[or-roots] I need the help of all of you

[Stephenie Flora]

I need your help!  Some of you know me through my Oregon Pioneer website,
some of you I have helped in the past, some of you I have never met.
Besides being webmaster for my Oregon Pioneer website, I also am webmaster
for several cemetery sites, including Lee Mission Cemetery.  In 1996
Sherrill Hochspeir, Jean Custer and myself researched and compiled a book on
Lee Mission Cemetery that was published by the Willamette Valley
Genealogical Society. A few years ago I joined the board of Lee Mission
Cemetery and put the website online so that it could be updated and kept
updated.

 

Recently it came to my attention that a local individual went onto my
website, cut and pasted all of the information including obituaries, notes,
etc to her computer, added photos that she had taken herself and donated it
to Find-A-Grave as her own work.  She also abstracted the obituary
information and donated it to the Oregon Gen Web.  It took Sherrill, Jean
and I over five years of research, typing and compiling of information to
complete the publication.  I was later to find out that this was her pattern
as she had already done the same thing with Salem Pioneer Cemetery.  Tracy
Saucy, Ferne Hellie and Addie Dyal Rickey with the help of others have been
working on that site for years.

 

Many of you know Tracy Saucy and the wonderful work she does.   She does all
her own research, walks the cemeteries, photographs them and seeks out
additional information.  But the bottom line is, who is going to want to put
years of work and research into a site that someone can come along and cut
and paste, donate and claim as their own work.  The fact that there are so
many cemeteries to be done and the fact that she only chooses those that are
easily accessible online speaks volumes.

 

I have contacted all of the individuals in question and quite frankly none
of them appear to be willing to correct this injustice.  I am now asking
each and every one of you who work on cemeteries or are concerned about this
type of blatant disregard for the work of others to contact Find-A-Grave,
put “Copyright” in the subject line and send an email voicing your concerns
to all of the administrators listed below.  Please mention the cemeteries in
question and request that action be taken.  I would ask that you include in
your letter a request that they make available a special email address or
link where copyright issues can be reported and investigated.  If you have
others in your address books that might be concerned by this issue, please
contact them.  I doubt that this is a problem to only our area.

 

jim at findagrave.com; russ at findagrave.com; AJ at findagrave.com;
katrina at kindagrave.com; info at findagrave.com; robert at findagrave.com;
deb at findagrave.com; <mailto:deb at findagrave.com>  info at findagravecom

 

Thank you so much for your time,

 

Stephenie Flora
www.oregonpioneers.com/ortrail.htm
www.oregonpioneers.com/marion/LeeCem.htm

 

 

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