tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post1378009561566117649..comments2024-03-26T11:22:41.940-07:00Comments on Genea-Musings: Dear Randy - Newbies Need to Be Warned!Randy Seaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17477703429102065294noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-49524446705608109712021-09-04T10:55:30.430-07:002021-09-04T10:55:30.430-07:00Hello Randy. I recently found this article in Pint...Hello Randy. I recently found this article in Pinterest and then opened your amazing blog to read through your posts. <br />Today when reviewing my bookmarks in my research notes and then reading again this post and its comments, I feel the need to share my thoughts about this topic, especially because it has been almost 2 years and half since the last comment… and the situation is still as described in your article. <br />My experience with the “suggested potential” parent, or spouse, etc in Ancestry was kind of good only once when I used it not long ago after finding out in their help center that if you have missed someone in your tree, you look for a close relative (in the family tree view) to that missing person and then -Not sure, I don’t remember now if clicking on it-, that potential parent or so, will show up in green, like in the image above. I followed that advise and got that ancestor back, BUT when I looked at its profile, the sources where missing. That’s why I wrote “kind of good”. This takes me to mention about those Family Trees hints…<br />Never again I will accept or even lose my time in the majority of the cases, taking a look and comparing those trees. First, because I have gotten frustrated when I attempt to review those trees and finding out that 1st, there are 4 to 20 “private” people in them; 2nd, because they don’t have sources. No sources. Zero! If any, other Family Trees. And 3rd, most likely the owners or managers got their information from MY tree. Seriously! I know because I used to have my own 2 main surnames capitalized in all my tree relatives that have those surnames. When they accepted my tree suggestions from Ancestry, the system copied those names the same way I had them before, and they have not even been edited. <br />My last comment, and this time positive, in favor of Ancestry, is that they added the tags. As a non-Pro-Genealogist (Pro = Professional), I appreciate that because I can tag people in the tree as “wall brick”, “researching”, “hypothesis”, “researched and proved”, etc for the sake of everyone, especially those above my level of knowledge, so at least they know that I got that information not from my intuition or by copying it from a non-resources source. Irma A RDSMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09919133722520724986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-75816505501717719772019-04-01T15:56:20.561-07:002019-04-01T15:56:20.561-07:00Marian said it succinctly. I’ve had the exact sam...Marian said it succinctly. I’ve had the exact same experience with a new research, telling me excitedly "I’ve got my family back to the 1400’s and I’ve only been doing this for a month."<br />Wow! Where to start? How not to offend them? I can’t even identify the parents of my maternal great grandfather or my paternal 2 great grandfather, after 16 years of diligent research and hiring 3 professionals. They hear me say that and just think I must not be very good at research. <br />The proliferation of bad trees is only getting worse. All we can do is continue to guide them and hope for the best. Meanwhile, I’ll still be documenting my sources, attending seminars and classes and collarberaring with other genealogists.<br />Diane Gould Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15362418860289987479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-78929912113700457222019-04-01T10:12:49.277-07:002019-04-01T10:12:49.277-07:00I would also add the suggestion to find a local ge...I would also add the suggestion to find a local genealogical society and check out their programs and educational programming. Marcia Crawford Philbrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17166736791934980969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-17727223630881576122019-04-01T09:59:30.915-07:002019-04-01T09:59:30.915-07:00Even experienced researchers, whose education abou...Even experienced researchers, whose education about other subjects I really look up to, seem to think that there aren't any sources beyond Ancestry.com. They have asked why I would need to document a particular fact with a citation on my Ancestry tree, because Ancestry documents them for me automatically.Marianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08873605766046172611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-61018701293378956952019-04-01T09:53:33.364-07:002019-04-01T09:53:33.364-07:00It's difficult to approach the issue with some...It's difficult to approach the issue with someone who seems to be naive about genealogy. When someone tells us with a big grin, "I just started on Friday night, and I've already learned that Charlemagne was my ancestor," where can we start? How can we possibly be gentle enough so we don't turn the person away from family history (and US) permanently? <br /><br />Is there any point in saying something like this? "Man! I've been taking classes, reading text books for ten years, and spent so many vacations traveling to archives around the country. But I haven't found my great-grandmother's maiden name. I've just had a hard time finding any handwritten documents about my family before 1850. Getting real proof of relationships is tough." <br /><br />Is that hint too gentle to break through the ecstasy of Charlemagne's descendant?Marianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08873605766046172611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-64997595379225808802019-04-01T09:47:31.688-07:002019-04-01T09:47:31.688-07:00Randy, I agree with #3 - Val Greenwood's The R...Randy, I agree with #3 - Val Greenwood's The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 4th edition. I think all researchers should read this book. I'd also recommend reading journals like that of the National Genealogical Society and New England Historic Genealogical Society's Register to read examples of well done research. If a newbie doesn't want to invest the money in joining, local societies and libraries often have past issues of the journals on their sale tables for not much more than $1 each. Joining a local society is another must do to learn more about genealogical research.Linda Stufflebeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10652044674485948749noreply@blogger.com