FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L Archives

Archiver > FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS > 1997-09 > 0873244356


From: Patricia SummersSmith <>
Subject: FO List - Please don't leave!
Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 16:52:36 -0700


Wayne League -- If you have not already unsubscribed, I hope that you will
not. Your input has been extremely valuable to me, as well as, I believe,
to all who subscribe to the FO List.

It is true that list owner can (and should) set the rules and do what he
feels is appropriate. It is also true that from time to time, I have felt
subjects strayed and were off topic (like the many notes on Del Rio, Texas,
or if a note just said "me too!" and you hadn't the faintest idea what the
note was referring to). And it is also true that I once complained
privately to Howard when I felt there were a lot of notes that strayed from
topic.

But I certainly have felt, since his last note to the list about keeping on
topic (a month or so ago), that discussions have been pertinent and
valuable. The recent discussions about adoptions, step children, etc. --
while not exactly and specifically directly connected technically to data
entry in FO -- DID relate to concepts as to how folks viewed it and how
different folks might enter it in FO. It's true some of the notes were a
bit philosopical in nature, but I found the discussions enlightening in
this regard. Most notes DID relate to the topic of how one might consider
entering the data into the FO program. Even though the notes may not have
gone the extra step to mention FO specifically, they provided food for
thought and consideration on the possible use of FO features in this area.

I have used FO since the first DOS 1.0. And because I also have a specific
situation that pertains to this very subject, and it is one that I don't
know how to handle it in FO . . . I was following closely to see what I
might learn in this area.

That specific situation is: I have a 35-year-old daughter who was
relinquished at birth and adopted by another family unknown to me at the
time. I was reunited with her and met her adoptive family twelve years
ago. Since that time, I enjoy a growing relationship with my daughter and
two grandchildren.

It turns out that her adoptive father is a distant cousin to me on a family
line that we have in common, and he is therefore a cousin to her. There
are not only complexities in relationships, but sensitivities as well
regarding how this type of data should appear. She doesn't mind if I show
her as my daughter in the genealogy. But if I do, she also wants it to
show her adoptive family as being her family and the ones who raised her.

I can work this out with my own FO database with links and notes. But what
if I share a gedcom with someone who gives their data to another person who
does not have FO? And what if this person gives their data to World Family
Tree? I do not share gedcoms with other people because there is no way I
know of in FO (or any other program) that I can be assured this
relationship complexity and subtlety will import completely and accurately
into the database of another person. So I have followed these discussions
to see what I might learn about how to best use FO and enter this data for
my own situation. As the situation currently exists, I have control over
this sensitive data so long as I do NOT share it with anyone in a gedcom.

I have been learning a lot in these discussions as to thoughts folks have
on the subject and how they are entering similar type of data.

Wayne, your input on FO has been extremely helpful to me. I ask you to
reconsider dropping yourself from the list. And if you have dropped,
please rejoin. There is so much you have contributed to this list by
which I have gained immensely.

Respectfully to our List Owner and all Subscribers,

Patricia SummersSmith
E-mail: <> or <>
Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/~shorewoodplace/
ICQ World-Wide Pager: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/169070

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