HEADS UP ALL GENEALOGISTS!

My Pinterest Boards

THE ISSUE

A Pinterest user is repinning photos from other genealogists' pins (absolutely ok) BUT the links to the original blog post or website are gone and have been replaced with a link to this person's own website (not ok)



HOW PINTEREST WORKS (AND THIS IS A GOOD THING)

A user creates genealogy boards and pins to their boards with an article or a page from a blog post or website they like. Other users can "repin" this pin on their own board.

Pinterest automatically inserts the link (URL) to the originating page or site when something is pinned or repinned. So if you see a photo or title on Pinterest that interests you, a click on the photo will take you to the page or blog post to read the article. This is good because other users can visit the originating site, which is the full intention behind Pinterest!

THE BAD THING

But this particular Pinterest user, with over 5,000 repins on his Pinterest page, does not have the original links nor any identifying information as to the website or blog where the photo originated. The original links have been replaced on every photo with a link to his own website (which I am not going to link to here). You can see the link to his website when you go to his Pinterest boards to check for your own photos.

I am not accusing this person of deliberately removing the original information and URL, and replacing it with his (or her) own.  I will leave you to draw your own (silent) conclusions about how likely it is that Pinterest "glitched" over 5,000 times for one person...... and how co-incidental that those different and unique original links were replaced with ONE link to this person's website... but remember there is a presumption of innocence until/unless proven guilty.

WHAT I (AND OTHER GENEALOGY BLOGGERS) HAVE DONE

When I discovered this issue, I immediately looked through all his/her pinned photos and found 11 that were originally on my Pinterest boards as pins to some of the articles on my Olive Tree Genealogy blog. I noticed too that my friend and fellow blogger Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers had also found several of his pins now on this person's Pinterest page but no longer leading to the sites Thomas originally pinned from. You got it - they all led to this person's website instead.

In fact each pinned photo has a prominent note with it stating "Pinned from xxx.net" (where xxx is his website name!) That implies the photos are on his website and that clicking through will take you to an article relating to the photo!

I noticed that Thomas had commented on each of his pins on this user's boards,  directing attention to the original URL. I thought that was a great idea so I did the same thing. I placed a brief comment on each of my photos indicating that the link should go to Olive Tree Genealogy blog.

I also reported each inappropriate pin to Pinterest and I filed a DMCA report of copyright infringement to have the repins on his boards removed.

I then posted an announcement on Facebook advising other genealogists to check out the boards in question to see if any of the photos should be pointing to their pages, blogs or websites. Several bloggers wrote to say they had indeed found pins on his board which no longer led to the correct website or blog, but rather to his own website.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO

1. Check his Pinterest boards for YOUR photos. It is not necessary for you to be on Pinterest to have your photos pinned by others. Pinning to Pinterest is a GOOD thing because the links to your data/website or blog are there, and other genealogists can click on them to go and read your articles.

Having your  photo used but your links replaced with someone else' link to their website is BAD.

Here is the URL of this Pinterest user: http://pinterest.com/ldsfamilysearch

**Please note that this person is NOT associated with the official FamilySearch! **

Choose either his board "lds-family-search" which is where I found all my misused photos, or his board "lds-family-history".  Click on any image that is yours. Then hover your mouse over the image and a little window at the bottom pops up. There is a FLAG in the lower right corner - click on that and report this pinner.

You can also report him on his main Pinterest page - just scroll to the top and click on the FLAG in the bottom right corner.

2. File a DMCA report. All you need is the link to the pin on his board and the link to where you have the same image on your site or blog. You get his board image URL by clicking on the image. You will see the link in the top of your browser window and can easily copy it. The DMCA report is easy to fill out and file.  It is found at http://pinterest.com/about/copyright/dmca/

Be very careful to tick NO to the question REMOVE ALL? You do not want the image removed from your boards, just from his. Then tick YES to the question STRIKE? Ticking yes to this question assigns what Pinterest calls a STRIKE against this specific user. Enough strikes registered and Pinterest will ban him.

3.  f you see a pin that is yours and there is no link to your original page/post, please comment and give the correct link. No doubt he will block you from posting comments once he finds out you are doing so, and he will delete the comment but it will keep him busy. He blocked both Thomas and I, and removed our comments which simply gave the correct URL that should have accompanied his use of our photos. 

