Patricia Tidmarsh wrote:
Here is some information that was on the FIDO BBS Genealogy Thread in
the
mid-1990s:
Carmans in Greene County Ohio 19c and early 20c.
[example of names/dates/places
snipped]
I did not copy the email of the person who obtained the information
originally although I know where she got it.
I post this as an example of internet sourcing problems. I have posted
before about the enormous amount of information posted in the early 90s on
Prodigy and possibly before. [some snipped]
This information is, as far as I know, is accurately transcribed, although
there appears to be a date which is not ascribed to anything. Who should
this information be attributed to? I did not get the email address or the
actual date of the message. I do have the senders name and can look up a
new email address. I believe the actual dates are taken from a
book which is in the public domain because it was published more than 95
years ago.
I am using this information for private research and do not intend to use
it commercially or publish it. IMHO it is not necessary to source it in a
mailing list. Anyone who intends to publish the information or use it
commercially would have a different problem.
If you have an opinion on this I would be interested.
This is a problem that often faces me, if I wait to find the exact sources
and dates for information, then I usually never put it online. In this
case, the poster really found the material. Should that person be
credited? What if I write the place where she got the material and get it
myself? What if I find that book mentioned at the online catalogs for New
York Public Library or Sutra in California or UTexas or UIll?
If I put my email as the source? Will it be valid a year from now?
I am not researching this line. If I were I would have to look into that
unassociated date and the source of the book itself.
I would also check the Sierra 1812 data base which is free this month to
see if he is there.
Regards,
Patricia
Patricia,
My opinion, for what it's worth as a non-lawyer and family history
hobbyist with much to learn...is that we have to admit that we're human.
In the course of tracing family history most of us end up with a jungle
of paper & notes...hopefully noting where the info came from but in
reality (being human) sometimes forgetting to take good notes even on
our own research in primary records, much less the endless papers &
notes we copied "in case this is useful someday".
Especially in your example of a limited listing of
names/dates/places--how does the original poster benefit in any way from
that data *not* being shared? It was pretty much a recital of "facts"
with no particular "creative arrangement". We know if we want to
document our lines we need to find the primary records ourselves...your
example could give another researcher outstanding clues as to where to
look for those primary records. I'd post the info and simply say
"source not recorded or unknown".
To the question of "what if I find the data myself" (I guess meaning you
have used the data as clues to find the original records)...if you can
then quote the source knowing it's accurate...of course I'd say where
others could find the data for themselves.
If *noone* could ever use anyone else's research in any way-shape-or
form there would be little point in anyone writing a family history.
In no way do I mean "pretend someone's extensive data is the results of
your own individual research", "lift" info from someone's still
copyrighted book, etc...(personally I'm baffled by the "import gedcoms
of hundreds of people just to have more names" style of genealogy but to
each his own).
If we can't share "fact-type" info---ie, "I have notes that
such-and-such a census showed thus & so", crediting where we can and
saying we don't know the source when we can't---we can just go back to
our own research, period. The mailing lists and newsgroups and bulletin
boards and websites have exploded because most people want to *share*
their resources, not hoard them.
That's my two cents worth. <g>
Linda Carman