Home Page http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/a/i/Cynthia-F-Daigle/

To contact me – Cynthia Fatchett Daigle

Primary – cfdaigleATbellsouth.net                AT = at sign

Secondary – cynthiadaigleATnetscape.net              AT = at sign

Using AT instead of the at sign is my feeble attempt to elude spammers searches for email addresses.

 
 
PLEASE, DON’T SHOOT THE GENNIE !
 
We've all seen it. You're anxiously doing your research on the 
internet and surprisingly come across your own name or the 
name of someone you know in a website, a file in World Connect 
or some other place online. But, low and behold, the information is 
not quite correct. Once you get over the initial shock of 
seeing this (on the internet for all the world to see, for Pete's sake!), what do you do? Is your first instinct to zip off a tart email to the owner? Or do think about it and then zip off an email with 
additions or corrections and explain your relationship with the 
individual. I truly hope it's the second option.
 
Most of the emails I get are wonderful thank you's or request 
for more information about someone. One day, I did get the 
other kind. What surprised me was that a person could get so 
irate over information that was basically correct. His great 
aunts/uncles were listed out of sequence. Since no dates were 
available to me, I wonder how he expected otherwise since I 
didn't know these folks and got their names from another family 
member. He did send the birthdates, however it was done, in 
my opinion, sarcastically. It's very difficult to convey 
emotion in an email. Maybe he wasn't being rude, but I took it 
that way.
 
Keep in mind, also, that what you see is not always the file 
owner's intent. In Rootsweb World Connect, the default of the 
online program takes over when the file owner uploads a gedcom. Examples:
*People in the file who are not married but have a child  together may now appear on the internet as married. Wow, does that open a can of worms! 
*If children are listed and one of the parents is a step parent, World Connect may not show this relationship distinction even though it is clearly noted in the home file. So now the other natural parent is mad and who can blame them.
*A person has two marriages with a date for the first marriage but not the second. With World Connect’s default, the second marriage appears as m.#1. An email from Old Joe well let's you know that other woman was NOT his grandmother! 
 
There is usually a way for the file owner to fix these little 
problems. Just let them know how it's appearing on the web. 
Some of these files are so large, there is no way the owners 
can keep track of all these things. Often times these files 
have evolved to encompass people the owner is not even related 
to. 
 
So, folks, please don't assume that a file owner is out to get 
you or slander your family name….. Chances are they don't even 
know your Grandpa or that Bessie was his beloved cow, not his 
daughter! But they do, most assuredly, want their information to be accurate so do send them an email…… just be nice!
 
Respectfully submitted by
Cynthia Fatchett Daigle
Terrebonne/Lafourche Parishes, LA
October 16, 2000