Hello all! I am seeking feedback on an agreement that I plan to have other users agree to before granting access to a wiki site.
- are there other issues that should be included?
- are there changes that would make intent more explicit?
- would you find any of the agreement offensive (and how could that be avoided)?
- other thoughts/reactions/ideas???

The acquisition and maintenance of OurSurname family information would not be possible without the support and participation of many relatives. Family history is a wonderful learning experience, broadening both our knowledge of OurSurname family history and general facts of geography and sociology. We look forward to your joining us for mutual cooperation and friendship.

1) Family history is about people's lives and relationships. Share what you and our ancestors should be remembered for. Use photographs, certificates, examples of handwriting and text to share hopes, dreams, thoughts, disappointments, medical, talents, interests, fears, weaknesses, etc.
2) Family information comes from different sources at different times (personal stories, old documents, family pictures, websites found through Google, genealogy books or resources, etc.).
3) Other family members may want to view the OurSurname family history and WT wiki has the ideal privacy balance through customized access.

Protection of personal information is of paramount importance. WT wiki’s privacy functions are excellent in enforcing privacy. If you feel your viewing access is too limited, please explain why you believe you should see the information. No system is perfect nor unbreakable, so unintended access to the data remains a possibility. Your details can be removed from the site, however your access may also be restricted. Information abuse, theft or misuse is serious and we will cooperate eagerly with any legal action against anyone that participates in or attempts identity theft or harassment as it pertains to this data.

If you are a descendant of either the father of Frederick K. or the father of Fredericka B. and agree to the following conditions, please reply to this note requesting a password.

You pledge to protect the privacy of the data on all living persons on the site and to contribute to the site administrator your own personal information, providing personal and immediate family information and later - modifications, augmentation, amplifications and additions to existing OurSurname family information. You specifically agree to:

• NOT copy data on any living individual without the prior permission of the individual that posted the information.
• NOT copy OurSurname family information to other sites or locations accessible to the public without the prior permission of the individual that posted the information, or the site administrator as noted in the next point.
• maintain current contact information with the site administrator. If an individual cannot be contacted by the site administrator then the site administrator is authorized to grant permission for others to copy OurSurname family information posted by an individual that can not be contacted.
• NOT distribute OurSurname family information contained herein to any commercial venture.
• use caution when storing or distributing OurSurname family information. WT wiki protects information to the extent stated in their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Note that WT wiki users retain their copyrights.
• credit the original poster/author(s) as requested when using OurSurname family information. In addition to citation information a poster/author may request that their contact information is associated with information.
• keep your password confidential. New users must be invited by the site administrator.
• keep any contact information obtained from the site confidential. Share any contact information with others only after obtaining permission.
• ensure that an individual has the required authority to provide the permission you seek.

Thank you for allowing the incorporation of your work within the OurSurname family history wiki; your individual and collective copyrights and ownership of these efforts is acknowledged.

General principles for data entry to follow:

1. Every person and/or every event in that person's life should include a source reference. If you have a piece of information about someone, you obtained that information from somewhere. That "somewhere" is the source. It might be something like a database, a Parish register, or a book. It might be something as simple as "Uncle Fred remembered ...". These are both valid sources. A source will allow others to say, "Ah, so that is where that information was obtained!"

2. Information should be described in a way that indicates how accurate it is. If, for example, you know a person's age from a census, there may be issues of rounding, possible error on the census page, or even misrepresentation. Use the date qualifiers ABT (about), EST (estimated), or CAL (calculated) if required.

3. Information should accurately reflect what is really known. The date of a baptism, for example, should not be entered as a birth date. If it is the only record of the person's birth, the birth is shown with the qualifier “BEF” (before) the baptism date. That clearly shows what is known.

4. DATES: Please use 01 JAN 1822 instead of January 1, 1822 or Jan 1, 1822.

5. MEDIA: Use unique file names to avoid overwriting existing files.