A Ship By Any Other Name Chapter 2: The Lessons These three lessons are embodied in The Exchange: 1. "The name alone isn't enough." This applies to people as well as to ships. You can not assume that it's the same ship just because the name is the same and the shipping line is the same. You have to consider the date and learn the ship's history. Likewise, you cannot assume it's the same man just because the name is the same. You have to consider other identifying factors and study his history too. 2. "I didn't realize that they re-used ship names." One thing about genealogy, the more you know, the more you appreciate how much you don't know. Part of our job as researchers is to make the effort to learn those inconsequential little bits of trivia that are unimportant until they apply to our research, at which time they become of utmost significance. 3. "I'm a new member of PIGS [and] have been addicted to genealogy since August 2000." In Chapter 1, Barbara, a genealogist of 15 years, learned something from John, who's been at it for 9 months We all have knowledge that is useful, or of interest, to others. Number of years (or months) of genealogy experience is irrelevant. Share your knowledge with others.