This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: _wade_ Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.scan-balt.norway.counties.oppland/3305.3.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.3.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Gathering as much info as reasonable, starting locally, is no doubt sound advice, but certainly not necessary (in such a wholesale sense as that advocated here), for example, to secure all the types of data mentioned before one even considers more global sources. Those on this and other lists do so quite frequently - helping others with data from various Norwegian sources - on the basis of much less. Roy and others like him seeking help from this or any other list are doing their best, and while suggestions for improvement are welcome, they shouldn't and need not be so delimiting or belittling that the inquirer becomes discouraged or dissuaded from seeking help. Regardless, it is simply not the case that one need gather all the info mentioned from local sources, before one seeks broader horizons. Likewise, the Norwegian seeking north American cousins can hardly be denied, if one or the other does not deem the background work to be adequate enough to merit or attempt a helpful response. Roy has every right to seek what he can, as he can, and those who can help, rather than discourage or belittle his effort might consider a more Bambi-like approach, so to speak. It is not temerity that drives the inquiries from those just starting, it is genuine interest, and should be treated with genuine respect. Suggestions for improvement, questions meant to help, etc., can well be directed back to the original inquiry, but they are not helpful when they merely set to establish what qualifies the inquiry, or inquirer - in so delimiting fashion that nobody, including those who take such a supremacist approach, ever really met or undertook themselves. If one does not deign to help, do not compound by throwing one's reluctance back on to the inquirer. Chill, rocket science it ain't. Wade Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.