Find Ancestors

very eloquently put if I may say!!! Sums it up in a nutshell - albeit a rather large nutshell!!

perhaps Emma and Lorraine will both have a think about this but I would imagine we won't see them again, after all, what on earth would they be doing on a "Trying to Find" board?

In my humble opinion !
I think that some "newbies" dip their toe in the water first, which is exactly what I did five years ago.

I knew a little bit about the past as far as my family were concerned from what my grandparents and parents had told me and as often is the case, once those sources of information have gone - and there's no one else to ask, you really regret not being the nosiest kid in the world but as you get that little bit older, you simply begin to think back to conversations that you had and you thought that it had actually gone in one ear and straight out of the other but it hadn't really.
You just begin to wonder about things.
So as a " newbie" you post some query on this site and never expect that someone totally unrelated to you can suddenly find out more about your family than you ever knew.
I'm sure that when a "newbie" (hate that term) posts a query they rarely expect a response of any description, they think it's all "a long shot" but that's because family history is a never ending learning curve and they don't expect total strangers come up with answers that they didn't for a minute expect.
They have no idea where to look or what to do about the information they know to be true but when someone comes up with possible answers - let's face it- some are without a doubt ecstatic.
These people either post messages on the board or send P.M.'s and you just know they are grinning from ear, you can almost hear them smiling because for them" a brick wall just got knocked down"
Then there are the one's who can't work out the results that we give them and I think that's the fault of some of us more experienced "family history" researchers......sometimes we hit these buttons and we are like a run-away-train.... be honest !
For instance the poster starts with a birth query for say 1900................and in a flash.....we have them back to the 1700's........how long did it take us to get back 200 years with our own personal family research ?
And finally back to the first sentance of this posting some members will just " dip their toe in the water" forget they ever did it, never come back and never get the "bug".

And they will have a much tidier house than I have and never be a drain on the rain forest..............anyone else surrounded by mounds of "rain forest" ?
Anyone else forgotten since yesterday what the bits of paper in front of you are about and who the notes are meant for.......?
Yeah ! Probably for someone who dipped their toe in the water !!!
But never mind.

Ah ..... that might be a good idea, taking a break for a few days.


I last posted on Eric's thread about 18:30 or so ........... just after my posting on here at 18:20.

That was two postings to an Emma and a Lorraine who seemed to feel that they had every right to post on old, very old, threads.

I remember telling Emma she could do her own searching!!


then I went away to try to sort out this head.



which is now much better, thank you.


Just waiting for husband to come home from the uni ...... he's retired, but ...................



sylvia

No holiday Sylvia, I'm just joining Julie & getting away from the WUMs

Hope you're feeling better

Don't know what happened to Ericthereds thread but there was alot of disagreement on there

errrrrrrrrrrrrrr


what happened to that other thread by Ericthered?????



sylvia

Hi Ann and Claire

Thank you both for that.

Sorry this response is so late ..... I've spent most of the intervening time in bed with a migraine. Don't often get them now, but I think it is the cumultive effect of the last few weeks rushng around with visitors.


Claire .... enjoy the time until next Monday. Hoep you are having a little holiday!



sylvia

Sylvia I've have seen the comments on the other thread & I'm quite disgusted.

I shall now go & put my dinner in the oven & see you all Monday.

and I must say Sylvia, very good you are at it too. I'm just a novice and like digging around on the Mormon site - though after the responses on Eric's thread about not digging up old posts, I'm thinking of not bothering any more

Susan

No offence taken .... although I am sorry that you and others apparently get that impression.

We have all been newbies at some time, made mistakes, got lost, found our way ........ and discovered ways of digging out information hidden by illiterate ancestors, slightly more literate enumerators, bad transcriptions, and ancestors who changed names seemingly at will.


Having done all that ...... we now like to pass on our expertise to others who are just beginning.

I just wish that every newbie would learn from us how to do the hunting, then do it for themselves, as and when they can afford to subscribe to other sites!


It really does worry me that so many people take what I find and post for them as gospel, and seem to do little checking to verify that what I (and other helpres) have found is correct, and how many people want to do it without buying certificates.


Like Ann, I love doing the searching for my own pleasure as much as anyhting! A large part of my job for over 30 years was library research, poring over old manuscripts etc .......... this is an extension of that. I use the expertise I developed then in searching the internet.



sylvia

no offence taken I'm sure Susan - I've never been in a club!! I just like digging around in the census for my own pleasure if I'm totally honest - I have learned so much from it and never cease to be amazed at how many people in the 1800's had servants by the score and also how many seemed to have boarders!!
Fascinating
Do not consider myself an expert in any way at all, just get lucky now and then

Thanks by the way Derek - much appreciated

I hestitate to add to this thread as I may be shot down however here goes.

I agree that a lot of the long time members do help people in a good way however I have to add that they do have a tendancy to think themself superior to a lot of people. I am in no way running anyone down- when I have asked for help it has been freely given and for that I cannot thank people enough- BUT the impression that this is a semi private club does put some people off asking- they may feel that the impression that you get is that they are stupid and that makes them feel bad- I am sure that is not intent but that is how it sometimes comes over to the occasional poster.

You say that peoples numbers make it obvious that they are not new. That is not the case in all instances.Sometimes ppl join but do not use for a while- that is my situation.

As said I do not wish to run anyone down- I know all you regulars do a good job and help when asked. But please accept that there are people who do not know the unwritten rules for posting on here. We are the future of genology so to speak and maybe a little tolarance goes a long way- for you "experts" just think how it was for you when you started- everyone has to learn.

Again no offence meant to anyone

Best regards

Susan

musta been a bad day for him Derek!



sylvia

But he did tell me not to poke my nose in until i had helped as many people as he had..and i actually have doen quite a lot..so it sort of jarred a bit Derek

ok..done...........xx

c.mon Derek - play fair - Ericthered does excellent work on research and is most helpful - I find him neither arrogant nor snooty and I really don't think Sylvia would agree with you either. He gets a bit frustrated like we all do with some of the half-baked threads that people post

I really think you should do the right thing and delete your posting - not helpful in any way

thanks derek

can i just say you all do a good job. Please dont get down hearted because with out all of you that do put alot of time in for us we would not get as much info as we do now.
thank you
Debbie

sylvia have'nt we been saying this for ages

away from the boards for a wee while (more visitors!!)

Sue

it seems to me that GR set up the boards with certain intentions ........ but the members have subverted them!!

TTF does now seem to serve a dual purpose, that of finding both living and dead relatives (and friends).


One other problem is that any posting on a thread on the Surnames board also appears on TTF ..... but without the surname in the header!



I think the thing to realise is that all kinds of postings can appear on all 3 boards (TTF, Tips, and Records), and that the helpers almost always look on all 3 boards ...................... so a request will be seen by at least one person no matter which board it appears on.


I've even seen a few "looking for" psotings on the Success board in recent weeks!!




sylvia