From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Sat Jun 24 19:07:31 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k5P17Vjb004061; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:07:31 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k5P17SYq016601 for ; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:07:28 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k5OMUrFI008850 for ; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:30:53 -0400 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k5OMUrdZ008849 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:30:53 -0400 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k5OHYxFI008317 for ; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:35:00 -0400 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k5OKBOQj026288 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:11:24 -0600 X-Envelope-From: JYoung6180@aol.com Sat Jun 24 14:11:24 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k5OKBOjb026279 for ; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:11:24 -0600 Received: from imo-m14.mx.aol.com (imo-m14.mx.aol.com [64.12.138.204]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k5OKBJc3011617 for ; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:11:20 -0600 Received: from JYoung6180@aol.com by imo-m14.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v38_r7.5.) id e.315.6c70f79 (48576) for ; Sat, 24 Jun 2006 16:11:10 -0400 (EDT) From: JYoung6180@aol.com Message-ID: <315.6c70f79.31cef65e@aol.com> Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 16:11:10 EDT To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: 9.0 SE for Windows sub 5026 X-Spam-Flag: NO X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] Re: BEST METHOD OF POSTING FAMILY DATA? <> Hands down RootsWeb's WorldConnect (http://wc.rootsweb.com) is the best place to put your genealogy file for a variety of reasons. First off, RootsWeb is a trusted place to house your file -- you retain complete control over it and can remove or edit it or change your display options at any time. WorldConnect is also the perfect off-site backup for your data since you can retrieve your original GEDCOM at any time should you lose data on your own computer. WorldConnect is also THE place where the online genealogical community will look to find you and see if they connect to your data. People can and will contact you based on your online database at WorldConnect. They will even find your errors and help you to get the correct info! There are plenty of other places to put your GEDCOM online but none with the security and time-tested reliability of WorldConnect. How would you feel if you placed your data elsewhere (exclusively) and the site went bankrupt and just plain disappeared and took your data with it? <> You have complete control--you can update or remove your GEDCOM at any time--and you can even control whether or not you want to leave any Post-em Notes placed on your file by others who find entries of interest in your file. Not sure what you mean by "responsibilities?" <> You submit your file in GEDCOM format which you create within your genealogy program and select from an array of display options--such as whether or not to include notes and sources, removing specific individuals from disply of your choosing. You create customized titles, headers, and footers for your file. You can opt to allow others to download portions of your database, the entire thing, or nothing at all. GEDCOM files are comprised of TAGS which are specific bits of data from your family tree--names, dates of birth and marriage, death dates, places where these events occurred, sources, notes, etc. Each piece of data is transferred to WorldConnect in a TAG and then displayed by WorldConnect based on the TAGS you upload in the GEDCOM. <> I would advise putting everyone--including living people, in the GEDCOM you upoad to WorldConnect. WorldConnect's exceptional living filters will then privatize the file as publicly displayed based on the options you select. By doing it this way, your entire file is there should you ever need to replace data on your own computer. <> Once you place data online, of course, it is accessible to others and they may copy the public domain portions of your file for their own use (hopefully giving you credit for your research). For most genealogists--sharing is a good thing, but there are those who would rather keep their data only within their close family -- that is a decision everyone must make before deciding to place their family tree online. Personally, I feel that just about everything you would include in a family tree is publicly accessible anyway--so if you found it, others could also do so with a bit of work--so what's to keep private? Sharing is what it is all about. None of us owns our ancestors and we can't own the information about them either--other than personally created/written notes. <> Yes I include them--but WorldConnect automatically removes all personal data on people born after 1930--the most recent year that the US Govt. has released census data. If you would prefer to privatize data based on an earlier cut-off point you can do so using options within WorldConnect's Advanced Set-up page. The Advanced Set-up page also offer the option to remove individuals from your file completely or treat them as living even if they are not. I've never had a complaint -- and the only way you would ever be required to act on a complaint would be if you displayed private (other than names, dates, and places) info about people born after 1930. At your discretion you could remove data upon request in other situations but you don't have to. <> I do---I know that based on my cut-off point living people born after that year will be privatized by WorldConnect's filters anyway. I include the data in what I upload as a protection for my data--the perfect backup. <> It varies--sometimes you get a lot of response and sometimes not--it depends on how much data is included in your file. The further back in time your file goes the more researchers out there who will connect to it. Perhaps the best response I ever received to one of my WorldConnect files was an email from a "cousin" I'd never met who happened to have photos of my great-grandfather who died in 1920 and whose picture I'd never seen! As the TV ad says--PRICELESS. Joan