Neither Thomas nor I engaged in accusations or name-calling so there was no reason to remove our appropriate comments. Again I leave it to my readers to form their own (silent) conclusions as to whether a person who is innocent of any deliberate act of wrong-doing would delete a correction.

3. Tell other genealogists about this issue and urge them to check his boards and report him if they find their own photos being used inappropriately

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR

1. FamilySearch has been informed of the possible trademark violation in his/her Pinterest name and his/her website

2. His/her website has been checked by a few bloggers who found he/she had published several articles with no attribution that had been written and published elsewhere. I have not had time to check on this to verify whether or not any of my articles are there without permission.

3. Several of us have reported him/her to Pinterest and filed DMCA complaints. 

 ACTIONS BY PINTEREST

Whether a deliberate or accidental act on this person's part, it is not okay and he/she needs to be stopped. 

 When I posted my comments with the appropriate link on each of my 11 photos on his/her boards, this person wrote a very brief response "Sorry I'll fix this" and immediately removed all my comments AND blocked me from leaving any more.  5 hours later nothing had been done. 

So I got busy filling out DMCA reports and reporting him/her to Pinterest. I  heard from Pinterest 2 hours later (Yes, a very speedy response!) indicating that all DMCA requests had been fulfilled and all the inappropriately used images had been removed from his boards. 

 I urge you to go and look for your own photos, and if found,  report this person to Pinterest and file a DMCA complaint. 

LEAVING COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG POST

As always I welcome input, questions and comments. However please only post appropriate comments. This is not the time to accuse or name-call. Accusations or name calling can sometimes result in you ending up on the wrong side of a lawsuit.  

All comments are moderated, meaning they have to be approved by me before they are visible. I will only approve courteous, civil and thoughtful comments and questions.

Remember, there is a presumption of innocence at all times.

More Issues With Passing on Family Heirlooms and Preserving Their Provenance

Some of my family heirlooms

My blog post Documenting and Passing on Family Treasures generated a lot of discussion. Comments left made me think about other possible problems that might arise when trying to decide what to do with family heirlooms.

We genealogists have always been faced with the dilemma of what to do with our research, but for me an equally important (and perhaps urgent) question is - to whom do I give my family treasures for safekeeping and how do I ensure that any provenance is attached to each one.

One of my readers, Nicholas, made a good point when he stated that the person you choose to receive a specific heirloom should also know about and have an attachment to the ancestor who originally owned it.  Otherwise there is no guarantee they will cherish the item.

I agree with Nicholas but we also have to accept that there is no guarantee an item will be cherished and preserved no matter who we choose. For all we know our beloved heirloom will be put up for auction or as my friend and fellow blogger Midge stated sold on eBay.  I know - it's a terrible thought! But we do have to realize that could happen.

Another issue is what if none of our children are the least bit interested and our grandchildren are too young for any determination to be made. Do we just go ahead and assign specific family items to individual family members using our best judgement? Or should we assign them all to one person and request that they in turn pass on individual items as they become aware of interest from other family members?

Now for the most difficult determination - using my husband as an example. He has no children of his own. He has no nieces or nephews to leave his family heirlooms to. But he has an incredible wealth of family treasures and intimate knowledge of each ancestor who owned these treasures. He has a huge number of old family photos, all identified. So what happens to his heirlooms?

He could donate his photos to the St. Mary's Museum which is where his family lived for generations. That would be a very good repository.  But what about the physical objects? Would the Museum want his great-great grandfather's Baptismal Mug? Would they want his baby blanket crocheted by his great grandmother? Perhaps they would because all the ancestors who made or bought these items lived in St. Mary's their entire lives. But he also owns many items of furniture - a large pine hutch, parlour tables, paintings done by his grandmother and great-grandmother, his great-grandfather's handmade blanket box and so on.

His last recourse would be to leave the items to my children or my grandchildren. But would they really care about the items and their step-father or step-grandfather's ancestors who owned them? I'm sure my children would treasure the furniture as a lovely antique but whether or not the history of the item and the story of the person who owned it would be kept is doubtful. So perhaps that would have to be enough - that the item itself would be treasured as an antique and passed on to the next generation.

What are your thoughts on these issues?

23AndMe Special Offer on DNA Kits

23AndMe now has an offer of 20% off on all additional kits. Explore your DNA with your family. Now 20% off on all additional kits.

