Well! I've been completely chastised. > Reprinted from the Ancestry Daily News, 7 February 2002 > > > "AFTER YOU POST," by Michael John Neill > ===================================================================== > > This piece is a follow-up to "Before You Post" which recently > appeared in the "Ancestry Daily News" > (http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=A517801). > Based upon the number of messages in my in box, handling queries > after they have been posted is just as important as posting the query > in the first place. > > Maintenance is a fact of life. The following suggestions may help you > get more 'life' out of your query and increase the chance of a > fruitful response. > > > CHECK YOUR EMAIL > > Did you create a separate e-mail account to use solely for genealogy > and query posting? This is fine, but make certain you check the mail > and delete unnecessary messages from the account on a regular basis. > Most of the free e-mail accounts have space limitations and those who > send you messages will get their message bounced back if your account > is full. Are you willing to risk the chance that the "big break" is > in one of those bounced messages? Delete spam from these free > accounts immediately as these messages tend to monopolize space > (especially those messages in HTML). As one who uses a free e-mail > account, I have found the filters to be reasonably effective in > reducing the amount of spam that I have to manually delete. > > > UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS > > "Before you Post" mentioned the importance of tracking query > postings. This is extremely important and is necessary to > appropriately manage your queries after they have been posted. Your > e-mail address will change, frequently for reasons. When your e-mail > address does change, post the updated version as a follow-up to your > original query and include new information if known. Don't make it > impossible for people to contact you. > > > CHECK THE BOARDS > The boards at Ancestry.com (http://boards.ancestry.com) allow the > message creator to choose to receive an e-mail when a reply has been > posted to their message. This is the best way to track responses > without having to manually visit the message board periodically. If > you choose not to use this option or post where this option is not > available, check periodically for message replies. Not everyone will > e-mail you personally. > > > POST UPDATES WHEN AVAILABLE > > If you are fortunate enough to answer your own query, post a follow- > up. You may wish to post an annual follow-up even if you are unable > to locate new information. There are some who may ignore "old" > messages because of the increased chance of a bounced message. Annual > follow-ups are sufficient, don't clutter the board with weekly > updates when you have no new information. Annual updates allow > researchers to contact you and to know that you are still actively > searching. In cyber space, a five-year-old e-mail address is > definitely archival! > > > DON'T EXPECT MIRACLES > > Hoping for a response is one thing. Expecting someone to simply drop > the answer in your lap is another matter. If the information in your > original post is incorrect (perhaps through no fault of your own), > the chance of a response is decreased. Keep researching so you can > post new information as you receive it. If you are working on a > puzzle that has stymied others for years, the answer may not come > easily, if ever. And the only responses you get may be queries on > other families of the same line, with little or no direct connection > to the individuals being researched. > > ANSWER QUERIES > > Responses need not be immediate, but try and answer as many replies > as you can. Even a short response indicating "no information" is > better than nothing. But you may be inundated with more e-mail than > you are able to handle. While having too many messages may seem > desirable, believe me, it's not. > > > KEEP RESEARCHING AND LEARNING > > "Naught times naught is naught" or so goes the saying. Don't expect > to quit working on your family after you post your query. You must > continue to research after the family after the query is posted. At > best you may answer your question. At worst you locate absolutely > nothing. Many times the end result lies somewhere in between. The > reality is that you may locate additional details, which could be > used to make your original query more effective. Do some research. > Learn about the area. Sitting passively and waiting is best applied > to television, not genealogy. > > > WHAT POSTERS SHOULD NOT EXPECT FROM RESPONDENTS > > Query posters should not expect respondents to send them an entire > data file carte blanche. Personally, I think it's a bit much to ask > someone to send you their entire GEDCOM file. If the person offers to > send you their entire file, that's a different matter. (An aside > comment: If someone offers you a glass of wine, hopefully your > immediate response is not to ask for the entire bottle!) Posters > should not expect respondents to send them gratis copies of mountains > of records they might have spent years compiling. Posters should not > expect respondents to spend days doing free research. Posters should > not expect instantaneous replies. Those who respond are free to do > what is within their ability and interest. One must also remember > that some respondents have to deal with minor issues like earning a > living and dealing with living family members. > > > A NOTE TO FRUSTRATED QUERY VIEWERS > > If you cannot contact a message poster, consider the following > --- The person might have died > --- The person might have lost interest in genealogy altogether > --- Life might have taken a priority over family history research > > Don't forget that an individual's life might take a quick, unexpected > turn and family history might have been temporarily left behind. > > > TRY SEARCHING ELSEWHERE FOR THE MESSAGE POSTER > > If your e-mail to the person bounces, consider searching for them on > a search engine such as http://www.google.com. If their name is > common, add the main surname from their query post to your search > terms. If a Susan Jugkowski posted a query on the Brownson family and > your e-mail to her bounces, enter the phrase "Susan Jugkowski > Brownson" into a search engine. The person might have completely > forgotten about the query and changed their e-mail address in the > interim. You might have some success also posting to the various > county and state mailing lists for the areas where the poster's > family lived. Just because the person had a bounced e-mail address > does not mean they are no longer interested in family history. Maybe > they simply forgot about their original post. > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Michael John Neill, is the Course I Coordinator at the Genealogical > Institute of Mid America (GIMA) held annually in Springfield, > Illinois, and is also on the faculty of Carl Sandburg College in > Galesburg, Illinois. Michael is the Web columnist for the FGS FORUM > and is on the editorial board of the Illinois State Genealogical > Society Quarterly. He conducts seminars and lectures on a wide > variety of genealogical and computer topics and contributes to > several genealogical publications, including "Ancestry" and > "Genealogical Computing." You can e-mail him at: > mailto:[email protected] or visit his Web site at: > http://www.rootdig.com/, but he regrets that he is unable to assist > with personal research. > > Copyright 2002, MyFamily.com. > > FOR A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE, e-mail it to a > friend, or submit your feedback on it, just go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=A525401 and > click on the appropriate icon in the beige sidebar. > > > > > > ==== KYCALDWE Mailing List ==== > Add the Caldwell County Board to your Notification List at RootsWeb > and once a day you will receive one posting with all the new postings to the board and an easy link to the message. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >