Please
read this beginning information
before making a submission.
Submitting information about persons for inclusion on
websites can be tricky business. The Internet (WWW)
can be compared to a complete stranger walking up to you on the
street and pumping you for details about your life. Posting
items about living persons evokes similar extreme discomfort,
awkwardness, potential embarrassment, and an imposed sense of fear
and danger. The big difference though is that you can walk
away from a person on the street without giving information.
But, when your personal information ends up on the Internet,
potentially millions of web users can find details that you probably
wouldn't tell your closest friends!
The Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse, a non-profit consumer information and
advocacy organization, has a page discussing the area of Public
Records. The Electronic Privacy
Information Center (EPIC) also contains good information about
issues involved in electronic databases and the rights of
individuals concerning control over 'their own information' (e.g.
information about themselves).
More people are concerned about "Identity
Theft" than ever in history. The Internet increases the risks for identity theft to occur. Even
without "identity theft" fears, there are numerous issues
about violating another person's privacy.
Part of the problem today with Internet access is
the ongoing debate about (1) what makes a public
record "public," (2) the specific "rights"
that individuals named in public records have (or don't have), and
(3) how to balance the perceived "need for
information" versus the "rights of the individual (s)" named in those records.
This includes personal or family medical information, such as causes
of deaths.
Many genealogists hear the words "public
record," and disregard any thought to the individual's right to
privacy and control over their own information. Some persons
WRONGLY believe that "public record" means an individual
has no rights to privacy.
I learned genealogy research over 25 years ago, when
issues of privacy were in ONE sense less complex simply because the
Internet was only beginning then. BUT, in a different sense,
privacy issues have always been complex.
Humans
are complicated beings who live sometimes very entangled lives, with good
and bad events occurring and choices made. Every person has
the right to "not disclose" any aspect of their lives --
and have the right to CHOOSE whom to tell, and HOW MUCH to tell
about themselves to anyone else. In simplistic terms,
this is why many government records are sealed for 75 years or
longer... How many persons would be truthful in filling out
the 2010 Census (or any other Census year) if their answers would be
made public during their lifetimes? How many people want
sensitive or embarrassing details openly known from other
records?
For every example that could be
given, naysayers argue that "facts" of anyone's life are
somehow fair game based on the idea that these events are
"facts." Yet, every genealogist needs to strictly
follow the standard golden rule NOT to do unto others anything
that has the potential to harm. A second rule is that the idea
of "harm" is completely subjective-- meaning only the
person whose information has been made public can decide whether
this results in "harm." It is not for us to decide
whether a certain piece of information will or won't harm. Instead, we MUST follow the concept that any/all information has the
POTENTIAL to create great harm to living persons.
Harm
can be emotional, psychological, loss of or disruption to family
relationships, financial harm, public embarrassment, public
ridicule, etc. The National Genealogical Society (2000)
strongly recommends that genealogists "are sensitive to the hurt that revelations of criminal, immoral, bizarre or irresponsible behavior may bring to family members."
Additionally, genealogists should protect and safeguard ANOTHER
LIVING PERSON's birth date, spouse name, children's names (and birth
dates), out-of-wedlock births, extra-marital affairs,
address/residence, email address, personal habits, life crises, poor
decisions, psychiatric / medical history, DNA results, etc., etc ---
with the same diligence and protectiveness that you use for YOUR
OWN information and life story.
How would YOU feel if details about YOU and YOUR
life were posted anywhere or everywhere on the WWW?
There are many reasons to err on the side of
protecting the privacy rights of the living.
For these reasons, this website has guidelines for what kinds of submissions are published here. I
feel an ethical responsibility to continue the lessons I learned as
a young genealogist, which is namely, genealogy is about
piecing together facts about deceased persons, and protecting the
living from (1) undue invasion of privacy; (2) unwanted and
unnecessary embarrassment or distress; and (3) honoring persons and
family members by ensuring that their right has been respected to
exercise control over their own life and personal
information.
