My Tangent - Private and Public Genealogy and Family Trees

Good Afternoon,

White eggplants, Asparagus beans, green beans, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes – cherry and regular, and other vegetables and herbs are growing. Now I just have to put away Barbie’s cutlery and hope that the produce will get big enough to eat.

My images include: Asparagus beans; green beans, ginger flower, Italian parsley, Jalapeno pepper, Mexibelle pepper, pear tomatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, white eggplant, and zucchini.

I would like to remind my readers that information that I choose to put on the Internet is on the Internet, or whatever it will be called in the year 2525, forever. I choose what information about myself I would like to publish. I will not put any information and data concerning my living friends and relatives or distant cousins. Even with their expressed approval, usually in writing or via email, I always attempt to minimize that information which I make public. For this reason I try to create my genealogy, ancestry, and family trees beginning at my great-grandparents generation.

With today’s modes of communication and sophistication of technology it is beyond my capabilities and understanding that whatever is placed out on the Internet, whether considered public or private, will always be out there in Internetland. It will always be accessible.

Most recently I received some and numerous, and I mean a lot, of spam mail from a florist hitting me with adverts for Mother’s Day. When I tell you a lot of emails, I mean in the vicinity of at least 10, over and over again. I placed a block, or what I thought was a block on the email sender, but the emails kept coming. When I dug a bit deeper I discovered that the pesty pansy plucker had got my email address from Facebook.

And I have minimum amount of info in my profile on Facebook. And I have every type of “halts” on Facebook. I’m not blaming nor am I condoning Facebook’s action. I know that Facebook is simply in it for the corporate and financial gains. This is the technological revolution that we are now going through. I also realize that my information is out there in many ways in Internetland.

But when working with genealogy, ancestral research, and family trees I know that I need to be cognizant and careful of not including any information of any person living. I need to respect their privacy. I would ask you to do the same for me.

The information that I provide on my two sites, A Genealogy Hunt and Quilts SB is that information and data that is generally and readily “legally” available. It is my choice how I want to create the presentation of my information. If I want to use some else’s work and efforts, I typically contact them for their approval and acceptance. If someone refuses to give me that right I respect their wishes. I always ask as to what and how they would like me to cite the sources to acknowledge their efforts and information. Please do the same for me.

And ask yourself this question, “If I terminate my subscription, what happens to my personal information that I provided?” I am not being close-minded or limited to the information revolution that is going on around me… I am just being thoughtful and vigilant.

Enjoy,

Jim