Afternoon All, I have often spoke of the wonder of this marvelous new tool at our disposal...and how it has brought together the descendents of the many greats grandfathers and grandmothers under one roof. I have marveled that I can now be friends and in a manner of speaking, neighbors to, the decendents of the ancestors who traveled the trails and rivers along with my own ancestors, and often I have thought that if our long ago forebears had known that one day, a hundred, two hundred years in the future, their children's children's children would find each other once again with that long ago relationship as the very starting point to relationships far after the fact...how THEY would marvel!!! Yes, the tool at our disposal is a wondrous one...and somehow a fulfillment of a legacy buried in time. But when I dwell on such things...I often also have other thoughts...and those thoughts worry me more than a little bit. Far different from the days when our ancestors looked a person in the eye, flesh touched flesh when they "shook" on a matter, a community knew very well the integrity and true meaning behind another's intentions...far different from the days when "the fruit one bore" was visible for the eye to see....our cyber communities are ones in which a great deal of damage can be done...and is done, far more than many of our "newbies" to the genealogical communities of the net may realize. It has been a thought I have "thunk" for a long time, but a recent experience has brought it to my mind that perhaps now is the time to say something on it. Anyone at all with the knowledge to do so (and it is not that difficult to learn) can set up a website, can become master of a genealogy list, can set themselves up and appoint themselves as "family gatekeepers" and "family gurus"...and be quite convincing about it, with lots of "information" (some valid, and some not)...and very "pretty", "professional-looking" sites. Now I myself have been helped along by many such, and grateful to more than a few...as I am sure, so have you. They have given me new directions to search...some of which turned out to be gold mines, and some of which taught me very well if I had not been given the RIGHT direction to go, at least now I knew the WRONG one. But I have also seen evidence that some of these folks are far more interested in their own egos than they are in truly helping out in the finding of information, in the uncovering of the truth.....and my idea on all websites devoted to family history, and all gurus professing to have the answers is..."let the buyer beware". When a guru collects thousands upon thousands of names, dates, lines...chances are in all likelihood, that guru did not himself or herself personally research each one. Certainly if he or she lived a couple of dozen lifetimes, he or she could not have researched each one in entirety, turning over every leaf to be sure that they have attached folks in the right places, not left out anyone who should have been attached, not "claimed" anyone who should not be there. Most of us understand that, and take that information as a starting point for truly digging in the "real" records and the dusty courthouse basements ourselves. And to be fair, some of these "gatekeepers" conscientiously add a line or two of small print reminding folks of that fact. But the problem is that many, more than a few of our family researchers on the net are there precisely BECAUSE they do not have the time, the health, the money or resources to travel and do that very thing....and so when they run into the sites and information of these "gurus" they accept what they are given as their lines...and pass it on...and it becomes a family's history and heritage whether this in fact is so or not. All too often...they never look any further than that "very official" looking website. A person who appoints himself or herself as the "family gatekeepers" has a tremendous mantle of responsibility that should be upon his or her shoulders....but all too often they seem to want the glory without assuming an understanding of the responsibility. Quite often they collect names without being remotely interested in fresh information, in a line appearing that is not "supposed" to be (but is!!!), in the information of a line closer to the source of a "curious" link if it does not mesh with what they already decided was how they were going to document it. Attaching a line that is not PROVEN, absolutely, unequivocably and without a doubt on a website to another line is irresponsible on a "family gate site"...even adding a line of small print that it is not "completely proven" does not undo the tremendous damage that can be done to a line who wishes to find the truth, and relies on the hope that more and more of their lost cousins will come forth to aid in the quest. Igoring evidence in a line that in fact points a contrary direction from that this sitemaster would like to be so, is also irresponsible. Not posting the contrary information that the line whose elders WELL remember the folks who KNEW the truth and passed it on to them (even on paper) is in fact leaving out some information that is going to aid in the truth finally being uncovered by the descendents who find these "gurus" on the net. I recently ran into one of these "gurus"...who by her own statement is apparently very interested in helping all of the lines of a family find their place in it. Do I believe it? No. She has attached a line to the line she wishes it to be placed...but the evidence that it belongs there is flimsy, and the line to whom all of this belongs well knows it...and has protested...to no avail. The line that knows their elders, that has the papers and documents in which their elders (who lived in the time of the very "link") disputes it...and tries to tell her that IF she is right, it is not meshing with what their own line has and knows. <smile> I think my gg grandmother knew VERY well who her grandfather was...since she lived when he did and where he did, and I don't think she was senile...she wrote quite well and had witnesses to vouch for her character, as did her hundred or so cousins who had the same story to tell on paper. Those papers we have are not "proof", but they are enough to tell us that the man "attached" to another line in all probability may not belong there, not if his grandchildren who knew him are to be believed. Sigh...but this "gatekeeper" has a pretty website, she has the family list, the connect boards, has set herself up as the "gatekeeper" of the surname information.... and may well have done this line a great deal of damage in terms of finding (before she does) the newbies to the net who may unwittingly have more pieces to the puzzle...or may be intrigued when they learn what we know to go further in the search, to have the good luck to turn over the very scrap that proves what we believe to be true based on what our elders left written. Soooo...the net and this wealth of material at our fingertips has its disadvantages too....and a word to you newbies out there..."beware" and keep looking and asking questions, even if it looks set in concrete on a website. HTML is not a hard task to achieve, "pretty official-looking websites" can be created by almost anyone who wishes to learn...credibility is something else again. And I offer a bit of further advice. When you run across such sites on the net, and you question what is there....write the webmaster. Ask that your information to the contrary be also posted. If this webmaster is in fact a "true at heart" he or she will be happy to post the findings of another that conflicts...so that those utilizing the website will know to look elsewhere as well. When you run into a guru and realize that your line is NOT where it should be, know that a guru "true to calling" will dig in to turn rocks and stones to aid you in finding your attachment to that family...or at least appear interested, particularly if they are the great author of "THE" book. And if you don't get either of those responses...well, I suspect they like their pretty books and pretty websites a lot, and really don't want to mess em up...that is my take on it. Now many of you are no doubt a mite surprised...my mission in Rockin' is generally to touch heart chords, to pull out those commonalities all of us who love our genealogical quest and our heritage carry inside. I generally seek to promote a sense of peace and serenity among us, a feeling of belongingness and a sense of "place in the scheme of things", and never to sow seeds of discontent....know that this is not my idea this time either. It is simply to forewarn our new folks, simply to (hopefully) undo a little damage that may be done and make it more likely that our brick walls will truly be resolved someday...that our new folks who come into our genealogical communities on the net on a daily basis find us--and are not missiled first by one who may well have thrown yet ANOTHER brick wall up in the path on their own mission to status as the "family gatekeeper". Have a good day...and as always, just a thought, jan John 3:16 Future Resident, artist, scribe-in-residence, general troublemaker of the Old Genealogists Home, best kept secret in America Listowner: [email protected] [email protected] Listowner: [email protected] - ----------------------------------------------------------------------