Hi List - as regards sharing info,
I have been researching my family for only several years now and without the
web, and information other people posted there, or contacts with other
researchers, I would never have had a clue as to where to look. I had no idea
even where my grandparents came from.
I have found, unfortunately, that it is up to the person furnishing info to
see to it that there is nothing in that digital file that they don't want
used in public. This is the age of the computer and the web after all. I
learned this lesson the hard way. I myself have found info on some of my
family posted on the web that I didn't put there. However, I feel it's my own
fault. When I started out - I never thought how or where it might be used. I
have no problem with people posting info on my family research, that's how I
get contacts for even more information most of the time! However, I no longer
blindly send my entire file anywhere either!
As far as using someone else's research that they have worked hard on - if
you want to guard all that hard work - either state those conditions up front
or don't share and don't use the web! Of course - that also means - don't ask
or make any new contacts! If we all felt that way places like
Ancestry.com
wouldn't exist.
As for genealogy societies - their function, after all, is to distribute
information on ANYONE's ancestors from all sources DONATED to them . That's
why researchers go there or write them in the first place! The
"professional" researcher who feels that the Switzerland Historical Society
gave away his/her info - has no excuse, as I see it, not to have known that
it would be given out as just one more source on my/your ancestor, if it was
verified! I'm sure he/she has used that and other societies to benefit their
own research! If I was out there trying to publish a book on my family line,
and then sell it for profit, I believe I wouldn't be sharing either!
Thank goodness, the sweet lady who had done 20 years of research on my direct
family line, the hard way, all typewritten and handwritten, obviously
obtained through many years and much legwork, was thrilled to share her
entire notebook with me. AND I found this great person through a contact on
the web! Fortunately - she was not of the mindset that because she had worked
hard - she wasn't going to share that hard work with someone interested in
her same family even though I am not in her direct line!
Sorry for the long diatribe here! Hopefully, of some help to anyone just
getting started who doesn't know the ground rules.
L. Livers - Louisville