Genealogy Chat

I know this will ruffle a few feathers and probably offend some of you; but why are the boards so chaotic?

The General Topics board for "Chat about family history" is full of stuff that should be on the "Chat" board for "Off topic discussions" and there are "Trying to find"s all over the place! Why not under "Trying to find"? The "Tips board" contains threads on just about every subject you can think of. And so on!!

On the subject of "trying to find"; if you're posting one of these wouldn't it be a good idea to always put the name of the person you are looking for as the "Thread subject" to make it easier for those of us having a quick scan down the page? Some of us like to see if there is anyone here we may be able to help, but time is limited.

If you put "trying to find" as the subject and then start off about "my great great grandfather lived in London" or somesuch then nobody can see who you are referring to unless they read the post! The same goes for the other "surname" boards.

Please try to make it easier for everyone!

Hi Susan

I always post on the tips board whether it's a look up or trying to find as there always seems to be somebody on here willing to help!
The general board I find is full of quizs things like name that tune and other stuff that isn't helpful to me personally.
But I do know what you mean, things do seem to be all over the place.

Best Wishes Carole

I expect you will get some flack Susan but I agree with you !

It seems to have got worse lately,even the "SURNAME" board has headings like "parents"

I fear people do not read the-not very clear-GR intro

I never read anything other than the tips board.
I have learnt such a lot from doing that. I don't feel the need to enter any other board. It takes all my available time to read all the threads on this board as it is!
Pat

Some years ago 'someone' or 'some persons' took it upon themselves to report any post on tips that didn't include a tip, including requests for help with searching. Genes then were deleting posts all over the place much to the general annoyance of the members that were helping,

It didn't last long as anyone who wanted to post just added a 'tip'...My favourite being...

'Here's a tip...Add a tip and you won't be deleted!'

When I joined here 6? years ago tips was 'the' place to get help and I must admit It is still the first place I would think of if I wished to post a request for help.....Maybe a case of not being able to teach an old dog new tricks..lol

Chris

Susan

Originally the General Board was a Chat Board but when GR threaded the Chat Board some didn't want to leave General.

Originally the TTF Board wasn't thread and the only way to access it was through your Surnames

i think if you have a problem with how the boards are then take it up with GR...i mean you don't have to read every thread...Good job you wasn't on here then when GR 1st started as there was only a couple of boards

This is what Genes Reunited say about using the tips board:

"Please add genealogy questions to this board only - if you want to add a trying to find message, visit the trying to find boards.

Trying to find messages will be removed from this board."

At least they say that trying to find messages will be removed - it doesn't seem to happen,

But it is helpful not to use the tips board for trying to find. I know that sometimes it's difficult. A member may ask where to find information and someone responds by not only saying where to find it but also looking up the information. I do appreciate that people are being helpful - that's why we post on these boards - but perhaps someone only wants pointing in the right direction so they can have the satisfaction of finding out for themselves

I agree with you entirely Susan!

I also know that a lot of people don't even post under a particular surname when posting their TTF messages.

Do they not realise that if they post a message under a Surname Board it will remain there for posterity......hence other's will see the message at a later date....and they might be an unknown relative who could provite them with some other family information and stories..... plus phographs of their ancestors!

Posting messages on the 'Trying To Find', 'Surname Information' and 'History' Boards should always be posted unter your particular SURNAME to get the best use out of these boards if you want to find a family connection and learn something about your ancestors lives and their family.


REMEMBER.........People who do not come on to Genes Reunited on a daily basis, will go straight to these 3 boards when looking for family connections!

.

There are so many other really important things going on outside these boards, does it really matter who posts what , where and how ?

I ask myself , will the sky fall in , if I don't obey the rules..?...... answer no, then carry on.

It's a bit like being back at school on here, so I'll go and stand in the corridor for a bit !