The first kit in a purchase order is full price - $99. And every additional kit is 20% off - $79. This offer does not have an expiration date.

I've used 23AndMe and I love it! Here are a few of my earlier blog posts about my own experiences with 23AndMe DNA testing

A Suggestion for Genealogists Using 23andMe for DNA Testing

DNA Results Showing Native American and East Asian Heritage

23andMe DNA Results In!

Documenting and Passing on Family Treasures

Grandpa Fuller's engraved Gold Pocket Watch from 1914
Given by his parents on his 21st birthday
before leaving England to settle in Canada

My grandmother Ruth gave me many family treasures when I was a teenager. They mean the world to me and I spend a lot of time mulling over how best to get the next generation interested in them.

My hope is that one or more of my children or grandchildren will keep them safe and continue passing them down to the next generation. I've considered giving each family member one treasure to keep safe.

I've also mulled over passing all of the items on to one person for safekeeping. Dilemma #1 - who will get what treasure? And #2 - should I give them now or write out a note explaining who gets what after I'm gone?

The Provenance

And how do you pass on the knowledge that goes with each treasure? How do you make sure that the provenance - the information as to who the item belonged to, who gave it to you and when, is not lost?  The more details that go with the item, the more chance it will be treasured and preserved. If, for example, I give one of my sons my great-grandmother's toast rack, the chances are that at some point in the near future it will end up in a garage sale!

I can see a wife looking at it and asking why they are keeping it. Without some paper record, I suspect my sons would shrug a shoulder and say "Geez I dunno, Mom said it was one of her relatives but I don't remember who" Bingo - a label of 25 cents is put on it and it goes out to the front yard.

So I added another dilemma to the mix - #3 how to document the provenance of each family heirloom so that it stays with the specific item

The Dilemmas

That makes 3 dilemmas I need to solve:

1. Who will get what treasure? Do I split them up or give them all to one person?
2. Should I give them now or write out a note explaining who gets what after I'm gone?
3. How do I document the provenance of each family heirloom so that it remains with the item

My Solutions

Here are some of my solutions. Nothing strikes me as the perfect answer but so far these are the best methods I've come up with

1. I've attached labels to many items. The labels indicate who is to have the item after my demise and there is a brief bio of who owned it. There is no info as to when and how I ended up with said item due to space limitations. Some items such as my Grandpa Fuller's gold pocket watch don't lend themselves to having a label affixed!

2. I've inventoried all my family treasures. I took photos then inserted them into WORD and then typed up an explanation of the item, the original owner (with some family tree info), who gave it to me and when. Beside each item I've put the name of who I want to have it (if I've decided!) I printed all the pages off and bound them as a coil bound booklet for my executors. My hope is that as an item is given, the page(s) that apply to it will be torn out and passed on with the item

3. I've tried some online methods including a nice little iPhone app called Heirlooms. But they aren't exactly what I am looking for

4. I've written blog posts about some of my family heirlooms and I am thinking about creating a Shutterfly book with each of these blog posts, then giving one copy to each of my children. So far this is the idea I'm liking the best! Here are a few of the heirlooms I've written about:
  
A 1913 Fireplace Screen's Long Journey

Great-Grandpa's Trunk

3 Generations of Baby Cups

Cabinet of Curiosities: A Christmas Toast!

Perhaps inside each book I could indicate which heirlooms each of my children or grandchildren is to receive at some point in the future. 

So far this seems like the best method as I believe a hard cover book will survive through the generations much better than pieces of paper or labels attached to the back or underside of objects.

 And of course, as always, I will continue to tell my children and grandchildren the stories behind each object every time we get together for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I figure repetition of family stories shouldn't be overlooked!    

So what are your plans for documenting and passing on your family heirlooms?

Woodville Victorian Photo Album Page 9

Woodville Victorian Photo Album

Here is  page 9 of the Victorian Photo Album called "The Army and Navy Album" with illustrations by R. Caton Woodville. To view all pages of this beautiful album as they are put online, please click on R. Caton Woodville

Don't Be an Egg (Twitter Tips)

   Twitter is a really great Social Media Tool. But it can also be an aggravation. There are ways to use Twitter and there are ways to not use Twitter!

