Genealogy Chat

So if we have got the wrong end of the stick Ed, just what do you find wrong with the Tips Board? Im getting older and slower so may be Im just not following your line of thought. There is nothing on this board which doesnt help someone with their genealogy research. Records Board is for the real hard core straight to the point investigations. General is for people just to talk to like minded people. I always feel more at home on Tips than the other two boards because we share info and help each other in more general terms than Records but still in genealogy based areas. I just dont understand what your complaint is. To be absolutely frank from what I have seen, your requests have always been dealt with by willing souls on this board and not Records who tend not to spend time on vague requests but kindly look up specific info in their resources.

Maybe youve moved on, as youve learnt more about Genealogy, and the site is too light weight for you? I've found this site an absolute godsend, and have learnt so much (census transcripts, Pigots, Kelly's, etc...) as well as finding many people connected to mine and my husbands ancestors. I havent got access to most of the census' at the min, and some fantastic people on GR have given their time to do look-ups. However, I can understand what youre saying. Maybe the Records board would be more for you?

Still not happy but still here Ed ?? Sarah :-) Why did you nudge??

nudge, nudge

Ancestry obviously has provided us with all the deatils from 1841 to 1901 census wise but the bigger picture has been the result of personal research in county records and the network of connections due to this site. The consequences of being on this site>>>> 1) recieving an email from a cousin of my grandmother living in scotland whom neither me nor my 65 year old mother had ever met.........we only had a photograph of this womans uncle(my great grandfather)....she is in her seventies and without gr and the internet would never have exchanged stories or photographs. 2) finding relatives long lost in the last 50 years in Australia and New Zealand.......children of people that my mother last saw in the 1950's after a visit . 3)finding a man living down the road (aged 73) who turns out to be my greatgrandmothers younger half brother,42 years her junior.....the only living connection to a huge family that I am directly descended from,and leading to discovering photos and stories about people that my Nan used to talk about when i was small.They were a family of 21 children born over 42 years. and theres more

i think myself gr has been the best money i have spent through this site i have found a lot of connections to my tree and one line of mine has taken me back to my 5th grandparents which i dont have on my tree because this part of my line is massive i have this on a my other programme.and also without the wonderful help of others on here when i have been stuck it woulnt have been possible to find stuff that i have needed so i certainly dont agree with you ed i shall certainly be renewing my membership kerry ann

I don't agree with your views Ed - The Tips Board is a fantastic tool - it helps all members who are experiencing problems - whether it be with their family history, or in my case - severe crash problems. I only entered my request for help last night, and already there are several replies, and one possible solution. As its name suggests - its there for tips on how to.. whatever. Great! Grateful David

Ozibird Snort snort! Havent you realised yet that I am a creature of the night and dont come aboard till 6pm? I am still on old-fashioned dial up, due to the limitations of my ancient stone age computer which only has windows 98. Olde Crone

I still think that this is a great board and am constantly picking up tips from other members (as well as often asking for their help). We may sometimes have a bit of banter between us but then that is what friends do, and I feel that lots of the regular posters have become cyber-friends. The vast majority of the board is still dedicated to giving and receiving information and tips.

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

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

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

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 :-(

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.

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.

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

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'. ;)

Ian, I have just checked out your age! Merry

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

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!