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For Those of You With Genealogy Collections



Hi,

Many of you may have genealogy collections for researchers.  In the
event you do, the information that follows is for you to pass on to
researchers.  For those on this list that don't offer genealogy
research, or aren't personally interested please delete.  Maybe if we
get the word out the naive and unsuspecting won't be taken.

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and
is copyright 2002 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with
the permission of the author.
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
A Weekly Summary of Events and Topics of Interest to Online Genealogists
Vol. 7 No. 18 - May 6, 2002
- An Old Genealogy Scam Reappears

There is a Web site that sends out unsolicited e-mails offering to
give you access to the world's largest genealogy database for only
$44.95. At first, that might sound like a good deal. However, the
e-mails don't mention the source of this "world's largest"
genealogy database. It is the Internet and is free to everyone --
except for the gullible folks who fall for these e-mails.

What the e-mails do not tell you is that your money only buys you
access to a list of links. These links on the Web site present the
other sites inside HTML frames, making it look like the other
sites are a part of original site's "service." They do this
without telling you that the contents are not created by them, but
actually are the intellectual property of the originators.

FamilyDiscovery.com was one source of these misleading e-mails.
The site was in business for a year or so and gained notoriety
within the genealogy community. Their Web site disappeared
recently, apparently being shut down by the Internet service
provider that hosted the online "service" after complaints by many
users. However, a new Web site has recently appeared, operating a
site that looks like FamilyDiscovery.com but under a different
name. It appears that the owner of the new Web site is the same
person who owned the earlier one. The new Web site is Genealogy-
Developments.com.

The new Web site proclaims that you can "Search Over 23 Billion
Genealogy Records Right From This Website." That claim is
absolutely correct. Of course, you can search the same 23 billion
records without going to that Web site and without paying $44.95.
If you read the fine print at http://www.genealogy-
developments.com/faqs.html, you will note that it says, "We do not
offer access to a database of records but we do offer the ability
to search billions of online records spanned across the Internet."
The reality is that you can find all those links, and more,
elsewhere on the Web. I suspect that most of them are available on
Cyndi's List at http://www.cyndislist.com. Of course, Cyndi's List
is free of charge.

There are a couple of "watchdog sites" that watch for Web sites
like FamilyDiscovery.com and Genealogy-Developments.com. The
International Blacksheep Society of Genealogists maintains a
"Genealogy Hall of Shame" at:
http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/familydiscovery.htm. The Watchdog
Committee maintains the "Genealogical Web Site Watchdog" at:
http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm. You might also want
to check Cyndi's List at:
http://www.cyndislist.com/myths.htm#Consumer. If you ever have a
question about an online genealogy "service," I'd suggest that you
check these sites before spending any money.

You can also check some of my past articles about genealogy scams,
both online and off, at:
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eastman/3538.asp and
at http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eastman/4251.asp.

End article. . .

Permissions to distribute:
You are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise specified, to re-
distribute articles from this newsletter to other parties
provided:

  1. You do so strictly for non-commercial purposes
  2. Your re-distribution is limited to one or two articles per
     newsletter; do not re-distribute the newsletter in its
     entirety
  3. You may not republish any articles containing words attributed
     to another person or organization until you obtain permission
     from that person or organization. While you do have permission
     to republish words written by Richard W. Eastman, you do not
     have automatic authority to republish words written by others,
     even if their words appear in this newsletter.

Thank you for your time and for getting the word out.

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