Hints on posting and answering queries


Hint 1: posted to the Lanark list by B.J. Hinshaw.
Hint 2: posted to the Lanark list by Ian Marr


(A.P.) In my opinion it should be made compulsary to have read this before being allowed onto a mailing list. 

Some ideas for when you post queries to this (or other) lists, and for when you respond to what others have asked:

1) Put surnames (family names) in CAPITALS. {Hint for new people: putting anything in caps other than surnames is regarded by many as rude.}

2) Have good, clear subject lines. I get lots of email (often 500 messages a day). I delete anything that says "my family" or "looking for Smiths" or "GenNewbie Digest #xxx" -- usually without reading it. I've got extensive research in my computer on 4 different families named Brown (2 in Essex Co., MA, before 1750, 2 in Scotland  -- Edinburgh and Peebles, both before 1800) but I probably won't read something that just says John Brown, with no dates or places. Some examples of what is much more likely to catch my eye:

3) Be specific about what you already know and include it in your query. If you don't know anything specific, give a reasonable guess. If you say you are looking for your grandfather, I can't see through the modem lines to see if you are 22 and your grandfather was probably b. in 1930, or if you were born in 1930 and your grandfather was probably born in 1880.

4) Give the rest of us some idea where you have looked. Don't just say 'everywhere'. Have you checked the VRs for where the event happened? The LDS resources like the IGI and the Ancestral File? The census for the year closest to the event? I can't read your notes -- only what you put in your email. I'm very busy with my own work so I'm not going to take on too much in the way of look-ups but I'm more likely to look for something if you show that you've actually done something and aren't just trying to get someone else to do all your drudge work for you.

5) Read a background book about how to do genealogy, so you will have some idea how to go about things -- Is the census going to be helpful? Are you likely to find a birth or death certificate in that time and place or do you need to find alternates?

6) Be specific about what you are looking for (and, if you are answering a question, make sure you have really read it....). For example, I have posted queries at Genforum and on mailing lists, where I clearly said I had lots of information on a man  - bmd dates & places, parents, the works -- and that I was interested in his wife -- before the marriage. I had her marriage date, all their kids' names and dates, and her death date. In some cases, I even gave that information. In many cases, I receivedt many (a dozen or more) responses where a person has lifted some information on the husband from the AF or WFT (neither of which is the most reliable source...) and sends it to me. I try to be polite and just say thanks but it is hard after the 17th response......

7) If you have web access, check Cyndi's List at http://www.cyndislist.com/ for links and basic information on libraries, genealogical societies, and so on before asking on a list.

8) The response rate to your query can be nothing, one message, or many. [And one good response is better than a dozen guesses....] The better you phrase your query, the more likely you are to get a helpful answer. One point to remember: if you are looking for information on recent (post-1850 or 1900 or so) people, they have relatively few descendants who might also be looking for them. For example, my mother's great-grandfather died in 1907 -- and he has only 15 living descendants. The further back the person you are looking for, the more likely someone else will have specific information on hand. I have seen estimates that some early New England immigrants may now have several hundred thousand descendants, so the chances that someone on a list (a relevant list)is also researching that person is much higher than for someone who died in 1925. For more recent people, try asking methodological questions, such as: my grandfather John MacBrown died in 1947 at [Edinburgh, or Glasgow, or wherever] -- how can I find who his parents were? The chances that anyone on a list would have his parents' names is slight but there could be many people who could answer the methodological question so that you could find the answer you want.
 

Final thoughts:
I don't know about others, but I prefer if people have slightly longer original posts and make it clear what they already have, where they have looked and exactly (method, specific date,
connections to other descendants) what they are looking for. I'm much more likely to take the time to help if it is clear that the person posting has taken the time to frame a good question.
Again, I don't know about others, but I try to send at least my first response to a query  to the list, so a) if there are lurkers who want the info, they get it, and b) others know when a query has been answered and don't go over the same ground again.

Just a few thoughts,
BJ

Getting the most from the list.

I thought I would share a success story that has proven to me once and for all that there are both good and bad ways to request information on mailing lists.

I have been lurking, posting, assisting (where possible) and generally doing "all the usual things" that one does on a list. For a considerable period of time I got absolutely minimal responses to my postings requesting help with various individuals/families. Of course, I blamed the other list members for not being sufficiently sympathetic to my needs, but then I took a different tack and have had a tremendous response as a result.

I am researching three forests, and when I look at the three ancestor charts, I find I have 61 dead-ends.  So, here's what I have done:

(1) Created a message for EACH terminating person.

(2) Made the subject line reflect that person with, in the format SURNAME: Location (or Poss/Prob Location) and a year span (sometimes quite wide (e.g. 1700 - 1800))

(3) Prepared an Outline Descendant Chart for THAT person - limiting it usually to only 3 generations (sometimes more, depending upon size - occasionally producing one that is "a little too long", but I try to avoid this)

(4) Copy that chart into the body of the message, with as little preamble as possible.

Consequently, listers can immediately see from the subject whether or not the message is of interest; then, with minimal scrolling, can get to the details that may or may not confirm their interest.

After getting very few responses, this new approach has meant that I have an almost full-time job just answering the specific replies that I receive.  IT DEFINITELY WORKS FOR ME.

I could go on about meaningless subject lines, and padding messages with all sorts of details about the people, but I don't want to sound as if I am in some way "laying down the law".  I want to be constructive, but the simple fact that subjects such as: Posting interest, New to List, My brick wall, Need help, etc., etc. just don't do the job. If someone out there can help you, it is meaningless whether you are new to the list or not. In short, "cut to the chase" and I am confident that the results will be greatly improved.

If the descendant you are tracing has an interesting history, this can be exchanged AFTER initial contact has been made with a respondent. While it may be interesting we have to face the probability it is only interesting to ourselves; and it could be the very reason that someone who has the information you need fails to read far enough to get the link.

Give it a go - it works for me.

Ian Marr, 11 March 2001


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