Plagiarism by a Site That Should Know Better

Back in July, I wrote about my experiences with a site that was violating my copyright on a number of pictures I have on my online gen database site. Ultimately, I was able to get the other site to remove the photos, but not before dragging their hosting company into the mix. One of the last items that I had to battle with them to get removed with the transcription of a will that I had done years ago and which ultimately got archived onto Ancestry. As it turns out, that same transcription had been posted to the Chester site under the PAGenweb Project, which is where the other site found it. The problem is, I never posted the transcription to the Chester site, nor did I ever give permission for it to be posted there. Yet, there it was, with no source or credit indicated and with my original typographical errors still intact. In the case of a transcription, copyright generally does not come into play because the transcription does not differ substantially from the original, but in this particular case, it does raise an issue of plagiarism.

I first contacted one of the co-coordinators of the Chester site on July 16th, 2014., asking to have the file removed as I have not granted them permission to post it and they were not giving due credit. On the 21st, not having had any response at all, I sent my request a second time. That second request did get a response, a portion of which follows:

Genealogy (and email) is for rainy days and winter, even if this doesn’t suit your timetable.  Although I don’t have to remove it since this is a public record and not your original work, I will do so when I have some free time that isn’t already allotted for working, eating or sleeping.  I will replace it with a correct copy, without your mistakes, which will be better for the users of the site anyway.

The will in question was not, in fact, a public document, and may only have been a draft, as the Chester county archives does not include a will under that particular name. The four type-written pages were among my mother’s collection of family notes, and probably would never have appeared online anywhere had I not taken the time to transcribe them.  Still, it’s a transcription and therefore, not subject to standard copyright considerations. It is, however, a matter of plagiarism and it was under those guidelines that I wrote, on the 26th,  to the State Coordinator and the Assistant State Coordinator of the PaGenweb Project, as well as the site’s web host, seeking resolution. Since I felt that the initial response from the Chester co-coordinator was more than a bit unprofessional, I included the entire chain of conversation in my email of the 26th. The only one of the trio that ever responded was the web host, who just happens to be a former State Coordinator of the Project, and was in fact the SC when I was still involved with the project. He de-activated the link to the file, so it was no longer available on the site.

For months, the dead link just sat there on the site, but yesterday morning, I found that they renamed the file, edited a few  of the more glaring typos and re-linked it on the Wills page. Apparently, they still don’t understand what plagiarism means. This time, I did not bother to write to either of the site’s coordinators, I just sent an email to the same trio I had emailed the last time, as I have zero faith in the ability of the coordinators of that particular site to act professionally.

So, let’s see what happens. I sent the email regarding this issue on Tuesday morning around 10. Wonder if I’ ll hear anything before the weekend…

 

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