Ok, I hear you, THIS time I won't forget to include the interesting reading! Leslie Quist >>WELDING LINKS: "SHIP ME ALL THOSE PASSENGERS . . ." >> >> by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG <myravg@prodigy.net> >> <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~gormleym/> >> >>It's been another exciting week in the past lane on the Internet, >>but I don't think I can take many more like this. >> >>For years I have enjoyed helping online genealogists, sharing >>knowledge and experience I have acquired through the years as >>well as using my vast library of reference material to find >>answers or clues. I have always tried to be patient and remember >>that I once was a "newbie." I do not know if we can blame >>technology, but I think people are ruder online, or perhaps I am >>turning into a curmudgeon. However, I can not imagine a novice >>genealogist walking up to me and yelling: >> >> "HOW DO I RESEARCH MY LAST NAME. I DO NOT >> UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE E-MAIL >> ME AND EXPLAIN IT!!" >> >>Typing in all caps (unless you have a visual problem) is >>considered yelling in e-mail -- and it is rude. Throwing in 20 >>bangers (exclamation points) tells me the inquirer is not only >>rude, but also impatient and probably would be ungrateful for >>genealogical material I have. Making demands of me when asking >>for a favor doesn't set too well either. >> >>I'm not sure how to respond to the request claiming that I put >>something on the Internet about the ships that brought people to >>the States and asking me to e-mail these to him. First, I didn't >>post anything anywhere about this subject and second, even if I >>had a clue to what he was talking about, does he want me to >>e-mail him the ships, the passengers, or the "something"? As >>co-editor of two popular e-zines (MISSING LINKS and ROOTSWEB >>REVIEW) that go to a total of about 300,000 subscribers, I can >>assure you that I receive many strange, and often interesting, >>requests. However, more and more of these requests require >>psychic powers. I've been searching for a mind-reading course at >>Virtual U. Perhaps that will do the trick. >> >>"Send me all you have on the VANDERPOOL line," a newfound cousin >>requested recently. I don't think so. I can't afford the freight >>to ship it to her, and she didn't offer to pay for it C.O.D. >>Besides my three private secretaries are on vacation and I don't >>have time to find everything in my files. In a quarter-of-a- >>century, a person can collect a lot of information on a family >>that has been in America 345 years. I don't mind sharing, but >>unreasonable requests turn me off. >> >>I saw a few more that I don't think I will respond to either. >>They include: >> >>-- "I have been working for two months on my ancestors and have >> them back to Noah. When will the Flood records be online?" >> >>-- "Would you send me the JPGs of our family crest -- the one >> scratched on the walls in that cave in southern France?" >> >>-- "I have a 125,786-word 9th-century manuscript about my Viking >> ancestors. However, it is in Norse. Where can I get it >> translated -- instantly and for free?" >> >>-- "Send me everything you have on that line -- I want to include >> it on my Web site." >> >>If you are not getting answers to your demands for genealogical >>information, try making reasonable, well-thought-out requests. >>Take a little time to educate yourself in methodology. You will >>be surprised at the difference it will make. Some of us >>curmudgeons have virtual trunks of treasures to share -- if you >>know the magic words. >> >> * * * * * >>URBAN LEGENDS/SCAM UPDATES. >><http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/weekly/mcurrent.htm> >> >> * * * * * >>HUMOROUS LINKS: Thanks to John Wayland <johnway@abts.net> for >>contributing these rules of elegant composition. >> >> HOW TO WRITE GOOD >> >>Here are several very important but often forgotten rules of >>English: >> >> 1. Avoid alliteration. Always. >> 2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. >> 3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.) >> 4. Employ the vernacular. >> 5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. >> 6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary. >> 7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. >> 8. Contractions aren't necessary. >> 9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos. >>10. One should never generalize. >>11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: >> "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." >>12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches. >>13. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; It's >> highly superfluous. >>14. Profanity sucks. >>15. Be more or less specific. >>16. Understatement is always best. >>17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. >>18. One-word sentences? Eliminate. >>19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake. >>20. The passive voice is to be avoided. >>21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms. >>22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. >>23. Who needs rhetorical questions? >> >> * * * * * >> >>PERMISSION TO REPRINT articles from MISSING LINKS is granted >>unless specifically stated otherwise, PROVIDED: (1) the reprint >>is used for non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) a copy >>of this notice appears at the end of the article: >> >> Written by <author's name, e-mail address, and URL, if >>given>. Previously published by Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool >>Gormley, CG, Missing Links: A Weekly Newsletter for Genealogists, >>Vol. 4, No. 15, 9 April 1999. Please visit the MISSING LINKS Web >>page at <http://www.rootsweb.com/~mlnews/index.htm>.