HATCHER website: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/faq.htm
HATCHER DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hatDNA.htm
Researching: Cook, Hall, Hatcher, Miller, Shepherd, Timberman
"Genealogy without Documentation is Nothing" - Paul Drake

Darryl wrote:
"and it appears that OWT doesn't actually "take" our data, they link to
'parts' of it via an indexing process. They don't include our notes, because
the submitters are the authors of the note and therefore the (c) holders."

And isn't the bottom line the simple fact that none of us hold copyright to
the names, dates, and places found in public records? We would be protected
against someone plagairizing our work in its entirety (including
analytic/personal notes, etc) but no one can be legally protected from
someone using public record data no matter how many years of research on
your part.

And although there are many complaints against those who simply copy
another's research, it is also true that if you or I are able to compile a
complete history of our particular family thru public records, someone else
is equally as capable. This small fact is what makes me a bit uncomfortable
when someone refers to "my" research. If you submit your family to
Worldconnect with NO sourcing and I research your family by confirming all
members thru census/marriage/death records and I provide those sources on my
file, is it still "your" research? Have I not also taken the time to prove
this family? If I've never seen your work but find your family and research
them completely independent of you, can I not claim to have researched them?

It's really a Catch-22 situation in my mind.

I will say, in defense of Ancestry, that the $$ I've spent subscribing to
their census subscription have been more than worth it in my research. As
someone living in SD with access to nothing but the history of Wild Bill
Hickok and Calamity Jane, Ancestry has been an invaluable solution for me.

Whether their OWT project will be worth it or not remains to be seen. If it
ends up producing a man and wife born 200 yrs apart, I think they've got a
long way to go and a few glitches to work out.

Nel

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