Cyndi's List Has Been Copied for Profit

Article by the lady that created and maintains Cyndi's List ~

I've spent the last two days documenting and laying the foundation for a lawsuit because my entire web site was copied and put on another person's for-profit site. This has been gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. I'm exhausted and upset. And in the end it hurts all of you too because I didn't get any other work done on Cyndi's List during this time.

This makes me wonder if people really understand what it is that i do. I spend 12 to 14 hours a day working on maintaining the site. By myself. I've had some help here and there over the past 16 years. But this site was literally built by hand, by me. I visit each web site, determine a title, description and categorization. I attempt to keep up on new trends. I do what I can to fix broken links. And last year I spent $40,000 of my own money to upgrade the site in order to make it easier to maintain and easier to use. The site is free for all of you to use. And thanks to you very generous people who donated money, 39% of my expense has been made up. I'm still working to pay off that bill.

I am a single mother. This is my sole source of income and I am not rich. I keep the site free for you to use, but earn the money on advertisements and commissions. I can't afford to spend a lot to maintain the site or to fight big legal battles. When I found that this person had just TAKEN 16 years worth of my blood, sweat, and tears I was absolutely stunned. I still am.

Thanks for taking the time to read my venting. I'm going to go create a new category now...  - Cyndi Howells       Like Cyndi's List on Facebook

                                           

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Dick Eastman reported on his online newsletter:

Cyndi's List versus the Rip-off Artist

A sad event is unfolding on the popular Cyndi's List web site. As Cyndi Howells has written, "Be sure to read the blog article on copyright below. I've spent the last two days documenting and laying the foundation for a lawsuit because my entire web site was copied and put on another person's for-profit site. This has been gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. I'm exhausted and upset. And in the end it hurts all of you too because I didn't get any other work done on Cyndi's List during this time."

Some people are ignorant of copyright laws. Others simply don't care as these freeloaders will do anything to make a buck off someone else's hard work. I am not sure which excuse is appropriate here but, either way, it is no excuse. - Eastman's EOGN

I have been using Cyndi's List since just a few months after she started in 1996.  Several of my genealogical sites and Becky's Adoption Page were submitted to her list in 1996.  All of my KYGenWeb sites were linked on her site... the same with the TSGS and SAR web site.  It is not the links that are copyrighted - it is the collecting, organizing, listing and presentation that can be protected under law. Same with publications of public records in books or on Internet sites like Ancestry.com or Heritage Quest... the records can not be copyrighted, but the compilation and work to present them can be protected by law. One could argue, "well my work looks like theirs because I copied the same public records from the same public source." However, many compilers insert a few obvious mistakes that are usually copied in total from their work proving that the material was not copied from the records or collected other than from the hard work of the compiler. Stealing is stealing! It is immoral and illegal!! - JGWest

Tri-State Genealogical Society - Which One?

I was looking through Cyndi's List for some information on "Digital Archiving" and found myself looking in "Societies & Groups" and thought I would check to see if we were listed, Cyndi only has 7280 links for this category.  Good news, we were listed and with a separate link for this blog.  But the bad news is that there are four "Tri-State Genealogical Societies" listed... which one are we?  Well, that is not difficult to see which one represents Indiana, Illinois & Kentucky as each one lists which tri-state is represented by that organization. 

Besides the 4 tri-state groups, there are 3 tri-county societies and a tri-city.  Bear in mind that these are listed because they each have a web site of one sort or another... there may be more tri-state, tri-county or tri-city groups that do not have a web site or have not ensured that they were listed.  As I said our TSGS represents IN, KY, IL... there is one for 3 counties in WV, OH, PA (they could have called themselves "tri-county" as well!).  The other 2 TSGS's cover South Dakota, Montana & Wyoming with the second one covering Arizona, California and Nevada.

We can boast about being around for a long time being organized in 1977, but Tri-City Genealogical Society was founded in 1961.

Here is a link to our web site: TSGS: IL, IN, KY

You can "LIKE" us on Face Book
Tri-State Genealogical Society

- Compiled by JGWest

"Cyndi Howells Announces Updates for Cyndi's List"

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This from her email list...

