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dee_burrisI've been blogging for the past four years. Even though there were regular commenters to my genealogy entries in my regular blog, for the last year or so, I toyed with the idea of creating a blog just for genealogy.
On Halloween, I had a Nike moment, and decided to "just do it." A few days later, I posted an entry in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
genealogy, asking if others had created genealogy blogs. One of those commenters replied in the affirmative, and urged me to check out Geneabloggers.
Boy, am I glad I did.
I have "met" some of the most fantastic people by searching the blogs. My first searches were for other Arkansas bloggers, then among them, for women. (Gentlemen, that is not a slam to you - I just have a thing about reading other women bloggers...)
The depth of the posts, and obvious commitment to telling the stories of the ancestors, combined with generous doses of wit and humor, makes reading these other blogs a joy. I have stumbled on some wonderful tips for breaking down the dreaded brick walls. From the comfort of my little cottage, I have been on trips to faraway lands through wonderful old photos and well-written stories about the people who lived there.
So thank you, Thomas MacEntee, for coming up with a really great way to provide a real feeling of community.
After all, community is good thing, right? And on our beloved topic of genealogy, didn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy (and not a little relieved) to learn that there were literally hundreds of other people who did the happy dance at the mailbox when the postman delivered death certificates? Or who got misty-eyed at being able to calendar an entire weekend for tramping through the countryside looking for graves? Other people who enjoy sitting in dusty courthouse vaults, gingerly turning the pages of huge ledgers of property records, looking for the pot of gold...
Fairly early on while searching the blogs, I ran into the spoilsport. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, that's someone who gets joy out of spoiling joy for others.
In a departure from my usual practice, I'm not going to identify him by name. And I am not linking to his blog from mine.
In my view, he's already getting way too much traffic from links from other genealogy bloggers. I'm not saying they are wrong to do that - I just think they are playing into his hand.
On the day I found his blog, his post was about how he had a revelation and discovered he is not a genealogist, and couldn't care less about who his ancestors were.
After briefly wondering why, if that were the case, his blog was listed on Geneabloggers, I closed the browser. Even for my "other" blog reading, his doesn't cut the mustard.
Since then, as I have read the blogs of other genealogists, I see he's getting quite a bit of press. I think he's a drama king.
Of the last dozen entries, seven (58%) have been snubs at genealogy bloggers, and of those seven, three (42%) have been direct slams at Geneabloggers or bloggers who are listed there. In one of those entries, he thanks people who read his blog prior to November 1.
Dude, if you can't capture my interest in the first dozen entries, I haven't got the time to plow through page after page of cyber temper tantrums looking for a nugget of useful or edifying information.
And for the record, sir, you got it wrong in your December 20 entry. I am a southerner, born and bred, so you will just have to take my word for it. I doubt that a native New Yorker would be able to put the proper inflection on either phrase.
When a southerner says how nice, what she means is fuck you.
On Halloween, I had a Nike moment, and decided to "just do it." A few days later, I posted an entry in
genealogy, asking if others had created genealogy blogs. One of those commenters replied in the affirmative, and urged me to check out Geneabloggers.Boy, am I glad I did.
I have "met" some of the most fantastic people by searching the blogs. My first searches were for other Arkansas bloggers, then among them, for women. (Gentlemen, that is not a slam to you - I just have a thing about reading other women bloggers...)
The depth of the posts, and obvious commitment to telling the stories of the ancestors, combined with generous doses of wit and humor, makes reading these other blogs a joy. I have stumbled on some wonderful tips for breaking down the dreaded brick walls. From the comfort of my little cottage, I have been on trips to faraway lands through wonderful old photos and well-written stories about the people who lived there.
So thank you, Thomas MacEntee, for coming up with a really great way to provide a real feeling of community.
After all, community is good thing, right? And on our beloved topic of genealogy, didn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy (and not a little relieved) to learn that there were literally hundreds of other people who did the happy dance at the mailbox when the postman delivered death certificates? Or who got misty-eyed at being able to calendar an entire weekend for tramping through the countryside looking for graves? Other people who enjoy sitting in dusty courthouse vaults, gingerly turning the pages of huge ledgers of property records, looking for the pot of gold...
Fairly early on while searching the blogs, I ran into the spoilsport. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, that's someone who gets joy out of spoiling joy for others.
In a departure from my usual practice, I'm not going to identify him by name. And I am not linking to his blog from mine.
In my view, he's already getting way too much traffic from links from other genealogy bloggers. I'm not saying they are wrong to do that - I just think they are playing into his hand.
On the day I found his blog, his post was about how he had a revelation and discovered he is not a genealogist, and couldn't care less about who his ancestors were.
After briefly wondering why, if that were the case, his blog was listed on Geneabloggers, I closed the browser. Even for my "other" blog reading, his doesn't cut the mustard.
Since then, as I have read the blogs of other genealogists, I see he's getting quite a bit of press. I think he's a drama king.
Of the last dozen entries, seven (58%) have been snubs at genealogy bloggers, and of those seven, three (42%) have been direct slams at Geneabloggers or bloggers who are listed there. In one of those entries, he thanks people who read his blog prior to November 1.
Dude, if you can't capture my interest in the first dozen entries, I haven't got the time to plow through page after page of cyber temper tantrums looking for a nugget of useful or edifying information.
And for the record, sir, you got it wrong in your December 20 entry. I am a southerner, born and bred, so you will just have to take my word for it. I doubt that a native New Yorker would be able to put the proper inflection on either phrase.
When a southerner says how nice, what she means is fuck you.
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Date: 2010-12-24 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-24 10:51 pm (UTC)reply
Date: 2010-12-25 05:38 pm (UTC)