Karen, In my first email back to someone I also tell tell them what info they need to include when placing ANY query.....this is what often gets me the "nasty" title. I am suppose to be not only a free researcher but a mind reader. And, don't kid yourself that these are merely misguided folk, looking for "the way". The last fool who emailed, Ms. TN, informed me that she is a state coordinator, or some such thing, who most certainly should be well aware of what constitutes a answerable query. Many others simply want someone else to do their work for them, which then, many times, goes unacknowledged. Generally I think that the county help lists are set up pretty well, and many, if not most of the titles, are fairly self explanatory. Unfortunately, just because there are instructions above the names titles is NO guarantee that (1) anyone will read them or (2) anyone will obey them. Last week someone sent me one of those "tell me everything you know about Joe Blow" queries, and after 3 or 4 emails to try to get enough info to help, she sent me what was on the county site, which consisted of my name, full instructions for no blanket lookups, list title in the email, etc, and a list of titles under my name.....and then she said that there was nothing to indicate what I would use to help her, and how was she suppose to know.........so, often we are just dealing with "DUMB", or at least not thinking very logically, which translates into total frustration on this side of the query......I don't have any answers, other than periodically quitting lookups, to get a chance to "rest up" a bit for the next bunch of "fools" that are now, even as we speak, flexing their typing fingers to send off more of those maddening queries! S. -----Original Message----- From: Booboopies@aol.com <Booboopies@aol.com> To: PACHESTE-L@rootsweb.com <PACHESTE-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 1:07 AM Subject: Re: [PACHESTE] Re: Will lookup Chester Co., Pa. >Sandra, > >Believe me, Sandra, I share your frustrations. I get requests like that every single day. I have found it much less aggravating to send a standard "form" response indicating that I cannot do research on Joe Smith if I don't have dates and locations. I also explain the limitations of the books people are hoping will have information. If I get a polite apology in return with the appropriate information, I'll go the extra mile for them. Otherwise, they simply get "Sorry, but I can't help you, try such and such." > >This happened just the other day, and with a simply reply from the requester, I had enough to go on to check sources other than just the original lookup request and got the individual back several generations. Not only that, but I also got a huge thank you and additional information that she subsequently found on her own as a result of the info I had provided. > >Bear in mind that many people making requests haven't got a clue what they're doing and are often taking a shot in the dark. > >In addition, the web pages that show lookup volunteers aren't set up to describe the content and/or dates of the published sources we're using. I've had to disappoint dozens and dozens of people who want information for 19th century church records because the Early Churches of Delaware County/Chester County are primarily Quaker and cover 1681-1800. > >Rather than getting ourselves all hot and bothered, since this appears to be an ongoing source of frustration both to the requestor and the researcher, maybe we should take the initiative and propose that the Rootsweb volunteer pages could be modified to include descriptions of the books offered for look-ups. While it might not eliminate all the problems, it might eliminate enough to make our volunteerism a little less painful. > >Anybody know how we can make such a suggestion? > >Karen Greim Mullian >booboopies@aol.com > >In a message dated Tue, 25 Jul 2000 8:51:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Sandra Ferguson" <ferg@intelos.net> writes: > ><< Did you all hear that noise?......it was me, pulling my hair out! Here >is yet another query I received this afternoon.....her second email >indicated that she felt this was sufficient, that I was nasty and she'd fix >me and take her query elsewhere.........rats, right? > I can't tell you how many emails I have had from other volunteers, >indicating that the same things happen to them, all the time, and how >maddening it is! Too bad there isn't a query form that people could print >out, and follow, when asking for help....I just don't know what makes it so >tough? I suppose if everyone always included, full name, occurrence >interested in(birth, death, marriage, will), geographic location and DATES, >all would be "right with the world"....or at least the world of >volunteering! > S. >, >>I'm ........ from Tn. and could you be so nice as to see if there is a >Round,Rownd, or Rowen-Rowan will listed in early Chester Co. or a Maroe >Will." >>> >> > > >==== PACHESTE Mailing List ==== >Check out other counties in PA! >http://libertynet.org/~gencap/pacounties.html > > > > > >> > > > >==== PACHESTE Mailing List ==== >To unsubscribe from regular mail mode on this list, send a message to: >PACHESTE-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com >Put only the word unsubscribe in the body of your message. For digest >mode, send the message to PACHESTE-D-REQUEST@rootsweb.com > > > > > >

I also do look-ups for several counties and am also a list manager for a number of lists. I can certainly share Sandra's frustration in receiving requests for lookups as well as viewing many inadequate queries that are posted to lists. I think there are basic elements that should be included in almost every query and before anyone hits the send button, they should read their query to make sure each element is included: WHO: a specific given name and surname. (Not, "I'm looking for all Smiths") WHAT: what information do you hope to find, e.g., birth, marriage, death, will record, etc. (Not: "anything you have on..." WHEN: give specific dates when known or at least a time frame. WHERE: specify where the individual last lived or in the case of Quakers the monthly meeting they last belonged to. WHY: describe what you hope the information will lead to, e.g. trying to establish parents of the specified individual. I just might have other references that will provide the information you need but I won't check them if you can't tell me what your research objective is. When you reread your query and cannot find at least three of the five elements, you are probably wasting your time by asking the wrong question not to mention wasting the time of the people who you hope will respond to your query. My personal pet peeve: people who request lookups and sign their messages with "Thanks in advance!" How did this phrase originate??? I've only seen it in emails. What happened to common courtesy? If I spend an hour of my time digging out information and references for someone, I would like to know if it was received and whether or not it was helpful. Are we that busy that we cannot spend a few minutes dashing off an email with a word of thanks and perhaps some indication if the data helped them in some way. -- -=CHESKA=- E-mail address: cheska@ix.netcom.com Web site: <http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/6630/> Sponsor: ANDIS, BADGLEY, CLAYTON, COOPER, & MILLS surname lists List Manager: QUAKER-ROOTS discussion list RootsWeb: Dedicated to Keeping Access to Online Genealogy Free