I decided to rename my City Directories category and sort some of the
sub-cats into locality specific sections (this is all long overdue).
New name and address: Directories: City, County, Address, etc.
http://www.cyndislist.com/directories/

I've been working on a lot of links into this site recently. Lots of
great historical resources including several county directories.
Library Ireland: Irish History and Culture,
http://www.libraryireland.com/. A free online resource of Irish
history, culture, folklore, genealogy, music, literature, biography,
and all aspects of Ireland.

-~-~-~-
Cyndi Ingle Howells
www.CyndisList.com
Cyndi@CyndisList.com

"Obsolete Occupations"

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Here is a great example of local obsolete occupations involving street cars found on the grave marker of Frank T. Lefler buried in Section 67 of Evansville's Oak Hill Cemetery. Wonder if the local paid for the marker or was he an official of the Local?

This photo & a nice link to other obsolete jobs was submitted by Christopher Myers (March 2010). Check this site for photos of some workers performing some obsolete jobs: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124251060

Here is a great list of job titles from "yesteryear" that genealogists & historians encounter and wonder just what was that job: (Found on Cyndi's List http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wiashlan/occupations.html

This reminds me of a joke... there were these two country cousins of mine that were very patriotic and with all of the strife in the world today, these two strappy young men decided to enlist in the military to help the good ol' USA fight aginst its enemies. The recruiter took one look at these two hillbillies and thought "no way!" He told them they were only accepting those that had needed skills. Oh, boy, this sure excited my cousins! Elroy excitedly stated that he was a "pilot" which really impressed & surprised the recruiter. He told Elroy to go in the other room to fill out enlistment papers. Clem with a big grin proudly stated that he was the best firewood cutter in Jenkins County. Well, the recruiter said that they really did not need firewood cut or otherwise. Clem retorted: "Well, you took Elroy and you have to cut it before he can pile it!" - JGWest

Cyndi's List Launches a New Web Site

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cyndi's List Launches a New Web Site

A major upgrade to celebrate 15 years of service

EDGEWOOD, WASHINGTON (June 6, 2011) ­ Cyndi's List is proud to announce

a newly upgraded web site. With improved navigation, a custom database,

and a custom administrative interface, the upgrade means that everything

will be quicker and easier for both visitors and for the site's owner

and administrator, Cyndi Ingle Howells. The upgrade has been done by

fusionSpan of Maryland. Their staff worked closely with Cyndi to make

improvements and to implement new technology and new ideas designed

specifically for Cyndi’s List and for the genealogical community.

Part of the upgrade was made possible by donations from generous users

of Cyndi’s List. To date, 20% of what was accomplished in the project

was thanks to them. Donors have been listed on the web site.

What's New with the Upgrade:

* The front page of the Cyndi's List site has a rolling genealogy news

feed and a link to The Cyndi’s List Daily, a daily dose of family

history news as tagged in Twitter and Facebook. Start each day with the

front page of Cyndi's List and read the current genealogy news stories.

* The links are now contained within a database and pages will be

dynamically loaded on each visit.

* The custom database and administration interface means that

maintaining the link list will be much easier for Cyndi, which

ultimately benefits the user with faster and more frequent updates.

* The new interface means that the backlog of uncategorized links can be

processed much faster. The goal is to get the entire backlog done by the

end of this year.

* New links will be reviewed, approved, and categorized within 24-72

hours after submission by visitors.

* Updates made to Cyndi's List will be immediately available to the public.

* Previous to the upgrade, the "What's New" page and mailing list post

contained only new links submitted by visitors. The new "What's New"

page and e-mail will contain those, as well as links added to the site

during the day by Cyndi, *and* existing links that have been updated

throughout the site (new addresses, updated descriptions, etc.).

* Across the site links have been labeled with graphics as "new" or

"updated" when appropriate. With the upgrade these will now be

text-based notations (easily spotted in green), which means that you can

search on a page for "new" or "updated" with the Edit>Find function in

your web browser.

* Now sub-categories within a category heading each have their own page.

