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Archiver > GENBRIT > 2000-12 > 0975773086


From: "Fiona Rabbetts" <>
Subject: Re: Netiquette
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 16:04:46 -0000


Roy - you have got it all wrong.
This is not a newsgroup for family historians alone - this is a newsgroup
for the general public who have an interest in genealogy - to whatever
level.

I use it as I am trying to trace a family member in my father-in-law's
family tree.
My research is personal to me. I have asked questions that have aided me
greatly in my quest to find out this family history. I have also got stuck a
few times and people here have helped me out. I always say Thank you and
have shown my gratitude correctly.

I have a frantic and busy life - I am in my early 30's; so YES - this is a
gentle hobby for me. And that is fine. I should not be put down for that. I
do my research here and there when I get a chance - but I make sure it is
correct and done properly - so that future generations will have the correct
information - but I could only have achieved that by asking newbie questions
here!

You shouldn't think that all the listers on this newsgroup are all like
ou - they are a huge cross-section of the general public - worldwide. So
please, stop being so high and mighty about genealogy, it is a fascinating
subject and I find it thrilling; but it is for all walks of life - please
don't put people off with your patronising comments or as Craig so
brilliantly points out - you will be pointing us straight towards the market
stall rubbish.

Fiona
Surrey,UK

Roy Stockdill <> wrote in message
news:...
> Mike Gallafent wrote.....
>
> >> You obviously have difficulty with
> this but, believe it or not, there are many people out there in the
English
> speaking world, never mind the young, never mind the rest of the world who
> have never heard of either Edinburgh or Nottingham.<<
>
> AND the kind of person who has not only never heard of two of Britain's
> major cities - one of them a capital city, even - and, moreover, who lacks
> the imagination and the wit to find out where they are without asking
> somebody else, will almost certainly be incapable of adapting to the
> standards of discipline and "testing of evidence" required for proper
> research. This, of course, will not prevent them attempting to do so, and
> in a few years' time the results of their so-called "research" will be
> gaily plastered all over the Internet to mislead others.
>
> We are talking here about the kind of person who, if not put right at an
> early stage, will buy their "family history" from one of those dodgy
stalls
> in a shopping mall along with a "family coat of arms" that was knocked up
> last week in a garden shed in Ealing by some con artist with a
> painting-by-numbers set! I am not kidding - these things can already be
> found on the Internet, being peddled as reputable genealogical pedigrees.
> And try taking a look some time at some of the Broderbund World Family
Tree
> CDs - they are riddled with pedigrees that are a combination of wishful
> thinking and Disneyland, not to mention Ancestral File (no, don't let's
> mention Ancestral File!).
>
> You probably think it doesn't matter. I am afraid I do. We who are
> researching today have an obligation to leave for posterity and future
> researchers the most accurate and honest record we can. Genealogy is not
> just a gentle little hobby; we are historians charged with a serious
> responsibility. Unfortunately, too few seem to recognise this and this is
> the reason family historians are generally held in such low esteem by
> "real" historians.
>
> Roy Stockdill
> Editor, The Journal of One-Name Studies
> The Stockdill Family History Society
> Web page:- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roystock
> Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- http://www.one-name.org
> "Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you.
> If he does not, why humiliate him?" - Canon Sydney Smith (scholar and
> humorist 1771-1845)
>

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