The Genealogy & Family History Social Network
does the chat actually discuss genealogy?
I just joined the site about 9 days ago. I have been sitting quietly in the chatroom for the past 4-5 nites. I have yet to actually see anything concerning genealogy being discussed in there! So far, I have read about someone having hundreds of computer viruses, organ transplants, sewing projects, everything under the sun EXCEPT genealogy.
If this is the way this chat is run, I think I'll keep looking for a chat that really DOES talk genealogy.
Views: 740
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Madehlinne on
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This chat room is basically a cooperative venture between the parties who are present at any one time. Some of us may not have the resources--or the time--to delve into whatever topic is under discussion. Others are quite happy to drop what they're doing and help anyone who ASKS for assistance in some way. Generally, if one participant doesn't have any answer or can't find one readily enough, someone else is quick to jump in and say, "Let me help you with that..." Of course, no one can guarantee success in finding answers, but the chat room participants will make a valiant attempt at it.
Did you make an attempt to get acquainted? If you just logged in and observed the chat room and made no contribution, comment, question, or otherwise showed a general interest, then perhaps no one realized you needed help.
As for "non-related subjects" [your words]:
History is part of genealogy. History gives a background for the people who were living in any particular time period; those who do not remember their history, are, as the quotation goes, "doomed to repeat it."
Medicine--or lack thereof--bizarre medical treatment--organ transplants--and diseases were what plagued {quite literally} our ancestors; genetic research has become extremely important for those under the onus of inherited diseases.
Sewing projects? Every good researcher knows when it's time to take a break from the intensive work required to dig deep into the many resources available.
And as for computer viruses, if you work with a computer, then you know what an invaluable tool this has become. Without a computer in proper working order, no researcher worth her salt can accomplish much from a distance when travel is impractical.
My first point: If you are a "professional genealogist," and you were looking for easy answers to genealogical questions, then you've come to the wrong place.
Which begs the second point: again, if you're a "professional genealogist," and you were looking for answers for someone else who was paying you to research by visiting this chat room, then you are most definitely in the wrong place.
If you care to come back, then by all means, please do so.
If you've decided this is not the place for you, then can I help you pack?
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Permalink Reply by Cathy Milioto on
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Lea-HOW DARE YOU accuse us of NOT talking genealogy!!! I have found that I am DIRECTLY related to Deacon Samuel Chapin himself! Without the help of Caren, Melinda, Maddie, William and a host of others; my family lineage in that line would be incomplete! Come back when you can be more aggreable with folks and actually CHAT genealolgy with those of us who give a darn about our family reasearch!!!
Cathy Milioto
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Permalink Reply by William Douglas on
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Cathy,
No one said that you did not talk genealogy. What was said was this:
I have been sitting quietly in the chatroom for the past 4-5 nites. I have yet to actually see anything concerning genealogy being discussed in there!
So, Lea was unlucky. All that was required was for someone to say when it is discussed. Please try to be polite and considerate of others in you posts.
I have just spent an hour helping someone else on this forum - it was done in a spirit of sharing and helpfulness. And it works both ways. Let's try to keep it that way.
William
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Permalink Reply by Jim Avery on
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Lea - you say you were sitting quietly. That seems to imply that you were lurking (a non-derogitory) term for someone who listens but does not participate. The way our chat is set up, the list of people on the right are the people on site and not necessarily those in the chatroom. Please come back, participate and if people are having a conversation among friends about things other than genealogy participate in that too and when the time seems right ask for a lookup or an opinion or whatever you need. But please don't knock the chat without participating.
Re Paranormal, if you were here Wednesday at 10 pm eastern we have a scheduled paranormal chat. There are other times when the subject comes up. If you would rather talk about something else and it is not a scheduled chat, let us know.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa A. (Thamm) Spegal on
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Lea,
I'm not sure if I have been in the chatroom lately when you have been there "listening in" my life lately has been a but hectic, but I can assure you that there are many names listed on the right side and of all of them often it's just a handful of us actually in the chatroom and not merely logged into the GW website.