And each page displays 20 links, with pagination in place to go to the

next page and so on. This means there will be a lot less scrolling

through long pages as in the past. Shorter pages mean faster load time

in the browser as well.

* Intuitive navigation at the top of the category makes it easy to find

your way to previous category headings.

* The number of links within each category/sub-category is displayed at

the top right on each page.

* Each of the U.S. counties (more than 3,100) now has a designated page

of its own.

* URLs (addresses) for the pages have changed so bookmarks, favorites,

and links to Cyndi's List will need to be updated.

* Opportunities to shop, support, or donate are highlighted on each page.

What Has Stayed the Same?

* The category and sub-category names are all the same.

* Related Categories are highlighted at the top right on each category.

* The layout and format of the links are the same.

* The policies, procedures, and disclaimers for maintaining the link

list are the same.

* The Cyndi's List Mailing List will still distribute a daily What's New

e-mail and a daily Link Activity e-mail. However, the What’s New e-mail

will contain information about all new and updated links.

* You can still follow Cyndi's List on Facebook and Twitter.

* The purpose and intent of Cyndi's List is to be a free jumping-off

point for your daily genealogical research.

* Cyndi’s List remains free for everyone to use just as it has for the

past 15 years.

* This is still just a one-woman show!

"I started doing genealogy research in earnest back in 1998 and Cyndi's

List has always been one of my very favorite websites. It is on my 'Go

To' list because I always find so much good information there.” --Kay F.

"I've relied on your website as THE best resource on the 'net to help

with my research..." --Jan J.

"Where can you get at all things genealogical in one fell swoop?

Everyone knows it's CyndisList.com. Every genealogist who uses the web

MUST use Cyndi's List." --Polly K.

About CyndisList.com

CyndisList.com is the world's largest one-woman family history resource,

with more than 300,000 categorized links for genealogical research. For

more than 15 years Cyndi's List has helped hundreds of thousands of

people with their online journey to trace their family history. The site

averages 275,000 unique visitors and 5,000,000 page hits every month.

Cyndi's List has won numerous awards and consistently remains one of the

top genealogical portals for beginners, intermediate, and veteran

researchers.

About fusionSpan

fusionSpan is a start-up consulting firm focused on serving the

comprehensive needs of non-profit associations and commercial

organizations in the full range of the business cycle. With a core staff

of highly experienced professionals from non-profit associations and a

team approach to most consulting projects, fusionSpan will be able to

offer a more balanced quality service and sustainable solution than many

of its competitors. Our expertise covers the entire range of the web

site and application development process: Strategy, Design, Development,

Hosting, and Maintenance. For more information, visit www.fusionSpan.com

"What Do You Mean By That?"

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Do you remember the song,

"What's it All About, Alfie?" It was the theme song of the 1966 movie "Alfie."

As I took my wife, Becky, to work this morning a song on the radio reminded me of this tune, what's it all about? The song on the radio prompted me to ask, when they say "funky music" in the song does it mean "cool, neat, hip or bad music?" or does it mean "bad music!" Becky said it meant "groovy music!" I retorted, "what do you mean by that?" Of course she meant it was really "hot" music for the time. Ok, hopefully, you get the idea - that many words have different meanings at different times and when used to express certain concepts. In our modern times, we abuse the meaning of words with what many might call "slang." Today we often will say something is bad meaning it is really good!

It is easy to mis-understand these terms or the actual meaning that is being implied. When we do our genealogy, misunderstanding the meaning of terms or phrases can mis-lead us in our research. My first encounter with such terms was the word "relict" on a tombstone. "Mary, relict of William Smith." Was Mary an "old, worn-out" mistress of William's? What did it mean? It meant that she was his widow! And it means that William died before she did!!!

