Some timely advice from the Queen of Genealogy Websites, Cyndi Howells: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jayne" <spiregen@webcomcreations.com> To: <TAGG-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 9:55 AM Subject: [TAGG-UK] 2002: Time for some patience, kindness and teaching > >From Cyndi Howells > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Hello all - > > Happy new year! > > Each January we see a huge influx of newbies joining us online because > Santa was generous and left a sparkling new computer under the tree. There > are also many after-holidays sales which offer people the opportunity to > purchase a snazzy new computer or modem. Many people get online for the > first time and enthusiastically don their cyber-bikinis, hitting the surf > with gusto. They are excited to be here and they are (much as we "oldbies" > were) rightfully overwhelmed by all that there is to see and do. The > language here is foreign to them. The technology is newer, fancier and > zippier than they may have used in the past. And the way that we all > participate in our giant, online genealogical society, while being very > similar to offline groups, is still a bit different than they may be > prepared for. In other words, it is a brave new world to them. > > I would like to put out a call to each of you to show these newbies that we > are a friendly, welcoming and helpful group of online genealogists. To do > so we all need to pitch in and show patience, understanding and kindness. > We also need to put on our teaching caps and be prepared to show them the > ropes. > > 1. Don't make assumptions. > > 2. Explain things in detail, include URLs and complete instructions. > > 3. Verify details and addresses before you send them to people. > > 4. Offer to help people privately via e-mail, off of the mailing lists. > > 5. Be prepared to explain things more than once, in more than one way. > > 6. Keep in mind that we were all new at one time. > > 7. Keep in mind that we all learn something new every day. > > 8. Reach out to your fellow researchers and set a good example. > > There are several places online to which you can point newbies in order to > help them learn about this new research venue. I have tried to make these > easy to locate by setting up links on my site: > > Internet Stuff You Need To Know > http://www.CyndisList.com/internet.htm > > Beginners (to genealogy) > http://www.CyndisList.com/beginner.htm > > Also be sure to point them to these basic starting places online: > > Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet > http://www.CyndisList.com > Your genealogical research portal onto the Internet > > RootsWeb > http://www.RootsWeb.com > > See the RootsWeb Help Desk: > http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ > > FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service > http://www.familysearch.org/ > > Genealogy Resources on the Internet - Mailing Lists > http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail.html > Complete list of all genealogy mailing lists online > > Good luck and successful surfing to everyone online - both newbies > and oldbies, > > Cyndi > http://www.CyndisList.com > > P.S. Please feel free to forward this to everyone! > > >

AMEN! ...... Corinne. >> 1. Don't make assumptions. >> >> 2. Explain things in detail, include URLs and complete instructions. >> >> 3. Verify details and addresses before you send them to people. >> >> 4. Offer to help people privately via e-mail, off of the mailing lists. >> >> 5. Be prepared to explain things more than once, in more than one way. >> >> 6. Keep in mind that we were all new at one time. >> >> 7. Keep in mind that we all learn something new every day. >> >> 8. Reach out to your fellow researchers and set a good example. >