FindAGrave Addicts

Comment

Comment by Darlina Shaw on August 1, 2010 at 4:35pm

I figure if we all do what we can do, whether it be add an obituary or a picture, we are doing a good thing. If I take a picture at the cemetery and see someone else has already done it, I smile and think, well, good. Someone else loves cemeteries besides me, and it's all good. The way I figure it, we have lots of cemeteries, lots of memorials, and I'm just contributing a little to a big pond. It's a hobby I enjoy. Nothing is perfect in this world, and it's all temporary. FindAGrave has given me a way to honor the dead. Someone stole my digital camera recently, so this summer I have not been able to add photos of headstones. But... I have found photos in old books of people from the past, and I can add those if they are not in copyright. And, without camera, I, too, add obituaries I find. If someone wants the memorial I create, I give it, unless it is one of my family. I plan on having my grandkids take over my FAG memorials after I am dead and gone. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.I appreciate the hard work everyone does on FAG. I've gotten my share of good and bad remarks. It's just part of it. I do FAG because I enjoy the solitude of the cemetery and it makes me feel good to think I am contributing to the history of our ancestors. I have had my feelings hurt by others on FAG, but you have to dust yourself off, get back up, and go on. Some people are just naturally nicer than others, but working together is good. We are creating a great thing for the future, or at least that is what I tell myself about FAG.

Comment by Alice Dilts on August 1, 2010 at 10:44am

I am one of those that adds a memorial page from an obituary listing which I include in the page citing the newspaper it came from but I usually do this for our WW II vets only. If a family member contacts me I am happy to transfer the "ownership" of the memorial. The one time I didn't transfer was when a woman was "collecting" the memorial pages of people her husband served with and I explained to her that I was more comfortable transferring it to a family member. I was concerned that down the road if a family member contacted her for transfer no matter how remote the link, she wouldn't do it and there would be no way for me to know she didn't transfer it to family. I have noticed some people don't bother to see if there is already a memorial for that person. I think FAG does a good job and you can't blame them for how their contributors act.

Comment by Julie Nathanson on August 1, 2010 at 10:35am

@ Cindy
We make it a practice to check a cemetery for requests before we go out. If we are fairly certain we will find the requests we claim them. We have had occasion where a person did not go to the requests section and add the photo, but rather just added it from the memorial. That will leave the request as active. In that case, if I feel my photo shows more detail I fulfill the request anyway.

Comment by Frank Glahn, Sr on August 1, 2010 at 8:28am

People add information to Cemetaries in different ways. Personally, I photograph a row of stones first. When I get home, I check to see if photos are already taken for each name. I then build a spreadsheet for all the photos I have taken, and if there is no information about the individual stone, I submit the spreadsheet. I can add the photos later. I usually wait to add photos on newer graves, to respect those who have passed, as well as their living families. I add photos on older stones as time permits, or if there is a request for a photo I have taken.

Comment by Frank Glahn, Sr on August 1, 2010 at 8:18am

@ Cindy Photo requests are sent to everyone in that specific area who may be able to take the photo. If you "claim" that request, you should follow-up and take that photo. Anyone may take photos in an area and add them to a specific cemetary, but if someone else has claimed the photo for a specific stone, they should add the photo for that site. I hope this is not too confusing.

Comment by Cindy Abrams on August 1, 2010 at 7:49am

Well, I guess we can agree that FAG won't please everyone all the time. But I guess if the majority of users are pleased with it most of the time, they are doing a pretty good job.
Having said that, I have a question. I am a fairly new volunteer. I was wondering when photo requests are made if the requests are sent to several volunteers at the same time. I recently took some photos at an old, remote cemetery. I later discovered that someone else had also been there and taken photos. Which was no big deal, but it seemed a shame to duplicate our efforts. I live in a rural area and actually live 12 miles from my zip code town. There are other towns that are a little closer to me, about 10 miles, but they are in different counties.
I am thinking about contacting some of the people who I have noticed that have taken several pictures at a certain cemetery, to see if they go to that cemetery on a regular basis, so we don't duplicate our efforts. Has anyone else encountered this problem, and how did you handle it?

Comment by David L Plaskett on August 1, 2010 at 5:56am

I hate to see the bickering amoung us - it won't solve the problem.
Facts are that the owners of FAG benefit from quantity - it gives them a product to sell.
Genealogists that use FAG have a individual purpose and sensitivety and quanity is of no value.
The two are in opposition. The solution would be a new web site, but then how would we fund it - encourage quantity to sell and eventually be as greedy as FAG.

Comment by Bob Rowe on August 1, 2010 at 5:17am

Ashley, Thanks for the sarcastic remark. What makes you think that I didn't notice the links or follow them. I actually DID click on a couple of them and noticed that they, for the most part, were a repeat of the listing at the complaints group you created. I took the time to see how many others had listed complaints at pissedconsumer - not many. I also read some of the entries added by other people. At this point I see the number of complaints being extremely small compared to the half million contributors who truly enjoy FAG. No one can ever please all the people. I am a bit aggravated over some of their policies but that won't stop me from continuing to enjoy what they offer.

Comment by Sherry Hightower on July 31, 2010 at 11:29pm

I have been a member of FAG for just over 3 yrs. When I first found out about the site, I took all the headstone photos from my web site's cemetery pages and transferred them to FAG. It saved me space and broadened the chance that someone looking for these people may find them. When I transfered all the photos, it included my family as well. My personal philosophy on memorial transfers is, I take the pic and enter the memorials as a service to others and because I enjoy it...99% of the time I have no connection to the deceased. If someone comes along and wants it, and I am not related, then I transfer the memorial because whether they fall within the FAG guidelines of 1 to 4 generations or if they a 23rd cousin 15 times removed, they are still more kin than me. Why should I care if they want the memorial? They have my blessings. I do hate it when someone obviously just inputs memorials from the newspaper obits, without making the effort to actually photograph the headstone. One gal in particular does this in my area of southeast Texas. I know because I have photographed headstones for memorials she placed years ago and in all that time did not go take a photo and she will NOT transfer a memorial come hell or high water!

Even with the negative aspects, FAG serves a wonderful purpose and I am glad it exist, I just wish they would take another look at their guidelines and purpose.

Comment by Poppy Gladstone on July 31, 2010 at 11:20pm

This is in response to David Plaskett's comment. I have had nothing but good experiences with Find-A-Grave in the eight (I think) years that I have been a participant; except for the same as David experience. My husban had a grt uncle who was killed in WWI and buried in one of the cemeteries on the border of France or Belgium (don't remember which). Anyway, I found this grt uncle listed on Find A Grave. I wrote to man that opened the memorial and asked if he would transfer it to me. No way was his responce. He never expained why. I wrote about this uncle's life and family and asked him to to add it. He wrote back a few days later to say he had done further research and added it. When I checked ... he had added more of his war experiences, but not what I sent. I did some more thinking and finally wrote him back again sending this uncle's parents' FAG burial #s. This he did, so at least this uncle is connected.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 24
• 25
• 26
• 27
• 28
• …
• 62
• Next ›
• Page