Cyndi's List has many great dictionaries, glossaries, etc. to help you define the meaning of something you find during your research... here is the link to that part: http://www.cyndislist.com/diction.htm

- Written by JGWest

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER - Research Tips

Recently, Cyndi Howells of Cyndi's List stated on FaceBook: "I might end up sounding like a broken record here. But my initial tips on working your ancestors are: 1) get *all* possible records for each ancestor. 2) create a timeline for each ancestor that shows date-by-date what you know from your research. 3) map your ancestors--getting a geographical perspective is so important. 4) know the history of the time and place in which your ancestor lived." [This is used here with permission.] This is about the simpliest and best advice or tip I have seen in all of my genealogical researching over the last 50 years! Although this looks and seems simple it is not simple to do, but is essential to help prevent "brick walls" or "barking up the wrong tree!" The only thing that I might add to this would be to maintain "family group sheets" to help you keep up with family relationships as you research.

In 1996, I remember corresponding with Cyndi when she was just getting her list going good. She said that she hoped that everyone would be patient with her to get new links online since she was basically just an everyday housewife with children. As time went on Cyndi became a celebrity, author, lecturer, speaker appearing in magazines and TV. Cyndi's List is incredible and one of the most important "favorites link" of all for genealogists (and historians) to use daily! Here is the link to her site: http://www.cyndislist.com/

Cyndi's List is a free service to genealogists to help us find online resources and information. As her site states ~ "Your genealogy starting point online for more than a decade!" There are 280,000 plus links in over 180 categories. She is constantly updating links as quickly as they are broken and adding new links as they are found or reported. Thanks Cyndi Howells for all that you have done!

"The Genealogy Funny Papers" - Just for Fun

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The Genealogy Funny Papers...

A list of links to pages that will make you smile and maybe even laugh out loud! (If you know of other sites, please send them to me to share with our bloggers.)

These were sent to me by Don Counts:

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tracers/thefunny.htm

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ruthptb/Funny_Genealogy_Stuff.html

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~frankbarton/stories/funny.html

http://familyhistory101.com/blog/?p=11

Cyndi's List has some very good sites for humor and unusual items of genealogical interest -

http://www.cyndislist.com/humor.htm

Here are some that I have collected over the years:

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cpalmer/ponder.htm

http://lest-we-forget.com/The_Outhouse/

http://www.potifos.com/tpg/index.html

http://www.cyndislist.com/odds.htm

I will close this list with this final little site that I encourage everyone to visit:

http://members.evansville.net/mylines/done.html

-Compiled by JGWest

"Brick Walls"

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What's this all about?

Have we reduced genealogy to building walls? Well sometimes we have built our own walls that we can not get past. What I mean by that is how we do research. We sometimes get excited about new leads or the volume of new information. When this happens, we sometimes do not begin to build a solid foundation for our research... making sure of our sources and evaluating the evidence before we continue. Now, you would think that building a poor foundation would make tumbling a brick wall easier! This fact would be valid except that we have piled a lot of garbage & other waste products around the wall to fortify it. Like the old joke about college degrees: "BS, MS & PHD" - the last being "piled higher & deeper." You might ask about making a solid foundation, wouldn't that make it harder to knock down a brick wall? No, because your documentation and sources provide lots of doors and windows to the previous generations.

However, sometimes we have been doing quality work building our family history, but records are missing or there seem to be few clues to where to look for our ancestors. Much has been written on this subject. Cyndi's List has a whole category devoted to this subject with 38 links to sites that attempt to help us tear down brick walls stopping us from going back in time. The category is called: "Hit a Brick Wall?" http://www.cyndislist.com/hitbrick.htm The first link is for buying a copy of the book "500 Brick Wall Solutions to Genealogical Problems"... we have a copy of this book at Willard Library. I reviewed it for the Tri-State Packet several years ago.

Good luck & keep digging and knocking down brick walls!

- Written by JGWest

Cyndi's List

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Cyndi's List? What in the world is that?

What is Cyndi's List?
A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet.
A list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
A free jumping-off point for you to use in your online research.
A "card catalog" to the genealogical collection in the immense library that is the Internet.
Your genealogical research portal onto the Internet since 1996!


