NC Theft?
September 17, 2009
NCGenWeb
Byline: Mary White
The following submission is based on the personal opinions of Mary White. This website neither confirms nor denies what follows:
NCGenWeb is in bad shape. Thirteen counties have no host, which is more than ten percent of the total counties. Since Diane Siniard took over on 1 July 2009, many CCs have left or been forced out. Since potential CCs are not interested in joining this dysfunctional organization, there is an increased tendency for the remaining CCs to adopt numerous counties. What is the problem with NCGenWeb? The most pressing and underlying problem is Ms. Siniard.
Ms. Siniard has (allegedly) stolen hundreds of images from Ancestry.com and posted them as her own work on NCGenWeb sites. Ancestry and the Board have been notified, see the message below. Ms. Siniard has also stolen the work of Carrie Broughton, who transcribed six volumes of North Carolina marriage and death records from North Carolina newspapers. Ms. Siniard has been copying Ms. Broughton’s work, which is already available free at http://digitalstatelibnc.contentdm.oclc.org/ncstatearchives/index.php (input “Carrie L. Broughton” in the search box to get a list of her digitized books.)
The text of these books can be cut and pasted). Ms. Siniard’s NC Death Records, 1799-1867, have been cut and pasted from Ms. Broughton’s work ( http://www.ncgenweb.us/duplin/ncdeathrecords.htm ). Ms. Siniard doesn’t credit Ms. Broughton, claiming to have transcribed the records herself. Ms. Broughton’s marriage records, 1799-1846, have also been copied and various years are listed as transcribed by Ms. Siniard, Larry Munden, Glenn Fields, Katherine Richer, Jackie Purdy, Carol Robinson, Gail Swain, and Lois Lane. Either eight different people (allegedly) took turns cutting and pasting Ms. Broughton’s work, or Ms. Siniard has been using other people’s names to contributed stolen material
(http://www.ncgenweb.us/duplin/ncmarriagerecords.htm The Broughton material is in individual files named “North Carolina Marriage Records” followed by the relevant year).
Ms. Siniard could argue that she didn’t violate copyright law by copying Ms. Broughton’s books and she would be right. Ms. Broughton’s works were produced as a state employee and published by the NC State Library, so they are in the public domain (see G.S. 132-1b). But why would anyone be so petty and desperate for attention to claim someone else’s work as their own? According to the NGS standards, researchers should “identify the sources for all ideas, information and data from others, and the form in which they were received, recognizing that the unattributed use of another's intellectual work is plagiarism”. Ms. Siniard is familiar with the NGS standards; she posts them prominently on her county websites, but has decided to ignore them (http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/galleries/Ref_Researching/gssharing.pdf).
Ms. Siniard constantly talks about the thousands of pages she has contributed to NCGenWeb. Ms. Siniard needs to understand that (allegedly) stealing information already freely available on the Internet, and slapping her name on it doesn’t count as a contribution.
Ms. Siniard is (allegedly) also a liar. She claims to be a “certified genealogist”, but she is not nor has she ever been one. ( http://www.ncgenweb.us/board-members and http://www.bcgcertification.org/ )
Ms. Siniard (allegedly) decided to expel NCGenWeb member Sandy Bolick simply because she disliked her. The recent election had only thirty three voters. However, when Ms. Siniard expelled Ms. Bolick from NCGenWeb, she quoted messages from eight different CCs, including an unnamed number of additional messages from more CCs came in that same day, complaining or threatening to quit if Sandy was not expelled. The sheer number of anti-Sandy CCs in NC is astonishing in relation to the number of active CCs, which suggests that Diane simply manufactured messages from these unnamed CCs. Considering that Diane has (allegedly) been proven a thief and liar, why should she be believed about any messages from unnamed CCs? Ms. Siniard’s behavior resembles McCarthyism.
(http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NCGENWEB/2009-07/1249019274 )
Is USGenWeb going to ignore the unethical behavior of someone who is not only a SC, but also the chair of the Grievance Committee? Or will they stand up and say that Ms. Siniard’s behavior is unacceptable and should result in her expulsion from USGenWeb? Or perhaps the Board will reward her with the SEMA Representative position on the Board?
Message sent to the Board yesterday:
Dear Advisory Board Members,
Diane Siniard, SC of NCGenWeb and Grievance Committee Chair, has (allegedly) violated Ancestry's Terms and Conditions by posting hundreds of Ancestry's census images on various NCGenWeb websites. Ancestry has been notified of Ms. Siniard's theft. For an example, see the Myfamily.com watermark on the third line from the bottom of this stolen image: http://www.ncgenweb.us/pasquotank/censusimages/1820ec-2.jpg
This index page for the 1820 Pasquotank Co. census notes that the stolen images were "copyrighted" by Ms. Siniard in May 2008.: http://www.ncgenweb.us/pasquotank/censusimages/1820images.htm
Ms. Siniard has (allegedly) been pressuring NC CCs to steal images from Ancestry, as this message from a former CC demonstrates:
[Message edited]
From: "Scotland County NCGenWeb" <ncscotland@grandecom.net>
To: usgenweb-discuss@rootsweb.com
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2009 12:25:39 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [USGENWEB-DISCUSS] Resignation
. . . Effective immediately, I resign as CC of Scotland County, primarily for the following reasons:
. . . (2) After being advised by the SC to copy images from Ancestry and post them to the county site I maintain to get something new on it, assuring me that it was okay to do so after I questioned the copyright infringements, then having our legal department review Ancestry's Terms and Conditions, I want no part of this. . . .
Mary Modlin
Since Ms. Siniard's (alleged) theft of Ancestry's images violates USGenWeb policy, I hope that the Board will resolve this embarrassing situation quickly.
Sincerely,
Mary White