Believe all of us when we say that we most certainly do talk genealogy and of many different topics. I have numerous piles of papers from lookups that I have worked on for many of my fellow chatters.
But after spending months or perhaps years together in a chatroom such as ours, many of us become like family, we have weathered computer problems, family issues, work issues, discussed the weather and even suffered the loss of a member who died suddenly and without warning and left a great void in many of us. She had given so much of her time and of herself to help a great many of us with our research.
Talk genealogy- most definitely
Comfort friends- most certainly
share our losses- when we have them and feel we can
socialize-of course... not everyone has a genealogy brick wall or lookup or query every single day and when someone comes in with one, we do our best to help them!
I'm with the rest, please come back, join in, request help OR offer help, or both and if you're not comfortable with that then I hope you find somewhere more to your liking because we are comfortable with our chatroom and fellow chatters!
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Permalink Reply by Christine Read on
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Hallo all,
First time I am writing to the Forums!! Having read all this thread, I have to say that I will be attending my first GenealogyWise Chat this evening precisely because it is a scheduled Paranormal chat!!
I have been seriously studying my family history for over twenty years now - in fact I am so serious about it I just wish there were 48 hours in a day so I could do more. In the course of my research I have come across some paranormal things which have happened/are happening in five different places (and at different time periods) where my ancestors lived, so yes, it is connected with genealogy research.
I am very much looking forward to seeing how the Paranormal Chat goes and to find others who have maybe found similar occurences as me during the course of their genealogical research!
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Maybe the reason we haven't talked about genealogy much is we are too busy talking about this post.
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not me Jim, I love genealogy and as I said, I'm done here.
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Permalink Reply by Nancy Merrill Sayed on
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Don't mean to beat a dead horse, but this is the first time I've been online at this site, and was attracted to the "paranormal" night for a reason. I've been doing genealogy for about fifteen years, and have learned to love the quote "genealogy without documentation is mythology", simply because it's so annoying to be given faulty or sloppy data. I was introduced to the study of our family history by my cousin, and was lucky enough to learn to research the way she does: she's meticulous, tireless, thorough and generous! I've proceeded with the information gathering as if it was a scientific experiment--hoping to prove hypotheses, but not too upset when they don't pan out, because something more logical almost always falls into place. However, there were two instances when some amazing finds turned up.
First, I'd been researching my dad's dad's family for about five years. I knew they were from Canada (stated on my ggrandpa's death certificate), but had no clue where. I posted query after query, in most of the nearby (to Michigan) sites. I was really dispirited (pun not really intended) when nothing turned up, because it was my dad's wish to find out more about them, and none of us were getting any younger! One night, I dreamed about Grandpa--it was the first and last dream I ever had of him. When I woke up, I thought, okay, I'll try one more time. Six hours later, I got irrefutable documentation of our family from not just one but three sources, one of which had been researching for almost sixty years! This gave us an additional four hundred years of family info in that line.
Second, I dreamed about my mom's ggrandmother. She was chatting up a storm, not leaving a word in edgewise! I'd gathered considerable information on them, but nothing much beyond my gggrandma. The dream was so real, that I went to the library to use their ancestry.com library edition, and within twenty minutes, started to find out tons of information on her siblings, her siblings' families, many of their descendents, her parents' families (aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. I'd been researching them for close to eight years, but the people I kept finding weren't anywhere close to what family lore said they were. Then bingo! there it all was!
It's not as if I actually saw or heard anything more than what I already knew--I just felt their presence so clearly that suddenly, it was like working alongside them to find something, rather than just an abstract concept.
I can understand how annoying fuzzy, shabby logic can be. But perhaps there's a logic that we don't use often enough?
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Permalink Reply by Carol Leve on
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Nancy, what a wonderful story. I hope you will come by our Paranormal Genealogy chat again. We are there on Wednesday nights at 10 PM eastern. Looking forward to you joining us.
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Permalink Reply by Kathryn Brannigan Walizer on
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Happens more than anyone knows.
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