When I first started being active on the Internet with my first web sites back in 1996, I began with Larue County, Kentucky for the new network called the KYGenWeb Project. Soon the project expanded to become a the USGenWeb Project. Late 1996 or early 1997, a housewife by the name of Cyndi Howell asked if us KYGenWeb folks would consider listing our sites on her site called Cyndi's List. We all wanted as many people to come to our sites as possible... so most was happy to have her list our sites. I visited her "list" and was impressed because she had about ten thousand (10,000) links to all kind of things related to genealogy & history. She had at least 40-50 categories with some really cool sites listed. I wrote to her requesting her to link my Larue County site and mentioned that we had an adoption site. She wrote back that she visited the adoption site and had just started a new category - "Adoption" and Becky's was one of the first five listed.

Today, Cyndi's List contains 257,600 in 180+ categories, 9,520+ new & un-categorized for a total of 267,130+ links for family history! Visit her site: http://www.cyndislist.com/

- Compiled by JGWest

"What is a Hero?"

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What is a Hero?

In history and genealogy, we sometimes come upon a person that is listed as a hero. So, just what is a hero? I thought I would look this up and the following is my summary of the many definitions of “hero” ~ 1. The second album “Hero” by Divinefire, a Swedish Christian Symphonic Power metal music group. 2. A person known for special abilities or courage, admired for brave deeds or noble qualities, often saving someone's life... one who performs heroic, unselfish acts. The second definition was what I was looking for.

I have known such a person for quite some time... he is a friend. This guy unselfishly helped me cut up limbs in my back yard after this year's ice storm. The whole back yard was covered with fallen limbs the size of trees. We worked all day long. He called several times to volunteer and even brought a chain saw and some cutters. Then months later, when the city condemned part of the garage, he volunteered again. With his help we got that half of the garage tore down in two days. Becky & I call this guy a hero.


However, these are the type of things a hero does when he is not being a Super Hero! Our friend, Christopher Myers, is a true “Super Hero!” This past week, Chris went to Indianapolis to donate bone marrow for someone he did not know because he was a match and that person needed it to live. This qualifies for a brave & noble deed... an unselfish act that will save someone's life!
Chris created our TSGS Web Site for us when he was not even a member... he did it because he thought we needed a presence on the Internet. I talked him into joining the society and appointed him our first Official TSGS Webmaster. He developed a great web site that Cydi Howell (of “Cydi's List” a huge genealogical links site) at a national genealogical conference stated was one of the best she had seen. Our local Ohio Valley SAR Chapter asked Chris to be our Newsletter Editor... it had been a simple one-page fact sheet to let members know what we were doing as part of a meeting notice. He developed for his first edition a full-color, eight-page newsletter with photos called the “Ohio Valley Arsenal.”

Chris continues to surprise me of all of the unselfish deeds he quietly does for others... he is a hero!

-Photos saved from Christopher D. Myers' Facebook site.
- Article written by JGWest.

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER - Research Tips

Cyndi's
List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet

I can remember when Cyndi Howell was first getting started with her fanatasic list of genealogical sites on the Internet. She had just requested KYGenWeb County Coordinator's to list their web sites on her list. She had about 4,000 or so on her list in 1996. This morning she has over 264,000 links with over 180 categories. If you have never used her list, you should. If you are like a lot of us, we need to re-visit the page.

I love her "Genealogy Webpage Construction Kit!" Cyndi's List is the first place researchers should go. There is so much on her site, I could write for hours and not do this site justice. Go visit it!

- Submitted by JGWest

RACING DOWN the RIVER -Brief Genealogical Notes

Genealogical Links and Notes

From Don Counts – Footnote (the place for original historical documents online) announces huge WWII records archive now online at http://www.footnote.com/

From Willard Library – Super Web Site updated with many new features and greatly enhanced look. TSGS announcements & basic web page included. Easy access to Willard's genealogical databases & HeritageQuest and much more! Go to: http://www.willard.lib.in.us/


From Becky West – Adoption.com provides some great resources & news concerning all phases of adoptions. Good section on Adoptees, Birthparents & Search. Site has an Indiana page and, even, an Evansville page with interactive forums. See: http://news.adoption.com/

From Pinkston Gregory III – Cyndi's List is THE genealogical resource “links” page and much more! If you are not familiar with this site, you need to click the link to see it immediately: http://www.cyndislist.com/