Primary Sources, Thank You Sections, and Showing Gratitude

As this site grows and more information is developed, the pages will begin to look less like unending lists of names and dates to focus on one person or immediate family. 

I have done this process already with a few of my relatives. 

That will expand to everyone that has a history, story, or biographical data that is noteworthy. 

So those individuals offended that I copied and cited their items here, that is not where this site is going. I am just building up evidentiary support for people, places, and things as well as looking for those ever elusive primary sources everyone is quoting from but somehow isn't cited on their pages. I have to go find them individually when I get to that stage. 

Just hold on. Your citations will drive traffic your way for clicks and adsense, which I do not utilize because I am not into snooping out people's private lives. No cookies from me on any of my sites. Blogspot, I cannot help. 

When I find the primary sources that I am looking for your pages may not matter and be deleted at my discretion. It's a wait and see game right now.

If I do a bibliography for the family books, then you and your site may be listed. If there are too many, then I will parse the information into a work cited format. For those people who are not nasty buttheads and allow me to go through my process, then I am apt to create a Thank You section in the back of the book where you and yours are listed. 

Butthead = deletion

Not a Butthead = Thank you citation

I am not an ego maniac. My view is plain and what I was taught in college: if you are not born with the knowledge, then that fact or figure must be cited. Period. My brain inflammation doesn't help as it messes with my memory and where I leave off in places. You can see hours of work putting together lineages and lines, but if I don't leave myself bread crumbs... It's like being Mr. Magoo and a demented dementia patient. I forget I am cooking and burn food and pans if I am not diligent.

Just seven years ago I could not remember how to spell my name or recite where I lived without reading one of my utility bills. I have gotten passed that stage, but I still have discernible memory interruptions that are noticeable to strangers as I cannot finish a track of thought most days when I am speaking to someone. This website is really helping me bridge the gaps.

It's also showing gratitude for people doing the work. I've done it and now I am redoing it. So believe me, I know. 

I am just making sure you do too. 

Have a great and wonderful day! 

Fact Finding, Citations, and People's Attitudes in the Genealogical Community

Right now, with this site, I am on a fact finding mission. All the genealogy research I lost, I am now online going through whatever I can find to get back to where I was. 

During that last few weeks, I have run into the most stuck up people. One person on Family Tree had my family's information wrong. I mean: wrong. So I did a correction from Find a Grave as my source back up even though I already knew when my grandmother died, etc. That person blocked me. Really? You rather distribute false dates and places instead of the real ones? My polite corrections with citations was that offensive that you took your whole tree off the public forum?

That is unreal.

Then this week, I run into information that I found interesting to put in my stockpile of research and information. The person's website said to contact them with inquiries. So I did. I was chewed out for quoting them, quote, not steal, because I cited him in my Sources area at the bottom of the page, and for having a donation query, It appears that if you ask for donations you are no longer allowed to be a legitimate researcher. That is categorically untrue and highly suspect.  I was told to take the request down or this person would not help me.

My reply to this particular absurd behavior was as follows:

Wow. As I stated before, this site is what i am working on; it is nowhere near finished. You are, I mean: were, credited at the bottom of the page, but don't worry, I will never credit or quote you ever again.

If you had done your research, which would have taken a few clicks in either direction, you would have understood that I am disabled. I do not have the money or resources as others do and after my computer crashed, yet again, I began gathering the family information I had already gained over decades of hard work. I am a writer, editor, as well as publisher. I am re-gathering all the data to put into books for family, but that takes a real working computer and not my ten year old laptop that cannot take the stress.

I also found out at the end of June that my father passed away three years ago by reading his obituary and because of my disabling illness no one bothered to tell me. I guess it would be because his older b(r)other and his own son, my older brother, did not bother to have a funeral or even a Veteran's flag presentation/ceremony, which I would have criticized. So I will be out around five to seven hundred dollars to make that happen in November.

So sorry I took up your precious time in asking for some assistance. You were credited. I always credit my sources. And if you had bothered to come off your high horse for a moment to get to know me, not only would you have discovered that I would edit and publish the electronic family compendiums for free to family and only charged for non-family members who wanted the cited genealogies, you would also know that this work is my rehabilitation for an illness that has given me brain inflammation as well as a collapsed immune system. The poetry anthology I did, as an example, I kept the electronic book free for over a month so anyone who participated could download their own copy for resume purposes.

Not only is the donation information staying up, but I will be adding a gofundme to help with my father's final expenses. As well, I am a gifted graphic artist and I do my own work including shirts, mugs, and posters to help with whatever cause I am working on. I volunteer most of my time and effort to others, for others, and about others. It's called servant leadership. You may have already ran into my book designs on at least ten book images on Amazon that I did to aid other authors for free.

You attacked the wrong person. "Your" information is on plenty of other sites including my various cousins who did their own research. I'll go cite their works. If you put it on the internet and you are cited, that is not stealing and it's not illegitimate. citations are commonly used in the education and writing realms to give respect to people who did a study or research in a particular area. I have not claimed any information as my own, except for what I originally write or create as digital images. That is why the pages and posts have something called: Sources.

I also read ship manifests, old books and manuscripts because I double check everyone's work. I already read the Elizabeth's and Anne's ship manifests for various years like for Adam the Jacobite as well as for the Wallen/Wallings.

My Aunt Vonnie as part of her last wishes was for me to keep the family names and information alive through my writing. I am doing that. I hope you find some honor in what you are doing because you said for people to contact you to get information but now it seems that "legitimate" has taken on a whole new meaning.

I have a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology; I cite my sources. My motto is: document, document, document. I deleted yours this evening.

Thank you.

Have a great and wonderful day,

Dawn

So who else would like to be a snob?  If you cannot take a simple correction, then why are you out here? Keep the work to yourself and never contact anyone. If you cannot take a cited quotation, then take all your "research" off the internet. 

I will not be defined by other people's limited field of vision. I have actual work to do. I have goals of books and publication, not just looking important. I research. I create. I publish. 

What are you doing besides being offended? Maybe it's time to get over yourselves.

If you are in the genealogical community, I am going to quote and cite you as applicable to my mission. If you cannot handle the adult and legitimate practice of quotations and citations, then you better go hide under your bed and let the adults handle the work. 

I am so disappointed in the bullying and denigration of others over shared sources. 

Seriously, just hang it up so I don't have to drive through a minefield of ugly attitudes to find my ancestors.

Thank you.

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P.S.... once the books go to publication then I will have to buy all the neat coat of arms images over again, which will cost $16 or so each b/c I need a certain quality to do pdf's and other publishing forms.

Just so you know, it's not cheap on my end and everything I do from domain registration, membership fees, and new hard drives comes out of my $200 grocery money. There are no food stamps. No services I qualify for. I haven't seen a food box in over 6 years b/c I am housebound and when I ask for delivery I get yelled at by volunteers who then slammed down the phone. It's happened.

I hope people realize that I have to make decisions every month of getting toilet paper versus produce or meat or something else just as important like my expensive supplements that keep me alive when I have to pay for these other incidentals. I don't even have cellular service or cable, just rabbit ears and low budget internet. I am out of shampoo right now. I can only tolerate one brand and type. I'm not sure when I will get another b/c it costs $10 for a tube.

Let's deal with this reality for a moment while you judge me...