Genealogy Chat

Did somebody mention a bottle party? Meercat - leave Glen's turnips alone. And what's all this about you nestling up to a lion? Pick on someone your own size - that's what I say. Tina (an unrepentant luddite who totally fails to understand how a message board can work if you don't just move from message to message reading them)

I think people have me all wrong here I'm not saying the board is not helpful and I hate the humour all I'm saying is it could be a whole lot more helpful, a lot easier and quicker to do stuff which will give us more time to be humorous. :) I'm not suggesting go to another forum either as there are plenty of these already. The magic of this place is that everyone is here so that's why it shoudl be built into GR the same way this forum is. Just think of how helpful to all the newbies it would be if you had the function to sticky the threads that answer the most commonly asked questions. Imagine the time you would have to do fun and wonderful look-ups etc when not having to answer all the questions newbies ask because they are already here at the top of the forum for them to read. Imagine being able to post messages in the very first post and it keeps the formatting. :D Imagine the possibilites of being able to add images of the census page or certificate to the actual message. Things like this would make the forum a lot better for us all to use. Yes it would initially be a pain to learn the new forum additions BUT at the end of the day if it makes things easier to do the job/hobby/fun thing we're doing then that's got to be better hasn't it? I'm all for not fixing things that aren't broken but we should be able to evolve. We'd still be riding penny farthings and driving those old vintage cars that do the london to brighton run each year if someone didn't think, hey, i can make things a little better for others instead of 'well, it gets me to where i want to go,,, eventually.'

Hi Tina! There's another thirty bottles of elderb*rry in the cellar, just waiting for you. Hi Ian I have no problems with the message boards, which are blessedly free of smilies, but if you could sort out the contact section, so I knew who I had contacted and why and most importantly whether I owed them a reply, I'd be eternally grateful!

No, you're all right Ian.....It's just that some of us are scared of the big pool and prefer to stay in the warm water toddler area, even if we know it's difficult to swim the whole length without people in arm-bands getting in the way.......But I'm sure if you drained the toddler pool, most of us would cope with being out of our depth!! But GR won't be making any changes will they? :o(( Since I've been using the boards (and it took me two years to notice them after I joined!) the number of names recorded on GR has doubled, from about 34 million to well over 60 million, which must mean a lot of new members and a whole lot of money going to GR without them doing much at all. I suppose the number of people who use the boards is a tiny fraction of those who pay a sub, so they (GR) would say, ''why should we bother making improvements?'' Merry

I started my research in 1967 and found all that I could, doing it the hard way. Since June 05, I have found MORE family that I have done in 30 yrs ALL due to the individuals here on Genes. I ALWAYS recommend 2 things to people when starting FH [and even the diehards]. GENES first of all, THEN ancestry.

Alan, I haven't been researching as long as you (about 10-12 years) but still remember some of the old days! It is so nice to see someone say the computer/internet etc etc can help, instead of saying things were so much better when only a select few chose/were able to research their tree! Merry

I recently visited my 81 year old uncle and presented him with a family tree back to 1550 on one line. He sat there, looked at it, looked at it again and burst out larfing. He said he had spent 20 years when he was younger sitting in records offices and had not got anywhere near the info I had - his words were actually, all I got was names, nothing like the detail you have found. I think the internet is brill.

Hi Meercat, Hi Phoenix - mmmmmm, elderberry wine. Purrrrr. Ian, I've seen those sticky whatsits on other boards. All very well, but we have so many useful threads that the whole first page would be taken up by sticky things and Merry gets upset if she gets bumped down to page 2. Also, because there is just so much to learn about genealogical research, especially when you are new to it but even when you have been at it a while (the research that is, not the elderberry wine), perhaps it is better this way, with helpful people 'bumping' up useful threads every so often or in response to a particular query from someone. Being a bear (or in my case cat) of very little brain, I can only cope with tiny bits of new stuff to learn at a time and prefer my education in bite sized chunks - no NO Meercat, I am not talking about your furballs. Tina

Well it was only an oppinion and suggestion really, not like its going to happen anyway is it? Not until all the old farts join their ancestors and the youngsters can take over and RULE THE WORLD!!! mwahah... hold on, i'll be an old fart then though and stuck in my ways. Darn it...

Aargh, meercat, you've just hit a nerve. I AM paid to do a job..... but it isn't reading the Tips Board all day!