I would like to say, criticize the Tips, TTF and surnames boards if they are the ones you go on. If you don't go on Gen or Chat then surely it doesn't affect you that they are incorrectly used. we have tried for ages to get GR to provide a board for quizzes and puzzles etc but they haven't. Those of us who do go on Gen and Chat are reasonably happy with how they are (except for the aforementioned A-Z and quizzes etc), you should spend longer looking sometimes you may be pleasantly surprised at the subjects covered and all are welcome, they are not exclusive. We do sometimes (shock horror) also do look ups on gen.

Hi,

I agree the boards are chaotic..... people are unsure of where to add their postings.

However I surf the boards regulary and do look ups for people needing help.... so it doesn't really matter to me where people post their needing help threads, and I am 99.9% sure it is the same for other regular helpers.

GR do like to confuse us and my "tip" here is directed to GR..... people need guidance from you to ensure that they know how to use the boards.


Dee xx

i do what i want anyway unless its gr thats telling me different.
i will not follow every members rules that they make up because its not up to them.


heres a tip...
leave me to do what i want.

meercat.

Hello, thanks for all the positive replies!

I think it's fairly clear that "This board is to help members ask and answer questions about genealogy" under "Tips Board" means general questions about how to go about things, not questions about specific people!

I put this thread on the tips board as it's about what I think is the best way to go about things and I included the tip about putting the name of the person you are looking for as the title of the thread.

Deliberately putting threads on the wrong board seems to me to be just being awkward for the sake of it. Those of you who do this are perfectly at liberty to do so, but if I'm looking to see if anyone has posted looking for help with a particular person or surname I'm not going to see it unless it's on one of the surname boards, and I may have the person you are looking for in my tree!

Also, those of you who only use the tips board might be missing out on just the info you're looking for by not doing searches on the surname boards.

I know GR might have trouble organising a booze up in a brewery, but the message boards are one part of the site which seems to be organised properly!

Whilst I agree entirely with your sentiments you are probably flogging a dead horse.

There are many on here who do not like change and will continue to do things the way they always have. In fact they see it as their right to do so.

This topic comes up about every couple of months, on average, and can sometimes get quite heated especially if someone comes across with a 'Thou shalt' attitude

Hi again, something else has just struck me; it's a bit cheeky to go on the tips board asking for help about a particular person if you haven't already checked the three surname boards to see if the info is there already!

I think the problem is distinguishing what is best for each board.

If you want a Tip about something to do with a Records Office - is it Tips or is it Records Office? A Tip can be almost anything can't it? I would generally use the Tips board for "technical" help, advice about overseas records, or info on immigration and emigration, graveyards, how to use the IGI etc. And the Trying to Find board where I have a specific person that I cannot find. But sometimes the two do overlap.

Anyway, don't all Trying to Finds go into Tips anyway? But it doesn't matter, I usually recognise them.

Members are telling us of the time when there were only two board, well now there are nine, so it can't be easy to choose.

If we are not careful, we are going to put off novices who could become valuable experts. Don your "primary school teacher" hat and think how you would respond to a pupil. It's only the same. It's easy when you know how.

Personally I think most of the boards are a complete muddle and everyone seems to post anywhere. Gen and Chat are the only ones that are different. The rest are offers for lookups or requests for lookups.

Does it matter? No not really. I think the definitions on the boards are a bit woolly anyway and I'm happy to have a look on each of them - as are others.

Don't worry about it - it's certainly not worth getting into a stew about!

Jill

The only ones that really bother me are

a) the people who post their queries on the Surname board, without putting the surname in their header .................. they believe that because they have gone to the board with "their" surname then they don't need to repeat the name.

Unfortunately ................ threads started on the Surname board also appear on TTF ......... but without any surname


So far as I know, those are the only two boards that are so closely interconnected.



b) The people who put their own name in the header ...... Jane Smith, posted by Jane Smith. If you open the thread, you find they are really looking for Henrietta Bonclair!




The boards are chaotic, and that is GR's fault

........ but you know what??

After about 7 years of threading my way around them, I really wouldn't change them


I just look on all boards and see if I can help.



No point in getting your knickers in a knot!



sylvia