So if you are a genealogist and you are on Twitter because you want to follow (and be followed) by others with similar interests, here are some tips to make your Twitter experience a positive one

1. Don't be an egg! That is the faceless default profile picture that Twitter assigns every user until they upload their own photo. An egg is anonymous, faceless and doesn't fit with being social. Spammers often have an egg as their profile photo so it's a red flag to many of us. I don't follow eggs and I know many other genealogists pass them by too. My tip is to upload your profile photo before you start following others on Twitter.

2. Don't lock your account  Why make those you have followed jump through hoops to follow you back? To be very honest, I won't wait while you decide if I'm worthy of following you. Because if you followed me, I assume you'd like a follow in return. If I see that lock on your Profile Summary I'm not going to click the follow button .

3. Fill out your Twitter bio before you start following other Twitter users. It's important to let others see what your interests are so they know whether or not to follow you. My Profile Summary (bio) says "Genealogist, author, history buff, Creator of Olive Tree Genealogy website, antique collector" - just enough to let others know if there's something we have in common. When someone follows me I click on their name (which pops up their profile summary) to see what interests they have (i.e., do I want to follow them back) If all I see is "wife and mother" or "lives in xxx" or nothing but their name I don't follow back.

4. Set up your Twitter notifications so that you know whenever someone new follows you. The social convention is to return the follow if you have something in common with that person. But if you aren't getting notified when you get a new follower you won't be able to follow back. I get dozens of new followers daily. So every morning I check my email to go through the names, click on their Profile Summary and make a quick decision about following back. That is why the first 3 tips I've given you are most important for me and for other busy genealogists as well. 

5. Interact with your followers with tweets that are not just auto tweets from your blog. This is common sense advice (remember Twitter is a SOCIAL place!) and I need to do it more myself. I get busy and I neglect this for too long. Say good morning or share a link to a story you read that you found interesting or comment on someone else's tweet. 

If you want to follow me on Twitter you can do so at https://twitter.com/LorineMS

If you want more tips on Twitter you might want to read my friend and fellow blogger Caroline Pointer's 4YourFamilyStory blog. I call Caroline the Queen of Social Media and I think you will find her Twitter articles very helpful. Here's one to get you started called New to Twitter?

Did the Vikings Bring Native American Women Back With Them?

"Centuries before Columbus, a Viking-Indian child may have been born in Iceland" [National Geographic]

Through DNA tests, scientists have found 80 living Icelanders with a genetic variation similar to one found mostly in Native Americans. 

Experts believe that the DNA mutation entered the Icelandic population around A.D. 1000 with one Viking-Native American baby being born. 

It is known that Vikings reached Greenland before that year and Newfoundland on the East coast of Canada where they formed a small settlement. That settlement lasted about 10 years.

the study team concluded that the Icelanders who carry the Native American variation are all from four specific lineages, descended from four women born in the early 1700s.

Those four lineages, in turn, likely descended from a single woman with Native American DNA who must have been born no later than 1700, according to study co-author Ebenesersdóttir.

All in all it's a fascinating glimpse into Viking history and a new (although not surprising) concept which had not been proven before the DNA testing. 

DNA tests are a wonderful new tool for genealogists as well as archeologists and historians. I've had my autosomal and mtDNA tested at two labs - Family Tree DNA and  23andMe.com. I highly recommend it for all genealogists. You can read various blog posts about the process and the results of my testing at DNA Journey

Today is International Day of Families

The International Day of Families is an occasion to celebrate the importance of families to people, societies and cultures around the world.
What will you, as a genealogist, do to celebrate this day? Here are a few of my options:

These are four of my ten beautiful grandchildren in the photo on the left. They all live too far away for me to visit any of them today but in this wonderful world of the internet and technology I can Facetime them, Skype them, interact on a Google + Hangout or have a visit in any number of ways.

I could visit my elderly Auntie who will turn 90 years young in July. Or I could phone her. She's online and likes to have video chats in Google Mail so that's another option.

My grand uncle (my grandfather's brother) will be 101 years young in August of this year so it would be wonderful to chat with him. He still lives at home with his 97 year old wife with whom he celebrated their 72nd Anniversary just last week.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could visit him and record some family stories? I can't do it today as he lives too far away but it's a project for another day.

So make your plans for today and spend some quality time either researching family or contacting them via phone, video chat or email, or doing some in-person visiting. Enjoy International Day of Families!