[or-roots] re First time posting

[PoesGirl at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/26/2005 6:17:31 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
JNCRIDGE at aol.com writes:
<< 2 Each person was new to genealogy at one time.  What Kay Profitt needed 
was not answers; what was needed was instruction about how to find the 
information. >> 

<<Well gee, I'm sorry my information wasn't useful enough for you, hope it is 
for Kay.>>
   The point is not that your information was not useful.  Kay's question was 
"wondering how to post something."  It was not a request for you to get 
information and spoon feed it. If the new user is to become a family historian, the 
person needs to know how to find the sources of information.  Your references 
were to Ancestry.com sources.  So, should Kay get the impression that the 
only way to find anything is to sign up with a subscription? Because if you do 
not have a subscription and click on the references, you do not see the same 
amount of information.
   Perhaps Kay needs to know how to do a Google search.  Kay probably doesn't 
have a long list of favorite places with genealogical information. Getting a 
list of favorite internet resources would be a good way to let Kay get on with 
research. If Ancestry.com is your sole source for research, perhaps others on 
the list may wish to share their favorite web pages for Oregon research. Such 
information is of use not only to newbies, but to more experienced 
researchers as well.
   Kay's original message was all caps. Assuming that Kay wishes to get a 
useful response and not offend anyone, it might be useful to read 
http://www.kidsdomain.com/brain/computer/surfing/netiquette_parents.html

Jon Ridgeway 
You know what, I didn't have anything better to do today, so I tried to help 
someone who evidently had very little information about her family or anyone 
to ask for information.  Hopefully what I was able to find for her will give 
her a starting point.  

That the people on this list complain that she wrote in all caps, which I 
didn't even notice or that I write in bold, which I have been doing for years and 
suggest that those are reasons not to correspond with someone are beyond 
absurd, as is telling someone that what they do know is useless because the critic 
assumes that no one ever gave a nickname to a census taker, or that it even 
is a nickname, much less picking the nit of spelling Frances with and I or an 
E.  Unbelievable, not to mention the comment that Larry is probably short for 
Lawrence.  I sincerely doubt after that little display that the writer has ever 
even looked at an original census return, which are notorious for misspelled 
names, both first and last and as far as formal names are concerned you will 
find most names in the early census returns are common usage, not the "formal" 
name.  Then you have the problem of handwriting, if you are looking at an 
index for Holsey you better darn well also look at Halsey because the original 
writing might have been illegible or the person making the index might have 
assumed it was Halsey which is a more common name.  
But you people are more concerned with type fonts than genealogy so carry on. 
 I'm sure glad I didn't show up here years ago when I first started my family 
research.  After the advice you guys hand out who would bother.  Toodles.  ~~~
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/or-roots/attachments/20050526/9ee82ec9/attachment.html>