DEVON-L Archives

From: Brian Randell <>
Subject: [DEV] [ADMIN]: Advertisements in DEVON-L postings
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:54:36 +0100

Hi:

DEVON-L is hosted by Rootsweb, so has - in among its own rules
concerning acceptable postings (see below) - rules imposed by
Rootsweb, in particular that "Content submitted for the purpose of
commercial use, advertising or fee for service is prohibited".

Please, everyone, avoid posting submissions which include commercial
advertisements (e.g. at the end of the message after your signature).

Cheers

Brian Randell

PS No follow-ups to DEVON-L please - it is for discussing Devon
genealogy, not for debating mailing list "netiquette".

-----

From the GENUKI/Devon Frequently Asked Questions File at
http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonFAQ.html

19. What topics are appropriate for messages to DEVON-L?
Ideas for messages to the list can include: - The Devon surnames you
are researching - Queries regarding Devon individuals or families -
Questions or information regarding Devon localities - Questions or
information about Devon genealogical research - Requests for or
offers of help on Devon genealogical research - Tips & tricks
regarding Devon genealogical research that you'd like to share with
everyone. (The success of this list depends on the continued
willingness of people who can do so to aid others who are seeking
help - this willingness is likely to evaporate if those who receive
such help neglect the common courtesy of offering their thanks,
either by direct mail or where appropriate via a message to the list.)

Please refrain from postings which are not of relevance to Devon
genealogy - such as messages concerned with genealogical software
packages. In particular, do not post messages about computer viruses
to the list. (Anyone ignoring this rule is liable to be automatically
unsubscribed.) If you have a query or information about a possible
computer virus, send it directly to the list owner, Vicki Lindsay
Thauvin <> who will if appropriate communicate its
contents to the list. The reason for this rule is simple - fear of
viruses is such that any message on the mailing list about a virus is
such that, even if the message is itself timely and factually correct
(something which is far from always the case), it will lead to a
whole host of follow up messages, often of dubious accuracy, which
themselves constitute a sort of virus, and annoy many subscribers.

Similarly, please do not use the DEVON-L list for messages (such as
thank you messages) that are aimed at a specific individual, and
which do not contain information which is likely to useful to (or
perhaps even understood by!) anyone else. Such messages should be
sent by direct email, so as to avoid clogging up many hundreds of
mailboxes world-wide. And, please, use an informative subject line on
any message to DEVON-L - messages headed "Help", "New Subscriber",
"My Brick Wall", etc., might well escape the attention of readers who
might be able to help. Similarly, adherence to the common
genealogical convention of giving surnames in CAPITAL letters is
strongly recommended.

If you wish to complain or comment unfavourably about some other
subscriber please do so directly to the subscriber and/or to the list
owner or moderators - NOT to the entire list, which just exacerbates
the problem. Vicki, as is evident from her occasional messages to the
list, is quite capable of dealing politely but decisively with people
who misuse the mailing list. Similarly, the list is not an
appropriate place for critical comments about archives and other
organisations, e.g. regarding their polices concerning access to
information they possess which would be useful to genealogists.

It is acceptable for new subscribers to post a message simply listing
their Devon research interests. However, repeated posting of such
messages, e.g. in response to some sort of "Roll Call", is not
acceptable, due to the impact they can have both on the level of
traffic on DEVON-L, and its "signal-to-noise" ratio, i.e. average
level of interest to subscribers. (Repeated flouting of this rule
will lead to the sender being unsubscribed.)

Instead, subscribers are urged to make use of the Online English
Names Directory which is set up expressly for the purpose of enabling
people to "advertise" their research interests. This is kept up to
date, remains generally available, and is very easily searched - in
contrast to the difficulty, often impracticality, of searching past
postings on DEVON-L for references to individuals and families of
interest. The directory is at:

http://list.jaunay.com/engnames/index.html

Submission details are at:

http://list.jaunay.com/engnames/engnamesn.html

If you are uncertain whether a message you are considering posting
would be regarded as appropriate for DEVON-L, please seek advice
beforehand from the list moderators, Brian Randell
<> and Terry Leaman
<>.

(If you have reason to question whether a message you have tried to
send to the mailing list has been received and distributed
successfully, please ask one of us to investigate - DO NOT clutter up
everyone's mailbox by sending out "test" messages.)

