you do if someone takes your hard work without permission? You can write to the person and demand they remove it. I like to give two options - remove the unauthorized work within 24 hours or pay me a publication fee of $500.00. Those who violate copyright need to understand that an author's work is worth money.

If the person isn't compliant, file a DMCA complaint with their website or blog provider. Send the DMCA notice to the person who took your without permission.

Don't let it go. We should all protect our work and take what we do seriously. It is not okay for others to do a hit and run with no regard for legalities or respect for the work of others.

Time For Some Genealogists to Wake Up

Dick Eastman has addressed one of my top annoyances. 

I am definitely going to use a few of his examples next time I get involved in an online forum when I hear the ridiculous cries of "Genealogy is for sharing!" and "Genealogy should be free!"

Enough said. Please read Dick's blog post I Have a Complaint Concerning Many Genealogists 







Credits: Image by Stuart Mills on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

15 Genealogy Things That Amaze Me

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I am bewildered and disheartened by those genealogists who

*  ask for help but never thank the person who spent their time to help

* can't copy my name correctly (it makes me wonder how good a job they're doing copying census data and other documents...)

*  asks a question in a forum or on a message board that could be easily answered by doing a 2 minute search online

*  doesn't look at the record he/she found and think about what it means and whether or not those facts fit their ancestor

* merges family trees without checking the sources to verify

*  writes to say they share one of your ancestors and you share all your information but they share nothing with you

*  want your help and send you a 10 page file of rambling sentences that would take you hours to figure out, instead of taking the time to summarize what they need and what they know

*  posts nasty comments, belittles and argues in online forums

*  jumps in with wild guesses instead of waiting to see if someone with actual knowledge will respond when another genealogist poses a question in a forum

* post a question in an online forum or a mailing list that starts with "I know I'm in the wrong forum but...." instead of finding a forum with the appropriate topic.

But it also amazes and delights me to see those genealogists who

*  go out of their way to share with others 

* give their time to help other genealogists

* carefully record their sources and verify "facts" they find online

* feel a sense of community and pitch in when needed

* encourage newcomers

Thanks to the genealogists who are in the Thumbs Up group! You make it all worthwhile.

Panic Ensues! DDOS Attack Brings Ancestry and FindAGrave Down

Screen Capture from
http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/ancestry.com.html

Caveat: This is a personal opinion and a bit of a rant about the nonsense that swept Facebook and Twitter yesterday. If you don't care what I think about it, stop reading now. I won't be offended.

Yesterday saw much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Ancestry.com and it's site FindAGrave site fell victim to a sustained DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) Attack. For those who thought it was their own computer or internet service preventing them from accessing Ancestry.com you can rest easy. You can read updates at https://www.facebook.com/Ancestry.com

Briefly a DDOS attack comes from hackers on multiple computers that send out bots to hit the designated website's servers. Because there are so many bots and they can hit the server in a never-ending barrage, the server is overloaded and can't deal with the requests from legitimate users. Then the site slows to a crawl or stops working completely. It can be difficult for the technicians to figure out where the bots are coming from in order to block them.

 Yesterday saw Facebook and Twitter flooded with cries of "Is anyone else having trouble getting to Ancestry?" It quickly became apparent that none of the people posting knew about the site IsItDownRightNow at http://www.isitdownrightnow.com This site allows you to check on the status of any site on the Internet. That's a much better idea than hundreds if not thousands of people posting the same question. 

But back to the shouting and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. This didn't come from Ancestry (although I'm sure they have been wiping sweat from their brows as they work diligently to stop the attacks). This reaction came from hundreds of people who posted angry messages on Ancestry's Facebook page. The responses ranged from anger ("This is BS - fix the problem!!" "I pay good money for this service!!") to despair ("I was going to do research today, now what?") It was obvious that most of those posting have no idea what a DDOS attack is and how difficult it can be to stop it. I don't criticize them because they aren't aware of these technical issues, but I do shake my head when those shouting the loudest could not be bothered to go and read up about what is involved.

A similar DDOS attack hit Feedly and Evernote last week. It is a BIG DEAL. It can take days to stop the bots from attacking the site. These recent hackers tried to extort money from the companies, with promises to stop the attack if they were paid.

I wish those who were ranting and raving about the problem knew what they were talking about. Those saner heads who tried to calm folks down with explanations of a DDOS attack and links where folks could read about it were shouted down and accused of being Ancestry shills. It was quite disturbing to see the lynch mob mentality that took over.

As for those who were whimpering about not being able to do their research or access their family tree (because we all know how dreadfully IMPORTANT it is to check something on that tree RIGHT NOW!!!!) what about taking a break and doing something else? Phone your favourite aunt or sister. Visit friends. Bake cookies. Read a good book. Play with your kids. DO SOMETHING ELSE!

Good grief! Not being able to get to Ancestry for the day is a first world problem. Think about it! There are children starving in other parts of the world. Women are being stoned for marrying without their parents' approval. People are being shot for being Christians. Those are big deals. Not accessing Ancestry or FindAGrave for a day are small issues in the overall scheme of life.

Rant Time! - The Wrong Way to Ask For Help

I should have called this blog post "How to Annoy the Person Who Offered to Help You"

The email I'm about to share with you is the kind of email that makes me want to throw my hands in the air and say "I give up. I'm done. Why am I bothering??"

