Genealogy Chat

Hi Can I have a moan too As one of the people who will do look ups and search through records What really annoys me is when you have spent time searching using the info supplied and posted or sent the results the same request appears on the boards within a few days. Also the ones who don't believe when you can't find their family in the census at the address given.,because that is the address given on Birth or Marriage Certs. Don't they realise that people moved around The other is when you get another request 6 months later asking for the same info Bren

Brenda I'm with you! We were saying this earlier on the thread....do people think the info will change if someone else looks it up? Or do they not think you've looked properly. In that case they should do it themselves especially when its information that available on a free site and they just can't be bothered Lou

Hi ya I just want to say thank you to Lou for helping me out and i really appricate the help ive got to day from people as i find i hard to get on to sites as i dont have a credit card only a visa electron and no one really seems to take it Toria xxxx

Victoria I have the same Visa Electron problem and agree that its a nightmare! I can't buy credits for 1837 online and I can't order certs online thru the GRO cos they don't accept my card Lou

Lou and Victoria I used to have an Electron card and was told by the bank that the reason it is not accepted everywhere is that it doesnt have the same guarantees of payment as other Visa debit cards. I changed to a Visa Delta debit card and have no problems anywhere now. Margaret

Laird That caller could have been me :( LOL :) Chris

Margaret Don't tell my hubbie that! This way I can keep spending HIS money!!! Lou

Lou You mean spending his money on your 'free certs' LOL Ours is a joint account anyway, so makes no difference. Margaret

Margaret Absolutely! Certs are free but I have to buy credits for look ups and pay for copying of register entries direct from the local offices. That's as much as I'm confessing to at the moment! Lou

Daren't try that one or he'll say that the beer in the pub is a buy one get five free offer!!! Trouble with my hubby is that he knows about how much this hobby costs. Mind you, I did send for my NBI2 discs without telling him. He thinks its still the original, just hide the box. Some of you complain that your other half isnt interested, but the trouble is,when they are, they know all the costs. Can't win!! Margaret

Laird, That was brilliant. I've not been researching very long and am computer illiterate but when I started I searched around everywhere on the net (I am capable of doing that) as well as reading the tips on these message boards. I cannot believe the amount of look ups being asked for. I think the fun of genealogy is the research you do yourself and only ask for help if you hit a brick wall and need pointing in the right direction. Perhaps some people are impatient and like to build their tree in weeks rather than taking years. Carol :)

Carol - good viewpoint - wish you well.

Carol You are right. But, sometimes when you try to point out to people how to do things, others jump in with the info already done and no explaination of how they found it. How is that person supposed to look anything up next time if they aren't told how to do it. If you spoon fed a baby for ever it would never learn how to feed itself. The same applies in genealogy. You learn how to do new things all of your life, same principal here. I think Newbies fall into 2 camps. The 'please help me I want to learn' camp and the 'do it for me because I cant be bothered but I want to show off my family tree' camp. If info is freely available on the net but you just need to know where and how to look, then show them how. How many times do we get requests for lookups on 1881 census, freebmd, 1901 census. All free to search. Margaret

Margaret Yes I know what you mean. Hope I fall into second camp. I would like to point out to newbies that just by entering a search at the top of the tips board you can usually find the answer to your question. It's not obvious to you to start with. Carol:)

Carol I hope you fall into the first camp, the 'I want to learn'. LOL Margaret

1901 may be free to search, but it certainly isn't free to view. It works out at a pound per household. lot's of people can't afford to do loads of searches on there. If I think someone new doesn't understands the searching I often send them a back up email to explain how to go about it. I find it sad when I see quite nasty curt comments from some people telling newbies that they should be doing it themselves. Once they have been given a good start it is noticable that a lot of people then get the bug and do take off themselves. You then see them starting to offer help in return. Linda

Linda I didnt say tell them to do it themselves. I said show them HOW to do it for next time. I am well aware how much the 1901 site costs. Its actually 75p per household if you go straight to view the image. I did say free to search. If people used the index to search before they asked for a look up then it would make life easier for those doing the lookups. If you aren't told how, then you will never know how. Margaret

Margaret Sorry had to get dinner!! I meant first camp. Linda Glad you send back up e mails explaining how. At the beginning of the thread the original moan was about the number of look ups being asked again and again. People do need to know how to do it themselves and where to look. Carol :)

I use my local FHC practically every week and last week a group of people, about 10, arrived, by appointment, to 'Do their family history' The manager explained in words of one syllable that they were going to look at a Parish Register of the locality, in order to find their rellies. Two of the women were carrying on a private conversation while this was going on. He showed them how to load a film, did it for most of them who couldnt do it. One or two made a half-hearted attempt to scroll the film forward, much squawking about how horrid it was to read. The Manager darted about between them, moving the film on and saying things like 'Now search the year 1853 and write down your results'. I went out for a fag(!) just as they all left and was not particularly surprised to hear some of them grumbling 'he wasnt much help, was he, he didnt find Aggie's marriage' To sum up: Lots of people are willing to help - but very few are actually going to do the work for you. Marjorie

Kat, I couldn't agree with you more. I have only been on this site for 6 months and in the beginning, I found it extremely daunting and probably asked all sorts of daft questions! But I have persevered and can now find out an awful lot myself and only ask for help if I really need it. When I feel confident enough to help others, I will be only too pleased to post a thread offering look ups. We are all learning all the time and it's great that so many people want to help.......but please, if we newbies do post a thread that has an obvious answer......please be gentle with us! As far as manners are concerned, I am of the generation where manners were taught at a very early age and that never leaves you, no matter how many grey hairs I have!!! Sorry to go on.....just had to stick up for the majority of newbies! Anne