The Magic of Internet
Message Boards by Paul Duxbury and Kevin
Cook
The
increasing popularity of the internet has
offered many new chances for people to
exchange information from all over the world.
Message boards are one way this information
is exchanged in everything from sports to
medicine. However, it can also be a way you
can increase your genealogy
research.
Genealogy
Message Boards allow you to communicate freely
with people from all over in a public forum so
that you can have the maximum number of people
possible looking at the information you are
requesting. This is a great way for you to be
able to make contact with others that are
interested in genealogy like you.
First of all, if you are going to post on a
message board for any reason you should
understand the consequences of what you post.
Remember that information on a message board,
no matter what kind, is essentially public.
What you print there can be read by anyone and
can be quoted then to anyone. So make sure that
everything you write in any message you are
going to post only has information in it that
you are comfortable having anyone read or share
with anyone else. In addition, keep in mind
that with most message boards, the post is
permanent once you hit the submit button. So
you want to make sure you have no embarrassing
typos or information you think you might
regret. It is always going and worth your while
to add that extra few minutes so you can review
the message before you hit submit.
So once you know you want to post to a
genealogy message board for information
exchange, you need to make sure your posts are
effective. It is important not to make your
posts long and bogged down with a ton of
information. When it comes to a message board
post, more is less and less is more. Make sure
what your post is detailed and concise rather
than rambling and general. With a more specific
and concise message you are more likely to get
specific and helpful responses from others. If
you are general with your post you will either
get no responses or a ton of responses that may
or may not have anything to do with the
information you are after. If you are looking
for a specific family member in your post, make
sure you put in full names, birth dates,
marriage dates, and death dates. Put down
specific locations that you may have and even
the names of parents or children. The more of
this you have, the more likely you are to get
actual meaningful information.
It may seem either obvious or silly, but good
grammar and spelling are going to be important.
People are much more likely to respond to a
post that seems to have been put up by someone
who is serious. In addition, if you use good
grammar and punctuation, you are less likely to
be misunderstood. You always want information
to be precise and that is just one way to make
sure that your information is indeed clear.
Also, check for typos before you hit submit.
Again, a typo, a misplaced comma, or just bad
spelling can cause a real problem with your
post if you are not careful. So just take a
little extra time to make sure you are saying
what you want to say.
Lastly, make sure you always write how you
would want to be written to, which is sort of
the golden rule of message boards no matter
what the topic is. Make sure you always check
your post regularly for replies. If someone
does reply to you, acknowledge them in a timely
fashion. If you don't have time to write back
in detail right away at least drop them an
email "thank you" to acknowledge receipt of
their information. Courtesy is generally
appreciated very much in any message board
environment.
If you enjoy genealogy, then you probably
already know that the internet is an invaluable
resource. However, you can also use the
internet to get in touch with people who may be
sources for you as well. A good genealogy
message board is a great way to get in touch
with people that may be able to help you find
information you are missing or to simply form a
support system. Just make sure you are
courteous and concise with your information and
polite to your fellow message board members so
that you will have a positive experience with
genealogical message boards.
About the Authors
Paul Duxbury and Kevin Cook own
http://www.amateur-genealogist.com and
http://www.our-family-trees.co.uk two of
the leading Genealogy Websites. In addition
Paul owns a wide range of exciting websites
which can be viewed at
http://www.our-family-trees.co.uk
Article Source:
http://www.searchwhateveraustralia.com.au/articles.html