Finally, note that since DEVON-L is distributed by Rootsweb, it is
governed by Rootsweb's "Acceptable Use Policy", which is to be found
at:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/rootsweb/aup.html

In particular this states:

"You should submit only content which belongs to you and will not
violate the property or other rights of other people or
organizations. . . Content submitted for the purpose of commercial
use, advertising or fee for service is prohibited. "

20. What rules regarding copyright, etc., apply to DEVON-L postings?

The rules are essentially the same for posting to a mailing list, or
providing information on the web. Indeed, substantial transcriptions
should be made available for inclusion in GENUKI/Devon, as well as -
or indeed instead of - being posted, so as to ensure their continued
easy accessibility. (Recall that GENUKI is an archived and searchable
virtual library, the continued availability and existence of which
does not depend on any single individual.)

Please do not post extensive transcriptions from documents or
publications unless you can demonstrate that you have good reason to
believe that you are not offending against either the wishes or the
legal rights of the owner, or against copyright.

Note that if an individual, or an archive, owns a document, then they
have every right to constrain someone who they allow to look at or
borrow that document, e.g. not to copy this document. (It is on this
basis that some Devon parishes are refusing to allow their parish
registers to be published online.) The owners may well have
buttressed their rights by requiring you to sign a form acknowledging
the constraint beforehand - but merely telling you is sufficient,
since the notion of a contract does not depend on any actual
paperwork or signatures. But if you are the legal owner of a
document, or you have not entered into any contract that binds you in
some way, and the content of the document is not copyright, then
there is no legal impediment to your providing transcriptions - but
see below.

Copyright typically exists in any published document until 70 years
after the death of the author, whereas Crown Copyright typically
exists for 50 years after publication or, in the case unpublished
documents, for 125 years after the date of creation. To copy or
publish substantial parts of a work in copyright you have in general
to obtain permission.

For up-to-date, detailed advice about copyright and crown copyright
matters see the various documents listed in:

http://www.genuki.org.uk/org/standards.html#Acceptable

Luckily, since 1999, Crown Copyright has been waived in the contents
of most unpublished public records held in The National Archives and
other official archives, such as county record offices, so such
documents (which include census records) can be transcribed and the
transcriptions made available electronically, e.g. via DEVON-L or in
GENUKI/Devon, without any need to seek prior permission. However, the
archive holding the original document should be identified, and its
catalogue number included. (Note that this waiver applies only to
transcriptions, not to actual photographic or scanned digital images
of documents, such as images obtained via DocumentsOnline.)

In those cases where there is a requirement that explicit permission
be obtained, the transcription should be accompanied by evidence that
such permission has been sought and received. (This is typically the
case with church documents, when a statement naming the authority,
e.g. the relevant vicar, who has given permission will suffice.)

Note that some societies, as a contractual restriction on the
purchaser of their publications, disallow the public offering of free
(or paid-for) lookups from these publications. The reason for such a
restriction is obvious - if lots of people provided such a service,
relatively few copies would be sold, probably not enough to cover the
cost of publication. (A particular case in point is the FFHS's
National Burial Index.) It is therefore important that DEVON-L not be
used to "advertise" a willingness to do lookups of material contrary
to the original supplier's wishes. However, there is no impediment to
providing look-ups of, for example, parish register microfiches or
census records.

The bottom line is that we must do everything we can to build a
climate of trust and cooperation with the relevant archive and church
authorities, as well as cement our existing cooperation with
organisations such as the Devon Record Office and the Devon Family
History Society. Thus the letter of the law is less important than
the spirit of the law - only by being careful not to offend the
people who possess information, in the various libraries, archives,
churches, societies, etc., can we retain their continued cooperation.
So when there is any doubt you should request permission beforehand,
rather than rely on a narrow and perhaps arguable interpretation of
the letter of the law to justify your posting. (This applies
particularly to Devon parish register transcriptions, given the
sensitivities involved.)

In summary, all of this is easily understandable by putting oneself
in the position of the person or organisation that owns the original
information, or that has laboured hard to produce some publication,
and considering how some activity would look from this point of view.

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

This thread:

• [DEV] [ADMIN]: Advertisements in DEVON-L postings by Brian Randell <>