Morning Angela,
Ah....controversy. I love good controversy...:-) First of all let me say
that I appreciate your enlightenment. Thanks.... :-) I too have received
an e-mail from
FamilyDiscovery.com and like most of the other unsolicited
(read junk) mail that I get I was curious, using the vernacular, "whuzup".
(I thought I smelled FamilyTreeMaker again) Like 99.9% of the junk mail I
receive it succumbed quickly to my DELETE key.
Secondly since you as list owner brought it up I presume this line is
somewhat "on topic" and there for replying to the list not a breach of
"net
etiquette". It is Sunday morning. I have had too much coffee and I guess I
am just looking to "liven things up a bit" on an otherwise quite list.
So....Norm .....STEPPING UP ON SOAP BOX.
As you foretold...and maybe instigated...:-) I went to take a look at the
aforementioned site.
Amongst my many "Prime Directives" is - CAVEAT EMPTOR!
Amongst my "Life's Lessons Learned" are:
a. There are almost no absolutes in life. Corollary: Little is black and
white...there are just many shades of gray.
b. One mans trash is another mans treasure. I don't own an Ab-Roller but
I do have an EggWay (My mom sent it to me..:-).
c. No matter what you do, say, or think there will be different points of
view and vigorous opposition. I offer as evidence the last presidential
election.
d. There is a sucker born every minute. Actually I think the rate is a
great deal higher than that. Look at the two previous presidential
elections....:-)
e. Never try and teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the
pig.
f. Don't go looking for a gas leak with a match.
g. Don't try to push a rope.
h. You can always change the channel or turn the TV off if you don't like
what you see.
NOTE: e.-g. are not necessarily applicable here but I like them.
My observations concerning the gent in the limelight is that the pressure
folks like you and Gene have put on this site might have caused him to be a
smidgen more forthright. It appears to me now (at this instant in time)
that he is not claiming (in fact disclaiming) that any of the information he
provides is original research but rather that he is offering a service (a
search engine) for a fee. ( For the moment I will stick with Altavista,
Google, Yahoo, Rootsweb and ignore/tolearate the advertising. The
FamilyTreeMaker/MyFamily,.com connection will not , I bet, abate the
situation. Hey this is the United States and "Life's Lessons Learned" h.
applies....:-)
I have applied "Life's Lessons Learned" a.-d. and concluded that the
DELETE
key was the proper course of action on my part. BUT... doing a bit of
extemporaneous thinking (which always seems to get me in trouble) I now have
the following question.
I wonder if the fella in question a rouge and charlatan or he on the up and
up trying to offer a legitimate service but going about it in a manner that
is offensive to some? There are similar legitimate services which I would
not pay for that others might choose to willingly partake of. Quickly
coming to mind are on-line censuses, some of FamilyTreeMaker's CD
collection, and again the Ab-Roller.
I live too close to the National Archive to want to pay for the census but
other folks might feel differently.
In my opinion much of the info on the FamilyTreeMaker's World Family Tree
CD's is of dubious value. Then again some folks pay sticker price for a new
car and are quite satisfied.
An Ab-Roller would probably do no harm and might even help, and Lord knows I
do need it, but...well..... :-)
Norm .....STEPPING DOWN FROM SOAP BOX....the caffine buzz is wearing off and
it looks like it might be "good enough" weather for golf.
Again, thanks to you I now I have more complete comprehension of the
situation, not to mention a self-induced bout of carpal tunnel syndrome. I
am looking forward to spectating and perhaps participating in the brouhaha
which just might follow. The net just seems to be a spawning ground for
such things.
I shall continue to I apply my "Prime Directives" and hopefully benefit from
my "Life's Lessons Learned".
Enjoy,
Norm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Angela Kneller" <angela(a)kneller.com>
To: <INWHITLE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2001 11:48 PM
Subject: [INWHITLE] Web Site Caution
Since around September there has been a new subscription
genealogy
site on the net which has caused quite a bit of uproar, especially for
those
with genealogy sites, generally ones dealing with a specific locality. Some
of you may have already been "spamed" by this site, which is
www.FamilyDiscovery.com. If you have come across this site or have thought
about subscribing to this site, I urge you (okay, BEG you) not to waste your
money.
Okay, now to tell you why and what this site is about. I'm sure most
of
you who haven't heard of it will take a peek at it! What FamilyDiscovery
does is surf the web for genealogy sites and link to specific pages located
on another's site. Not a bad thing, actually a good thing really. Problem
is, they "capture" the link in frames so it appears as if the information
you are viewing is actually a part of their site. Thus very misleading and
they are charging you to view what is already online for free. I located on
two pages a small disclaimer about how the site is a collection of "external
links" but you had better scroll all the way to the bottom and get your
reading glasses out.
I think this practice is VERY misleading if not fraud, which is being
researched. I check this site regularly as I would be very upset to see
information "appearing" to be done by them that I and volunteers have spent
numerous hours and days transcribing and working on. If you have a
genealogy site and would like more information as to how to check to see
what records they have listed, please contact me privately at
angela(a)kneller.com.
Gene Olsen has created a web site with much information on
FamilyDiscovery.com
including correspondence with the owner (a must read to
get the just of the situation). Gene's site can be located at
http://www.compuright.net/familydiscovery/
I just don't want people to get taken by this website as others have.
The
information that this site is offering for a fee is placed online for
free by hard working people and most can easily be found my a search engine
or by going to
www.CyndisList.com which is an awesome compilation of
genealogy website links.
If you have any questions just ask and I will try to answer to the
best of my
abilities.
Have a good evening!
Best Regards,
Angela Kneller
angela(a)kneller.com
==============================
Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history
learning and how-to articles on the Internet.
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library