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Archiver > YORKSGEN > 2002-09 > 1033109363


From: "Roy Stockdill" <>
Subject: [YKS] Is genealogy getting just TOO popular?
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 07:51:28 +0000


ALL this whining and wringing of hands over the current problems with
the IGI, following fast on the 1901 census fiasco, is beginning to
really get me down, but I think I have put my finger, finally, on the
reason for it all (well, you have to allow for the diminishing brain
cells with advancing senility).

The mushrooming popularity of genealogy and family history is
becoming extremely worrying. I, too, am very frustrated at not having
been able to access the IGI for several days. I resent this deeply,
since obviously my research is far more important than anybody
else's.

If things go on at this rate, soon nobody will be able to access
anything online, thus the 1901 census, the IGI, Commonwealth War
Graves Commission, Ellis Island, etc, will be denied to us all, and
then where shall we be, eh? Back to visiting dreary, musty old record
offices doing proper but boring research - ye Gods, heaven forbid !!!

However, an interesting thought has occurred to me. If, as we are
constantly being told, genealogy is the second most frequent user of
the Internet after pornography, how come we never hear porn
aficionados whining about not being able to access websites? Don't
they ever get overwhelmed with demand and crash, like the genealogy
sites? Perhaps they do and we never get to hear about it! Do porn
fans complain bitterly about not being able to access Fred and Maisie
Shufflebottom's live orgy in Heckmondwike, the Friday night Naughty
Knickers and Green Wellies Party in Cleckheaton, or those
well-developed Russian ladies who do strange and interesting things
with kitchen utensils in Novgorod Severskiy?

I suggest we have either somehow got to stop family history becoming
so popular, or we have got to work out some order of priority for
accessing the various sites like the 1901 census and the IGI. If the
latter is decided upon, I propose the following order as being fair
and reasonable.....

1) Me

2) Members of this list

3) Other Yorkshire folks

4) The rest of the world

Fair enough, OK?

Roy Stockdill
Editor, the Journal of One-Name Studies
Editor, "My Ancestors Were..." series (Society of Genealogists)
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

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

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