Genealogy Chat

Dear Sally.
My mother in law was a beautiful letter writer. Spelling was perfect. She had a stroke and was affected in the same way as you.
She was so upset because she couldnt write what she wanted to say or she wasnt able to spell the words correctly.

So hard when she had enjoyed writing to family overseas.

Hi
I just wanted to add that having just been told off so to speak I do see both points of view. However I wish it could be understood on this site that people that are new to this really do not understand everything right away and some people don't have hours to figure it out. I have thanked the people on my thread and also apologised yet it does not seem to be enough, it would appear that my apology didn't matter and maybe that is why when "newbies" use the site and the tone of some emails and threads are less than polite no thanks or apology will appear.
I broke the rule of using the same info twice. I was unaware of this and started a new thread. I still don't know how the old thread gets seen if it was last year and many more have been posted since. Maybe someone could explain.
Again for those helping keep up the good work it is appreciated.
regard

Hi Flygirl. by using advanced search , it is possible to pull up all the threads
that any one person has posted,a very useful tool. That's probably how they found your old message., nothing too sinister !

If you click on my threads your posting history is all there for you to see too.

flygirl

Nothing sinister ............... and people don't spend their time on here looking for people posting duplicate threads. Our time is too valuable for that!! What we like to do is the searching for clues and helping people ... often because we are at a halt in our own researches or because we are bored with looking for John Smith father John Smith!


Your old thread was possibly found by using Advanced Search ..... or more probably as a result of someone looking at your new thread and thinking "I remember working on something like this some time ago, the name(s) seem familiar"


They then probably clicked on their 'My Threads' and searched on there for either the name in the title or your name .............. or they searched on Advanced Search.


The problem with having duplicate threads (or 3 or 4!) on the same subject is that it ends up with people re-doing all the searches that have already been done

................ which wastes our time, but also means that someone else may not get the help that they are looking for.



I'm sorry that you felt you had been "told off".


The major problem is that GR does not tell people how to use this site .................. they do not tell you how to find your old threads again, nor the best use of it that you might make. There is one condition in the T&Cs that says only 1 thread per topic, no matter whether you post on more than one board. But nothing is said in the heading to any of the boards ..... which is where it would be useful!

It's left up to those of us who do the searching ...... and at times frustration gets all of us!

Just as I think Allan started this thread out of frustration, without any malicious intent.



I have to say here that I am one of those who has been known in the past to re-type a request by separating a continuous multi-line paragraph without much punctuation, into spaced out lines


That's for my own sanity ...... and to see if I really really can help.

I pay no attention to mis-spelling (except like so many of us, I do not like text speak, and often do not understand it), unless it might be important in helping to find somebody (eg a place name). But some punctuation and spacing does help!!

I well remember one request that said something along the lines of "i'm looking john and josephine walker daughters mary ann elizabeth joyce sons william brian jospeh born 1875 died 1906".

I could have shrugged my shoulders and given up. I mean .....were there 4, 3, 2 or even only 1 daughter?? Who was born 1875 and died 1906?


Instead I tried some parsing as I think it used to be called ............... and posted the result on the thread to help others.


I actually have two things I dislike ........... postings that are done in all caps, and text speak ...... and that is because I find both extremely difficult to read. But my response is to close those threads without doing any searching.


I have realised after years on these boards that any thread that is started with the intent of helping others provide better or more easy to read information will also attract people who get angry and say I can do whatever I want and nothing you say will make me change. I've seen it happen sooooooooo many times, and have had it happen to me.

Some people can be really really nasty about it as well ..... nasty enough that several superb helpers have been driven away from GR, others have stopped helping, and others like me pick and chose where and who they help.




sylvia

I hope no-one will take exception to this, but, as someone who has recently had eye surgery, and whose eyesight is not fully restored, I do find difficulty with messages which are typed with the CAPS LOCK ON - or those in the virtually indecipherable texting style.

I also find it hard to comprehend any which have absolutely no spacing - so I'm afraid that I just have to ignore them - much as I would like to try to help, I find it is just too much of an effort to try to work out what the request actually is.

And, when posting, I try to remember always to read through my message before I hit 'submit' - so that if I spot any errors, I have the chance to rectify them.

As one of the older team who even dot the 'I's and cross the 'T's in phone text messages I quite agree Sylvia,
I had a message from a workmate who was running late ..............
" b l8 gng t scrp car"
When I asked why she was going to scrap the car she explained it was a frosty morning so she would have to scrape the windscreen!
So even if you understand " txt spk " errors can still occur which is where English " as she is spoke " comes into it's own!

For those of you with sight problems who require to print in capitals
Open an new e-mail, increase the font size as large as required and write your message.
When finished, select and cut the message then paste it into the reply box here in GR.
It will automatically revert to size 10 font.
Result...............everyone's happy, ( maybe ;))

I tend to write all of my replies on e-mails just for the extra room, view and simplicity of use., then CUT & PASTE.

Frank

I don't have good eyesight, but don't mind capitals.

What does help is decent spacing that way it doesn't matter 'so much' if the spelling or punctuation is dodgy.

What also helps is knowing what further info is needed...so many requests give lots of detail but do not specify whether they want help looking 'forward' or 'backward' and that is frustrating for all concerned :))

Rose xx

Good advice, PigletsPal

Hi PigletsPal

Please could you explain how the 'stupid' bit refers to computer progamming. I was a programmer all my working life and wonder if I unknowingly subscribed to the stupid bit
(strongly possible!)

Dear All

Hello

Can we put this subject to bed, cover it with a duvet
and let it settle?!

Take care of yourselves.
Very best wishes to all
xx

actually, I've known and used the acronym KISS since well before the computer era!!


But I also worked with computers from about 1982 .... and the stupid bit of KISS was applied then to GIGO ....or Garbage In Garbage Out!


It can also be applied to all genealogy of course,as PigletsPal suggested .................... Keep It Simple or it'll be difficult to find anything!




sylvia

Interestingly, it is a proven fact that writing which is in all upper case is harder to read.

That is why road signs are in mixed case.

Hawkwind

That is interesting ... I just thought it was me and others who found it difficult. It is good to know that there is a scientific basis.


Actually ................. I was told in the ealry days of using a computer that using all caps was the same as shouting in real life, and was to be avoided becasuse it counted as aggressive behaviour.


I did have bad eyesight for several years until I had cataracts removed from both eyes ........... but all I did was change the size of the font on my own screen, no matter whether I was in Office, email or on an internet site. That way I could see what I was doing, but it didn't bother anyone else.



sylvia

thanks PigletsPal
Perhaps KISS never arrived in my computing world in the backwoods of NW England - unless it was in the mid-70's when I had a break for children.
I agree with your 'old granny' sentiments though, perhaps we were brought up in a world which worked on the principle of 'do as you would be done by'. Never was much good at English essays though so my posts do tend to be a bit on the short side but hopefully not offensive.