I think I'm too tired right now to plow through this stuff but I did find this page about others having difficulty. "New & Improved" ---- am I the only person getting real tired of things constantly being improved? Remember when TV's just had "on" "off" switches an a channel knob? Now you need a thick instruction book. When I pull the photo "bucket" up, its there for a flash, then the whole page goes white & blank. Smartphone?????? Heck, I don't even have a cell phone. No twitterin or tweetin' here.

There is a difference in actually uploading content to GardenWeb versus merely providing a link to content on another site. If one uploads a photo to one of the GardenWeb galleries, then you grant to GardenWeb a license for it's use per the terms of use agreement. But a link is not content. If one uses the link option provided at the bottom of a post block to some other web site, it would be preposterous to think GardenWeb then has a license to all that linked site has in content. A link manufactured by the poster in the body of a message is no different, even if it links to content that the poster owns. The link that plantman56 used to display the photo did not give GardenWeb a license for it's use. I see no reason for posters to avoid sharing their photos by linking to them, for you give away no rights by doing so. Uploading directly to a GardenWeb gallery should not be done if you don't want to give GardenWeb a license. Did Nunan infringe plantman56's copyright? Probably. It would seem that plantman56 didn't give Nunan a right to it's use. But plantman56 did upload the photo to Webshots, subject to Webshots' terms of use, which states ... a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, sub licensable, royalty-free license to use, store, display, publish, transmit, transfer, distribute, reproduce, create derivative works of and publicly perform that Content on and through each of the services provided by Webshots. The worrisome words used are 'irrevocable', 'sub licensable', and 'royalty free'. Did Webshots sub license the photo use to Nunan? We don't know. It's a good idea to read the terms of service before uploading to any site. Compare the terms of service of Photobucket to those of Webshots. Photobucket does not include the words 'irrevocable' or 'sub license'. Copyright is federal law and recourse for infringement can be found in US Circuit Court. Failure to place the copyright symbol on a work or failure to register the work does not bar one from recovery, though it may limit the recovery. Where the infringement was via the internet, some parties may be protected unless notified of the infringement in a formal manner.

As our designated family historian & a genealogist, I've amassed about 70 pictures of 8 generations that are the foundation of our family's history. The oldest has a birth year of 1833. Some are hand enamelled in beautiful colors (Russia). It took many years to gather those pictures including letters to the US War Department. They sent me an 8"x10" picture of great-grandpa in his Civil War uniform that they had in their files along with all his regiment info. He fought with Grant at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Ft. Donelson, and a couple others eventually having his horse shot out from under him (happened often). Bad times for our country. I've gathered pictures from people I've never met living in Siberia, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, and all over the US. Those wonderful people who either knew or knew of my ancestors took the time to write a short note of any info they had about that person's life. It took us several years due to the expense but we've had them all archivally matted & framed. I attached notes on the person's life to the back of each picture. Also on the back I've noted which kid gets that original picture when I die. In the meantime, they hang on our "Rogue's Gallery" wall here in Mystic. Every time the kids and grands are here a few minutes are spent looking at the pictures & teaching the latest generation names & connections. We are a motley group. :) I've got a complicated system for filing thousands of photos, vital record documents, maps, letters, Rutgers University Library research, my own research from study & trips, cemetery excursions, etc. I've written & published (in 1992) an over 800 page book on Mom's genealogy & my photos are filed by reference numbers tied to that book. It was a physical impossibility to give each kid one of everything. So, I made each a large scrapbook from copies of items that seemed best suited to each. I gave them their scrapbooks on their wedding days. Of course, they also each have a copy of the book that contains hundreds of pictures. They each have a copy of my file system for after I'm gone & they have to decide what to do with the book's documentation. I have 37 of those humongeous Rubbermaid tubs stuffed with pictures, immigrations info, citizenship stuff, vital records, etc. The tubs are color coded for each surname. Photos of during the kids' childhood years...I took the easy way out. I presented them each a tub & said, "Have fun! Keep what you wish & you decide what to do with the rest." :) My second genealogy book, "Thunder on the Steppes" has come back from the second edit & I'm waiting for one last 4'x6' genealogical chart from Dr. Pleve in Saratov & then it's ready for publishing. I've been waiting on that darn chart for 10+ years. His wife prepares them in beautiful Russian caligraphy. I've received 6 and this last chart wraps up a huge project. /tricia (who really doesn't want to see more pictures!)

CD storage is ok if burned to a quality CD. A few years ago, some inexpensive CDs had a problem with the reflective backing. Also, you must protect CDs from elevated temperature. Higher than normal room temperature may allow the media to relax and dull the data pits. Copying data to a new CD every 5 years is recomended practice. Archival quality CDs should be used if you can find ones with this identification. Your instructor recommended flash drives (AKA thumb drives). I disagree. Flash drives are only a little better than CDs. Flash drives may have evloved since they were first introduced, but I have not heard anything to the contrary. Before I retired, I watched their development in trade magazines and this is my information (15 years old). Flash drives have a "keep alive" battery inside. A voltage source is required to maintain the states of the storage junctions. The current draw is very little, but the data will dissappear if the voltage fails. A lithium-ion battery technology was chosen because it was one type that can hold a charge for a long time. Typical life is 10 years. After that, the thunb drive may become unreliable. Recommended practice: Copy data to a new flash drive every 7 years and toss the old drive (after it has been cleaned of data or destroyed). When buying a flash drive, make sure it is a new one and not one that has been sitting on the shelf for several years. Keep in mind that the life of the unit depends on the life of the internal battery. The jucntions of flash drives do wear out. A junction is good for about 10,000 rewrites and then it may fail. To address this problem, there is an algorithm built in that causes data writes to move around the chip such that all of the storage area gets used equally. Therefore, your archived data should be put on flash drives that are not used very much. Flash drives used as a hard drive experienceing thousands of writes/rewrites will eventually fail. The smaller the capacity, the sooner it will fail. Very large capacity drives will last longer since each junction gets written less often. Do not store your data on a flash drive that is used for games. Thousands of rewrites can occur over the life of a game. Static charges imparted to the electrodes of a flash drive can destroy it, or at minimum, corrupt the data.