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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2000-01 > 0948075421


From: "D. Spencer Hines" <>
Subject: Re: Genealogy and the Real World
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 16:17:01 -1000


1. Has it occurred to you that no one had a good, succinct,
newsgroup-appropriate answer for you, because your question was so
open-ended and diaphanous?

2. Is it at all conceivable to you that no one here, who was
knowledgeable enough to do it, wanted to take on the task of teaching
you Genealogy 101? That could take quite some time, couldn't it?
Once one spoke up, one could become a captive teacher/audience.
Hence, for many, benign neglect = silence is indeed the best policy in
response to a diaphanous question such as yours.

3. It is not "my newsgroup" and you know that perfectly well. I
simply took time out of a busy day, as I have today, to help you and
this is how you repay me. I've spent about an hour and a half on you
now. You can't afford my hourly rate. You're welcome.

4. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." The more
specific and concrete your genealogical question, the better chance
you have of eliciting a useful answer.

5. Please understand that no one "owes" you an answer.

6. "The scholar must form herself/himself by her/his own exertions."
Vide infra. Faculty of Yale College -- 1828.

7. If you do decide to unsubscribe, please do not send us all a
message telling us that. That would indeed be a waste of both your
time and for hundreds ---- perhaps thousands ---- of us.

Thank you kindly.

Me ke aloha pumehana,
--

D. Spencer Hines

Lux et Veritas et Libertas

Report On the Course of Instruction

"Our object is not to teach that which is peculiar to any one of the
professions, but to lay the foundation which is common to them all....
The student must be thrown upon the resources of his own mind.
Without this, the whole apparatus of libraries, and instruments and
specimens, and lectures, and teachers, will be insufficient to secure
distinguished excellence. The scholar must form himself by his own
exertions. The advantages furnished by residence in a college can do
little more than stimulate and aid his personal efforts."

Faculty of Yale College ---- 1828

<> wrote in message
news:...

| In a message dated 1/13/2000 8:32:36 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
| writes:
|
| <<
| 6. Now, is that all clear to you? If not, please reply.
| >>
|
| What is clear is your intolerance of new comers [sic] to YOUR list.
| Whether I continue to subscribe or unsubscribe to this list is not
based upon
| some false notion that by unsubscribing I will somehow "hurt" those
who have
| offended or insulted me. It shall be based upon MY perception of
whether or
| not this list is of use to me, or worth my time.
| As I stated in my earlier post, I do not expect an instant solution
to my
| genealogical mysteries, however, I do expect a polite response to a
polite
| question. This is the only list I have ever subscribed to where a
newcomer's
| polite request for information has been totally ignored. I tried to
make it
| clear that I am willing to "learn at the feet of the masters" in
this, but I
| was offered NO suggestions regarding learning about genealogy. I
was of the
| impression that that was the focus of this list. Instead, it seems
to be all
| about the egos of a few "intellectuals."
|
| Pat DuBose Griffin

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