[email protected] wrote:
> What part of GROW UP don't you understand?  Steve, with all of you rules you
> should have one against this type of mess.  I thought Genealogy was what we
> were supposed to be doing and not fighting.  This is like someone going on TV
> to see who can be the loudest.  Why don't ya'll take it to private email if
> you want to fight?  Please don't do this to the rest of us.  Pretty soon
> there won't be anyone left to listen to you.
> Rose Jones


As expected I've received plenty of email from people complaining about the
recent unpleasantness.  Yes, I know many people detest such incidents and would
rather they never occurred.  Unfortunately, the only way to assure that nobody
ever posts "undesirable" messages would be to convert the service to a fully
moderated one.  I choose not to do that because it is too much work, introduces
personal liability issues, delays the messages, etc.  The result is that
sometimes inappropriate messages will be posted.

But, life can get boring without an occasional storm to freshen the air.  While
I can see how this looks like "fighting" to most readers, this really hasn't
been a fight as far as I'm concerned.  It was fighting when I worked as a
bartender at Frances Willards, AW Shucks, and Sylvester's and had to bounce guys
From the bar for threatening others with guns.  This ain't fighting.  At most it
is arguing.

I handle the vast majority of issues regarding Forum operations by direct
email.  But, when someone chooses to take the issue public, I sometimes respond
publicly.  The Schmidt issue is one that I resolved to let rest a year ago and
had done so, until now.

However, I took strong objection to Ms. Schmidt's message of Tuesday last which
she posted in my Forum.  

 * By her subject line she accused me of theft.  Sorry, but I will not sit quiet
while someone publicly accuses me of theft.

 * In her message, she misrepresented our previous disagreement.  She has done
this whenever she gets the chance.  In my opinion it seems to be an intentional
effort on her part to disrupt the SCRoots service and get people to switch to
her service.  If people prefer another service, that is fine by me.  It just
reduces my oversight workload.  But, they should make the choice based on the
truth, not based on twisted half-truths and lies.  Since Ms. Schmidt chose to
post her accusations and misrepresentations into the Forum, they will be
publicly available for future readers in the Forum archives.  Because of that
fact, I decided to post a copy of the full history of our previous dispute into
the Forum so that it will also be in the archives for future readers to find.  I
knew doing so would annoy many readers.  But, I would rather lose every
subscriber than allow her lies to stand uncorrected.

 * She claimed I had accused her of copyright infringement. I never did.  

 * She claimed that I had committed copyright infringement. I have not.  

 * She claimed that the Listowners "all agree" that public domain material
becomes copyrighted if someone takes the public domain material and puts it in
their "style and format."  That is not true.  I am one of the Listowners who has
been an active participant in the discussions about copyrights in both the
Listowners-L Forum and the Copyright-L Forum.  There has seldom, if ever, been
an issue about which "all agree."  But, in this case most would know that Ms.
Schmidt is wrong in claiming that simply reformatting public domain material
creates a copyright.  In order to establish a copyright, a written work must
constitute an original intellectual work of authorship.  That means that the
information itself must be original and a product of the author's intellectual
processes.  Reformatting or transcribing (i.e. copying) a roster of soldiers
From public records does not constitute an original intellectual work.  

Now that the full record regarding the Schmidt incident has been placed in the
archives for anyone who cares to peruse it, I intend to try once again to let
this matter rest.

Steven J. Coker
SCRoots Manager

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