As a preface, many of you know that I maintain several websites and blogs. For anyone interested, the complete list of my 20 blogs and websites is on my About Lorine page. 

My main website is Olive Tree Genealogy which I started in 1996. One of my blogs is Ask Olive Tree, where I try to help readers with their challenging research puzzles.  At no time in the 17 years I've had a website online have I ever charged anything to view the  content I have transcribed and published.  All content on all my sites and blogs is free. Ask Olive Tree blog is one of the free services I offer.

So I'm pretty busy bringing free content online and trying to help other genealogists as much as I can.  I happily give up my own time to do this.  I have to get the content, then transcribe or index it. I have to  maintain the sites, fix broken links and so on.  And having been online the past 17  years makes me an official internet dinosaur!

I don't talk about the financial aspect much but I also spend my own money to acquire content to publish for free. And of course, I pay for my webhosting and other incidental expenses out of my own pocket.

I'm not whining about my workload or asking for applause or sympathy, just setting the scene so my readers understand why the email I received today annoyed and bothered me so much. I get emails like these once in awhile, and usually I just sigh and shake my head in disbelief, but this one managed to push me over the edge.

In his first email this person wrote to Ask Olive Tree blog and demanded (not asked - demanded) to know why I do not have any ships passenger lists online sailing from England to Virginia between 1635 and 1700 on my Olive Tree Genealogy website. I would think a little common sense and reading my articles about ships passenger lists to USA might give him some guesses why..... here's a few answers that come to mind immediately:

1. I am lazy and didn't feel like putting any online (not likely but it's an option as an answer)
2. I ran out of money and/or time to transcribe them and put them online (very possible)
3. My health prevents me from working on my sites as much as I'd like to (that's true)
4. I have a life outside of genealogy and the internet (some would disagree with this but it really is true)
5. Before 1825 ships passenger lists to USA didn't have to be kept. So finding any for this earlier time period is a bonus as very few exist. (Bingo!)

That email was a tad irritating to me but his followup email was the one that got me. Here it is

if Olive Tree can only partially answer queries - why would I what to pay and join Olive Tree to begin with ?  If you guys don't have a clue like you said you did and can't help find the answers to my questions- why should I sign up?

I'm sure my readers have instantly spotted the huge misconceptions this dude has about me and my site. But let's break it down to the errors and the demands found in his email:

1. "partially answer queries"?? I cannot  respond to every query that comes my way. I'd need 72 hours in the day and no down time with family and friends

2. "Pay"?? Where on any of my sites do you find me asking for money??? Oh, where I sell my books. But you aren't asking to buy one of my books, you want me to answer your query. No charge for that buddy and I defy you to find where I say you have to pay me to help you.

3. "Join Olive Tree"? What the heck are you talking about? Where do I have anything on my sites that says you have to "join" ???

4. "You guys"?? What "guys"?? There's just ME. One person. And what's with this "don't have a clue" Gosh I consider myself fairly knowledgeable but I freely admit I do not know the answer to every single genealogy question that comes my way!

5. "Sign up"?? For what? Again, where do you find something on my sites or blogs that requires you to "sign up" for my free services or my free content!

Phew. I feel better now. I needed to vent and I hope my readers understand that sometimes - rarely but once in awhile - I need to share my frustration with you. Thanks for listening and please don't send me emails telling me if I don't like what I'm doing and can't take the heat I should give it all up.

Because as much as I sometimes feel like throwing in the towel when I see emails like the one this morning, I love doing this. And I love meeting (albeit virtually) my readers and site visitors and interacting with them. Thanks for listening. I think my blood pressure is slowly returning to normal.

The Frustration Over Online Family Trees Gone Bad

This morning on my personal Facebook page I posted a rant for my status update. I ranted about online family trees that were rife with huge errors. Errors that included linking a census record for a man aged 29 to a man of the same name who was over 70. And yes, the owner of the tree had his birth year correct in the tree.

A second error involved a marriage to his wife, correctly identified in this online tree. Children born to the couple were also correctly identified with birth years beginning in 1801. But the tree owner linked to a marriage in 1832 stating this was for the man and his wife. Not only is that impossible given the birth years of their children but a quick click on the link showed the marriage to be in a different state and for a man with the same name but marrying an entirely different wife!

And so  I vented, expressing my dismay at the public posting of a tree so obviously incorrect. And the fact that at least six other researchers had copied the mistakes and posted them to their own public trees.

My rant, to my surprise, generated a heated discussion! It's been very interesting and some excellent ideas and suggestions were given for combating these types of errors without becoming the genealogy police.

It's tricky to critique another person's tree. Most of us don't take kindly to being told we're wrong. And it doesn't seem to matter how gently or kindly you express it, the bottom line is - you're telling someone they goofed.

Most of us agreed that the best method is to instruct through online tutorials, webinars, video how tos, to be come a mentor and to lead by example.  I often write  articles that I hope will guide those new to genealogy and help them become better genealogists.  You can find some of these on Olive Tree Genealogy blog under the topic heading TUTORIALS in the right side nav bar.  And there's an abundance of material out there to allow all of us, from the beginner to the experienced, to learn something new.

What's your opinion? 

Credit: Image from Fotolia