Why should I be upset if people upload uncredited copies of material from this
site to their pages on commercial sites like Ancestry or Genes Reunited?
After-all, despite investing hundreds of hours collating data, obtaining
certificates, preparing photographs, tying links together, communicating
with various like-minded people to discuss and share findings, entering
it all in to a database with comments for people without access to the
census scans, I then go and create this website to allow anyone interested
to use it for no cost whatsoever?
What exactly is being stolen?
The purpose of this site is to share - my pictures, my stories, my
conclusions and my thanks to the people who have helped me along the
way. It might even point others looking for information about their
family histories in the right direction. Sharing, however, is a two-way
process and as soon as a photograph, or whatever, is copied to
another site without mentioning where it came from then I have lost any
chance of being contacted by anyone coming across it. My chance
of benefiting from feedback and making new contacts has been taken from me.
There is another issue, if I have made mistakes when linking individuals, again no-one can 'put me right'. Many of my records include reservations about my conclusions, if only the relationships are copied and not my doubts then these could be taken as 'fact' when they are not. My ability to present accurate information has been compromised.
Ultimately, I have to
trust that users of this site will respect my request shown at the
bottom of each page. Unfortunately, some have already chosen to ignore
it and I have found my mistakes, notes, pictures and copies of the
Wills cropping up in several members' trees on Ancestry, etc breaching those
sites' guidelines. Once my material is there, it can be copied by
others, in good faith, not knowing of the original source.
If you are intent on re-publishing my work then I would make three requests:
1. Send an e-mail to me using the link below saying what you want to do.
2. Do not copy names of individuals identified as 'living', or if their birth date has been suppressed, without their permission.
3. Add a comment on your page to say that the materials, and permission to upload them, have been obtained from www.egginton.net
