I don't know what prompted the discussion below, but I quite agree with the person who posted this message. Out of the 27 years I've been involved in genealogy research, I have devoted 16 of those years to researching a single surname [and variant spellings], and, yes, I did a LOT of work - probably 7 or 8 years worth 24/7 - before I got to the point of being truly knowledgeable and able to assist others. As the poster stated, I was not appointed as a representative of this surname. It was my choice to work on it exclusive of all others. I do not have a web site of my own for this surname because others already had such websites. I might add that anyone concentrating on researching all persons by a certain surname should be willing to share their information freely with others. It is sometimes a thankless job, but most of the time, the appreciation I receive for helping people who are "stuck" on their line is so gratifying, no dollar amount could possibly be as satisfying. Frankly, I wish more people would take one surname and concentrate on it solely, but it takes a lot of organization, hard work of the "slogging" variety, and concentration, so I can understand why more people don't. -----Original Message----- From: gc-gateway@rootsweb.com [mailto:gc-gateway@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of dianagm@dgmweb.net Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 3:51 PM To: KYCHRIST-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [KYCHRIST] Re: adding names and web site links This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/5538/mAB.2ACE/2272.1 Message Board Post: No one gets appointed "representative" for a name. If you want to work on a name, you work on it. If someone else wants to work on the same name, they can if they want -- you can't stop them any more than they can stop you. It's not a title or position someone bestows upon you, and there's no one out there making such appointments. You'll find that the person who comes to *unofficially* "represent" a surname is the person who has done the most work on the name, but you have to have done a LOT of work on a surname before you achieve that kind of status. And, today, it almost invariably means having a web site dedicated to the name. If you have a family web site, just put the FULL address in a message and post it here and on the appropriate surname boards, here at RootsWeb.com/Ancestry.com and at GenForum.com. If there is some web site that you want to have linked to yours, then contact the webmaster (email address usually at the bottom of the home page) and make a request that your link be put on their page. ==== KYCHRIST Mailing List ==== Christian County KYGenWeb http://www.kyseeker.com/christian ============================== 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