Mary-- I feel you have, very intelligently & clearly, added a lot of value to this WiMilwau list over the past few years. But I also feel that your personal attack on me today (below) is VERY out of place as an ON-LIST WiMilwau post. You might have decided today to add some harmony to the WiMilwau list, instead of going in your own very different direction. I view much (but not all) of what you say below as goofy, unreasonable, and unfair (as I will explain later off-list). But, more importantly, I think you would have been wise, as well as much more courteous, had your complaints been sent (at least initially) to me privately-- i.e., OFF-LIST. You say nothing below, positive or negative, about the SUBSTANCE of my somewhat long-winded 12/31/06 "Milwaukee orphanages since 1848" post. Instead of criticizing the MESSAGE (which might well have been helpful), you have disagreeably decided to complain vigorously about the MESSENGER (i.e., me). I have no idea whose or what motives you feel I've been "impugning." But perhaps, Mary, you feel that in my 12/31/06 post, I was somehow criticizing YOU. So let me assure you that was not my intention whatsoever. Yet I do wish that those that are voluntarily or officially in charge of websites that provide Milwaukee County genealogical resources would be more willing to accept updated info-- while I'm mindful that we are all providing volunteer labor, which has its own slow pace. While I remain busy with ongoing holiday activities and out-of-town visitors, I do intend, Mary, to respond to your unfair attacks below in more detail, WHEN time permits. But I do not plan to dignify them with any more on-list discussion. My response will be OFF-LIST, even though this is a courtesy you didn't extend to me today. And hopefully I'll see no more posts about all this from you until you at least get my private response. Mary, etc.-- let's try to lighten up a bit, turn off the anger (and hurt?) for at least a few minutes, and at least pretend that the holiday season hasn't ended. I've been contributing to the WiMilwau RootsWeb off and on (mostly the latter) for some six years-- far longer than you, I suspect. And I've always felt I had very good relations with other listers, until a few months ago--when some guy mysteriously and disagreeably started complaining, frequently when I posted something new, "what does that have to do with genealogy." Finally I sent him an annoyed OFF-LIST note to him, which then resulted in more ON-LIST abuse from him-- and possibly your complaint below as well. I really feel sad and mystified why this guy seems so mad at me. And your moral support in this matter would have been nice-- but was clearly missing. I'm an occasionally grumpy Senior Citizen who's been working on and off on genealogy for over forty years, along with other family members. We have over 10,000 people in our database, and there are very few mysteries left relating to my family and cousins over the past few hundred years (including Milwaukee relatives going back to the mid-1830s). Thus my involvement in this WiMilwau list stems almost entirely from my desire to post general genealogy ideas and help less experienced genealogists in their own research (as time permits). Maybe I've stepped on a few toes in doing the above, although I'm not clear how. But, if so, I certainly apologize. I feel that four or five years ago people on this seem to have had much more fun-- and also were more "Renaissance" in their approach to history and other interests. So I feel sad that some people on the current WiMilwau list seem to have so little sense of humor. Yes, my impression is that too many WiMilwau listers take themselves far too seriously .............John (in metro Chicago) ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ Subj: Re: [WIMILWAU] Milwaukee orphanages since 1848 Date: 1/2/2007 8:55:59 A.M. Central Standard Time From: mrfrank@uwm.edu Reply-to: wimilwau@rootsweb.com To: wimilwau@rootsweb.com John, while I'm appreciative of the information you share, the editorializing about people's motives is unfair. Not only was this a holiday period (many of us being offline), but also, many of us don't have (or are unaware of having) orphans in our tree. Furthermore, why do you so often think that every time someone doesn't answer a question that it's because they are uninterested or somehow negligent? How can we answer a question we know nothing about? Hunh? Who is it that you think is refusing to give away all this information, anyway? I don't know about other people on this list, but I'm here to share, when I can, and to learn when I don't know something. There's no big genealogy guru out here, that I know of, who can just magically answer people's questions. It takes research, and research takes time. Some of us have more time than others, or more opportunity to share (living in Milwaukee, I count myself blessed to have the chance to look things up for myself and others, time permitting). Impugning people's motives is tediously unhelpful and makes what used to be a very friendly list a difficult place to be. By the way, I did copy a list of the orphanages listed in the 1910 Wright's directory, and have emailed Ken that I'd be happy to send him a copy of the 2-page list. If anyone else wants a copy, they can contact me off the list. mrf ______________________________________________________________________________ ___