Hunters, Gatherers, Takers, Filchers, "Taking & Using"

The following was written by Dolly Ziegler in a message posted to the "Sullivan Puzzle Team." It is republished here with the author's permission:

Hunters, Gatherers, Takers, Filchers, "Taking & Using"

What's the right word for people who publish other people's research on websites without giving credit?

I've heard them described as "gatherers" in contrast to "hunters," those of us who do actual research in actual records. But "gatherers" isn't quite right, because one of the rules for research is, learn what has already been done.

Maybe "takers" is a better word? "Filcher"?

Tom Lehrer wrote a delightful song, I don't remember the title but the theme is "Plagiarize." ... That's better suited to printed matter, a bit too strong a word for careless appropriation.

I realize some of these folks are "newbies" who don't know about giving credit where credit is due. ;-) Some are going to learn and be good researchers; maybe some are my cousins, so I don't want to be too harsh!

"Taking and using without permission" -- Police terminology was TUVWOOP, "taking and using vehicle without owner's permission." Pronounced tuv-woop.

Can you come up with a better term than "research filcher"?

(Cue, Tom Lehrer song in background.)

Comments

[Dino (All Dino, All the Time)]

Richard, I'm not sure if the lyrics are still under copyright protection or not, but here they are (Of course, no Lehrer song is complete with othe music) ...

Who made me the genius I am today,
The mathematician that others all quote,
Who’s the professor that made me that way?
The greatest that ever got chalk on his coat.

One man deserves the credit,
One man deserves the blame,
And nicolai ivanovich lobachevsky is his name.
Hi!
Nicolai ivanovich lobach-

I am never forget the day I first meet the great lobachevsky.
In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics:
Plagiarize!

Plagiarize,
Let no one else’s work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good lord made your eyes,
So don’t shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please ’research’.

And ever since I meet this man
My life is not the same,
And nicolai ivanovich lobachevsky is his name.
Hi!
Nicolai ivanovich lobach-

I am never forget the day I am given first original paper
To write. it was on analytic and algebraic topology of
Locally euclidean parameterization of infinitely differentiable
Riemannian manifold.
Bozhe moi!
This I know from nothing.
But I think of great lobachevsky and get idea - ahah!

I have a friend in minsk,
Who has a friend in pinsk,
Whose friend in omsk
Has friend in tomsk
With friend in akmolinsk.
His friend in alexandrovsk
Has friend in petropavlovsk,
Whose friend somehow
Is solving now
The problem in dnepropetrovsk.

And when his work is done -
Ha ha! - begins the fun.
From dnepropetrovsk
To petropavlovsk,
By way of iliysk,
And novorossiysk,
To alexandrovsk to akmolinsk
To tomsk to omsk
To pinsk to minsk
To me the news will run,
Yes, to me the news will run!

And then I write
By morning, night,
And afternoon,
And pretty soon
My name in dnepropetrovsk is cursed,
When he finds out I publish first!

And who made me a big success
And brought me wealth and fame?
Nicolai ivanovich lobachevsky is his name.
Hi!
Nicolai ivanovich lobach -

I am never forget the day my first book is published.
Every chapter I stole from somewhere else.
Index I copy from old vladivostok telephone directory.
This book was sensational!
Pravda - well, pravda - pravda said: (russian double-talk)
It stinks.
But izvestia! izvestia said: (russian double-talk)
It stinks.
Metro-goldwyn-moskva buys movie rights for six million rubles,
Changing title to ’the eternal triangle’,
With brigitte bardot playing part of hypotenuse.

And who deserves the credit?
And who deserves the blame?
Nicolai ivanovich lobachevsky is his name.
Hi!

[Steve]

Regurgitators?

That accurately describes those who gather information indiscriminately, enter it (or just suck it in via a GEDCOM files), and republish it.

Plus, it conveys an accurate picture of someone who does the above with bad information.

[Guy Etchells]

Why not call a spade a spade, anyone who takes someone's work without giving the credit is a plagiarist, which is a kind word for a thief.
Cheers
Guy

[Betsy]

How about REPRESSORS? That's the effect it has on me--when I see errors of fact and logic being endlessly reproduced. I choose to post nothing on the web, which of course means that no one else can view OR CHECK my information and correct where I may have erred.
But aren't we tilting at windmills? That giantic sucking sound of gazillions of family tree branches being downloaded and redistributed by the indiscriminate harvesters of names is not likely to be abated by us expostulating about responsibility. Who cares about accuracy and fair play? It's just about getting tons of names in the data file, isn't it?
Yes, I am discouraged.

[Marianne]

very well said.....but thieves will never give their victims credit for anything...and will want more and continue to take it all in the name of "research...their research"...

[David Frazier]

I personally know of at least 7 or 8 other genealogies on Rootsweb World Tree which have used my gedcom files, some of them have even introduced errors. I put all my info out there for anyone to use and am not vain enough to desire "credit" since the information that I got was "plagerized" from public records and "copyrighted" family knowledge. If my information helps someone then that is great. Perhaps they may pass a nugget of information back to me. If you don't want anyone to use your information without giving you "credit" don't put it on the web. Publish a book and copyright it and sell it for whatever the market will bear.

[Alison]

In England, TWOCing is "taking without the owner's consent" - a term applied by the police to the theft of a motor vehicle. Perhaps it could also be applied to those "genealogy gatherers" who don't even bother to ask, they just take and (ab)use other people's work as they see fit.