With these issues in mind, this website has the
following submission guidelines:
General, especially concerning Privacy:
1. The submitter
bears full responsibility to obtain permission from living persons
when submitting any documents which contain names of "the
living," and submissions that include details of the life of
"the living." When submissions are received, the
webmaster will assume that the necessary permission has been
obtained. This includes photos.
2. Any living individual
has the express right to request immediate removal of their name or
identifying information.
3. The
webmaster will review submissions and use discretion which errs on
the side of "the living." Submissions which
raise questions about appropriateness, especially concerning
privacy rights, will not be used. Newspaper articles will be
treated as part of a "public record" context in which the
"right to privacy" of individuals has already been
diminished, and therefore, can be posted without as much concern as
other more sensitive documents. However, the webmaster
reserves the right to not use newspaper articles which are deemed
inappropriate, inflammatory, or which may hurt a person's reputation
or livelihood.
4. The
webmaster has obtained the right to publish county newspapers up
through 1999. No newspaper items will be used from 2000
through the present.
SUBMITTER
NAME AND EMAIL
Submitter name and email will
appear at the top of each web page for that submission or group of
submissions. This assists other researchers who may need to
contact you. If you want your name to appear differently
than as it appears on your email program, you will need to tell
me. *Before, I sent separate emails to ask permission to use
your email address, but now I will assume I have permission when I
receive your submission.*
COPYRIGHT
U.S. Copyright laws apply to submissions, such as
copies from publications, books, CDs, pamphlets, newsletters, etc.
currently under copyright. Works published before 1923 are
considered Public Domain, unless the work has been
reprinted. Submitters should check at the U.S.
Copyright Office if unsure about a specific work and copyright.
No
newspaper items, from any newspaper, will be used from 2000 through
the present.
Please do not submit copies of any work
compiled and sold as a "yearly subscription" and published
by county genealogical societies or historical societies.
These organizations survive from their membership fees (which
include the subscription).
OLD
BOOKS, ARTICLES, DOCUMENTS
Public Domain
publications are acceptable. Please type these using a general
font, such as Times New Roman or Arial. Please type AS IS,
including ALL typos or "misspelled names." In
genealogy, the "real last name" may have changed dozens of
times over a century or longer. Place a "NOTE" at
the bottom of your transcription to list items you know or believe
to be in error, along with the "correction." Do NOT
"correct" the original ! Doing so
changes the original and makes it invalid for use in genealogy.
If
part of a record is illegible, use a series of dashes to replace the
letters you cannot read. In BRACKETS, you may put the words
you know, think, or believe are in the illegible
section. If you are GUESSING, please state the bracketed words
are your BEST GUESS. Example: [BEST GUESS: my
daughter, Merilea]. Using "NOTE: and [bracketed
corrections] will keep it clear what is part of the original record,
and what is unclear from the original.
Keep
"Notes" and [Bracketed information] as short as
possible.
OBITUARIES
Transcribe "AS IS" and
use "NOTES" or [bracketed text] to show information that
is different than the original. Submitter notes will be
added beneath the original. Errors do occur in
obituaries (my sister's obit had 9 errors). Please give your
SOURCE for how or why you know or believe part of an obituary is an
error. A tangible, real source is viewed as more
reliable than personal knowledge.
HEADSTONES
Entry must include
Cemetery Name and Location of Cemetery (an address would be nice
too; driving directions would be most appreciated!).
Headstones MUST be transcribed AS IS, directly from the stone.
Do NOT put a maiden name if it is NOT ON the stone. A
secondary column will be used for submitter comments, maiden name of
deceased, or corrections the submitter might supply.
If
another person says "that record on your website is
wrong," the person may submit a SHORT NOTE listing (1) the
suspect info (2) the supposed "right" info (3) SOURCE for
the correction, AND (4) submitter name and email address. No
secondary corrections are accepted without these 4 mandatory
guidelines.
CEMETERY
TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR A 'CENSUS' OF BURIALS
Please contact the
webmaster regarding format. All guidelines listed under
"Headstones" apply.
LOCATION
PHOTOGRAPHS
It is assumed by this webmaster that
the submitter is the owner (and thus has common law copyright) of
any Location Photo submitted for this website.