Even if GR doesn't go as far as Ian recommends,it should at least update the lay out of the boards so that people with access to resources or expertise in certain areas can help better,just adding a few more boards like a specific 'census look up' board would help a lot,and the Records Office board could be used by people offering/wanting look ups at the Record Office/Archives

Ian, I have just checked out your age! Merry

Andrea - Woohooo someone that actually agrees with me somewhat. You've got to be one of us youngsters. :) Merry - I don't know how you checked my age as I'm young enough not to be on any of the ancestry census'. ;)

LOL Ian well you are almost ten years younger than me! (and you know how old I am!) (Must be me techno-brilliance on this site! LOL) Getting back to Ed's Q..... I still can't see any threads on page 1 of Tips that are not family-history related. So, have we all been involved in a big misunderstanding? Merry

Well Ian hit a nerve too, I am old and I am subject to the occasional bout of flatulence. Meanwhile (shifts bottom on seat) stickies would be good for the newbies - many times the same old questions come up and people dont seem to use the search at the top so it would be a good idea.

The major snag with GR having a census look up board is that most of the lookups are illegal. Ancestry gets so much free publicity from this site that I'm sure it doesn't mind losing the odd fee, but if GR openly acknowledged what was happening, then it would have to pay a moderator to exclude certain postings or pay royalties to the various publishers.

I have to say it's threads like this (the initial post, not the replies) that make me wonder why I bother doing look-ups for people on here. Liz :-(

Cos Liz, 99.9 percent of them are pleased as punch that you do.

Ed You dont have to enter any information about yourself when you renew, as long as all the details are the same as they were - GR is more than happy to take your money anyway! I suppose its horses for courses really. No-one moans about GR more than I do, but hey, its like your kids - I can moan about them but would protect them to the death if anyone else did. I once found myself on Ancestry message boards. I found a useful post and made a note of the page number. A few days later I tried to find it again and after 4 hours trawling, still hadnt found it, and left in tears! OK, this is a Toy Town site, but it suits me, I am hopeless with anything complicated, being far too impatient to learn incomprehensible jargon etc and far too old to remember it even if I do. I rarely go on the General Board, preferring the company on Tips. This is nothing to do with being elitist, or a snob, or anything like that. If you go to a Pub, people do not sit in a large circle round the walls, they naturally gravitate into groups with whom they have something in common and I doubt if any other group feels excluded or looked down on. There is actually a limited number of 'pure' Tips that anyone can give, so the Tips Board would be fairly short and dull if it consisted only of factual Tips. I cannot see what is wrong with the informal style of this Board and why humour is a 'bad thing' (by inference). Occasionally there are posts on here which are completely on the 'wrong' board - often due to to error, lol, but TTF messages I usually point out that they would be better on the correct board because they will simply get lost and ignored on Tips. Yes, GR is a three-wheeled wagon, with warts and idiosyncracies. But it is the best site I have ever been on, for the sheer help I have received, and the interest shown in MY family history. I shall renew my membership and continue to moan loudly at every opportunity. Olde Crone

Well Ed you're outnumbered here! When I first discovered Genes I stumbled across the Tips Board quite by accident, read a few threads, found an amazing amount of interesting and helpful info and loved the humourous threads - in fact, I think the first thread I added to was the 13 Commandments thread or was it the How Do You All Cope thread? It's not often I laugh out loud but suddenly I felt part of a crowd (even though I'm probably not remembered) and realised I wasn't the only anorak to find this hobby so fascinating! I have fallen out with my research at the moment but I will be back on here - the help you receive is amazing and the sense of humour is just up my street. In the meantime I lurk on the General Board - not joining in much - just sniggering on the sidelines! Have to admit to being gutted last night as it was just getting really heated on there and my laptop crashed and now the threads have been deleted so not too sure what happened - sad I know! This board is nothing like the General Board but the only reason I went over there was because the virtual pubs on here kept getting raided which was a shame as sometimes you just needed that release! I agree with others on here - the internet has helped me greatly and if my late aunt was still around she would have loved to have known all the extra family I have found. My cousin called me a cheat for using the internet as my aunt had trawled through graveyards, visited London on numerous occasions etc etc. I took offence to that remark as I have so enjoyed the last couple of years behaving like a detective! Anyhow I digress - I'm sure you will miss GR if you don't renew your membership. Debby