What happened to my surname groups?

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Permalink Reply by Sean K on October 1, 2009 at 5:01pm

The Groups are created and run by individual GW members. Maybe the admins of some of your Groups found other things to do and deleted their Group. That's just a guess, though you seem to have been unlucky if it has happened to you more than once!

Now that the expected mass membership of GW hasn't materialised, I am tempted to delete some of my Groups. But I certainly wouldn't do that to any of my Groups that had several members and active discussions!

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Permalink Reply by Joan Foster on October 5, 2009 at 12:18pm

Right after the site was launched, someone set up a large number of groups with surnames in which I had some interest. I may have been the only one who joined each, but I did, and I posted in them. It turned out that after I had made my "request to join" the group and been accepted, I discovered that all these had been started by the same person. Apparently she never followed through as she herself didn't have enough interest. I am really interested in one because I do have a family line with them, and I am upset that my post disappeared; I was given no notice about this cancellation. For the other one I recently checked on, I do not have a family line, but I have a manuscript document that I wish to give to someone who would have an interest. I posted the name of the person who wrote the document in the surname group; I also told the administrator when I requested to join the group of my reason for wishing to make the post. That post too, was deleted with the disappearance of the group, and I was given no notice; this family treasure remains in my family's care where it has been for many years (my grandmother was this man's friend). I remain concerned that this person started these groups with no intention of being their administrator. I haven't check on all I joined, but am commenting on these two.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Paradis on October 9, 2009 at 6:11pm

Hi, I just joined and looked through all 161 pages for any of the family names that I am interested in. If it is possible to make it easier for any other new person, it would be nice if the names were in alphabetical order. It would likely eliminate a few of the duplicates. Just a suggestion. Brenda P.

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Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 9, 2009 at 6:28pm

wow Brenda, that's certainly labor intensive. To look for connections to names I have an interest in, I:

Click on 'Groups' from the lime green menu bar, and then type in the family name I'm looking for. Try a few spellings, just to be sure.

Second, to find other members searching surnames, I do the same thing but click on the main members tab from the menu bar. Then type the surname into the search field.

This same thing can go for searching by country, or state, or county. Though for groups dealing with genealogy research topics or other things, it might not be so cut and dry.

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Pirani on April 19, 2018 at 2:29am

I just wish everyone would put the surnames they are talking about into the title of the post. And location.  For instance: Edward Kelly born 1820 somewhere in New Jersey. Help!

It makes it so time consuming if we have to read every post to hopefully fine one that is seeking the same information we are seeking.  Nobody has that kind of time anymore, really.  Make your titles something that tells us what you need.

Cindy

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Lee on October 9, 2009 at 11:01pm

hi. thought I would just say HI. What names are you researching? There are plenty of Fosters in Illinois. Just wondered.

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Permalink Reply by Joan Foster on October 10, 2009 at 10:52am

HI Brenda Lee, Sorry, "Foster" is a fraud. My husband's grandfather changed his name. My father-in-law and I wasted a lot of time researching New England Fosters (a thankless task indeed) before discovering that. Good luck with yours.... Joan

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