Lynda,
I think it is a great idea to share your work by
having your own website.  I would make one suggestion:
 Limit the scope. Only post what you know to be true,
with sources cited.  Don’t give sources that you
haven’t actually seen yourself.  Leave out all of your
“ifs and and buts” and reasoning . While your
suspicions about suspected ancestors would be great in
a scholarly journal, the casual atmosphere on the
internet ensures that someone will pick up every “if,
and, but” and report it as fact. Don’t use “possibly
the son of" .  Someone will leave out “possibly”.
This starts the chain of unsubstantiated rumor being
reported as fact all over the net.  Sooner or later,
you will be substantiating your suspicions, with
someone else’s “facts” – which they got from you. Or,
worse yet, they may report you as the source. If a
cousin contacts you, you can then decide how much of
your on-going research to share.

When limiting the scope, leave out living generations.

Although myfamily.com claims to have a system of
leaving out living people, it is not accurate yet.

I think the advantage of sharing outweighs the
disadvantage of possible plagiarism. On the theory
that I can't stop the stealing, I will just be careful
that what might be stolen from me is worth stealing.

Langdon Hagen-Long


--- [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Hello, all.
>
> I've been a VA roots list member for a number of
> years and I have been
> trying, off and on, to gather as much information as
> I can about my ancestors amidst
> life's demands. In light of the past few emails
> about posting information, do
> any of you recommend a web database where I can post
> the information I have
> gathered so far in hope of finding a match? I feel
> strongly about sharing
> freely, while I would like credit for my research
> and give credit too, and would
> like the information to be easily accessible. Do you
> think I should get a
> website of my own?
>
> In the past, I have posted on genforum and sent a
> handful of emails to this
> list but I have not made any valuable connections in
> a while.
> Thanks,
> Lynda (Harris) Lilly
> Harrises of Campbell County
> Researching Virginia: Harris, Wright, Doss, Roach,
> Nix, St. John, Hood, Lewis
>
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