ANCESTOR PHOTOS
Photos are welcomed.
Please keep scans below 1MB - Webmaster reserves the right to
reduce, resize, or crop any photo for appropriate web page
design. The webmaster will include submitter's description of
the photo. Include FULL NAMES if known, LOCATION, city, state,
and any important details. Webmaster may shorten the
description as necessary.
GROUP
SHEETS, FTM FILES, PEDIGREE CHARTS
Rootsweb
forbids these items on county websites. Add your genealogy data at World
Connect or at the Group Sheet Project.
An
abbreviated informational record to be placed on the
"Migrations" pages is allowed. The webmaster will
cut the submission down to just the basic facts of migration,
including name, relationship between family members, migration
"from" - "to" (or vice versa) for this
county. Dates will be included to help illuminate the
migration pattern of a family or group. Only the migration
that directly involves this county will be included.
LISTS of BIRTHS, MARRIAGE, OTHER IMPORTANT LIFE
EVENTS
As stated above, newspaper items will be
considered as Public Domain up to 1999, with webmaster discretion on
each article.
All ancestor records should include
detailed information about the SOURCE (such as a Docket or Ledger
made by a Registrar, Courthouse official, physician, preacher,
undertaker, family collection, etc.). Contact the
webmaster for type of format used.
Note:
Stories about murders, violent acts, or other harmful events will be
reviewed on a case-by-case basis, especially if ANY persons affected
or involved are still alive. A decision may be to use excerpts
only. An excerpt is a paraphrase version of the original, and
certain facts might be omitted in the excerpted
material.
DESCRIPTIVE MEMORIES, MEMOIRS, CREATIVE
STORIES, RECOLLECTIONS...OF PLACES, LOCATIONS, GENERAL EVENTS
The
webmaster is looking for personal stories of remembrance, including
about "old hang-outs" or the locations and appearance
(interior and exterior) of Washington County PA buildings, public
locations, and areas of interest. These should be written as a
"walking tour," taking the reader into the place,
describing key elements so the reader has a sense of what a location
looked like, what the place was used for, and the general atmosphere
of the place. For example, a writing about a 1990 steel and
concrete building would "feel" quite different than a
writing about 1940s G. C. Murphy department store.
Recollection
stories must include the poster's name and email on the webpage.
Stories
can be a simple one paragraph.... or a few pages... about one
location.
Submitters should get permission before
including anyone else's names in their remembrance / recollection
stories.
DNA RESULTS
DNA
is an expanding tool used by some genealogists. Submissions
that include DNA results will be held to a much higher standard for
privacy rights for individuals and families.
YOUR OWN INFORMATION
Any submitter can send
their own life details, if they choose, after careful consideration
of all privacy issues.
**
Please TYPE all submissions. I really need help with typing
items.
** It is easiest if you use ALL lowercase
letters in filenames with no spaces between words. Instead of
a space, use a hyphen - or an underscore _. Examples:
NO: Beatty Family stories.txt
YES: beatty-family-stories.txt
YES: beatty_family_stories.txt
The webmaster hopes this
page
will answer the common questions about
submissions.
Please email if you have
additional questions.
Please
spend an hour and read important web articles about the rights of
individuals to have express and explicit privacy in all areas of
life.
1.
Read and thoughtfully consider the points made in:
"Oxymoron: Privacy and the Internet"
by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG
at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mistclai/privacy.html
Attentively apply the recommendations found in:
"Genealogical Standards & Guidelines
- Guidelines For Publishing Web Pages On The Internet - Recommended by the National Genealogical Society"
at:
http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/guidelines_for_publishing_web_pages
Then,
choose to be a responsible and mature genealogist by adhering to
the:
"Genealogical Standards & Guidelines
- Standards For Sharing Information With Others - Recommended by the National Genealogical Society"
at:
http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/standards_for_sharing_information
"Protectiveness
of information concerning living family members
is an honorable character trait of
all moral, responsible, and mature genealogists." (-the webmaster).
