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

What is Digital Archiving?

Is "Digital Archiving" becoming the big buzz phrase for genealogical societies, libraries and other organizations?  It is with TSGS and many other organizations everywhere!  Our genealogical society has been talking about this subject for several years now, but have not done much more than say we need to talk about it.

Our society is very fortunate to have an experienced, knowledgeable person in the computer/electronic/media field who works with data storage.  University of Southern Indiana Retired Professor Larry Goss has been trying to get us more into the electronic age.  Larry has been digitally archiving past issues of our members quarterly journal, The Tri-State Packet, for several years now.  He is wanting the society to consider other alternatives to archiving these quarterlies.

It is amazing how many other groups are going to digital newsletters and quarterlies.  But, actually, it should not be all that amazing since going digital will reduce storage space and costs.  With all of the personal media electronic devices like smart phones, Kindles, Ipads, etc.  Digital data is the way everything will be available and at our fingertips in seconds.  A 20-yr-old is working with me.  He has this cool app on his Droid that when placed near the speaker of the truck radio, it will tell him all about a song that is playing: name, artist, album, recording date and more!  He can type in a tree or insect name and in a second have a photo of it and just everything you could ever want to know about an Elm tree or a June Bug!

This very morning, Dick Eastman has on his blog Eastman's Online Genealogical Newsletter (EOGN) a good article on going paperless with digital archiving.  He has a link to another very good article that both are very good for us less knowledgeable and possibly a little to a lot electronically challenged.  I suggest everyone should read both of these short articles to reduce storage of paper and make retrieval so much easier & faster.  Here are the links to the two articles:

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/09/digital-scanning-system-replaces-paper-frees-up-space.html

http://digitalrv.rvtravel.com/2012/09/digital-scanning-system-vamooses-paper.html

Let us know what you think about "Digital Archiving."

- Written by JGWest