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The first anniversary will be tomorrow.
Technically, about 6 p.m. tomorrow night. I was piled up on the couch with the laptop and a bowl of candy for the trick or treaters when I had my Nike moment.
Just do it.
390 blog posts.
That's not bad.
It's the number of comments that blows me away, though.
791.
From people all over the United States and a few from the United Kingdom, if Google Analytics is correct.
That's 791 times someone has stopped by and felt enough for what they were reading to comment about it - offering words of encouragement, tips and tricks to help me break down a brick wall, or to say something to the effect of...
I think we are related.
I used to keep count of how many people made contact with me through my online genealogy activities.
Before I started this blog, those contacts were made through post-ems and emails about my family tree hosted at Rootsweb, or through my posting activities at Find A Grave.
Since starting this blog, I've lost count of the contacts I've gotten this year, and exactly where they came from. This year, there have been weeks I've received contacts in the double digits. (Sometimes, I take a day off from my day job to deal with those, because I think it's important to reply to everyone who contacts me in a timely fashion.)
People have gotten a lot more tech-savvy and I have cross-linked from every online genealogy profile I have, so usually, when they find me here, they also find me there.
If you are one of those people who has stopped by and taken the time to comment, I want to thank you.
I am honored that you took the time.
If you are one of the people who just comes by to read, and you're kind of hanging out in cyberspace, wondering if blogging could help you along in your family history search, maybe it's time for your Nike moment.
Just do it.
Technically, about 6 p.m. tomorrow night. I was piled up on the couch with the laptop and a bowl of candy for the trick or treaters when I had my Nike moment.
Just do it.
390 blog posts.
That's not bad.
It's the number of comments that blows me away, though.
791.
From people all over the United States and a few from the United Kingdom, if Google Analytics is correct.
That's 791 times someone has stopped by and felt enough for what they were reading to comment about it - offering words of encouragement, tips and tricks to help me break down a brick wall, or to say something to the effect of...
I think we are related.
I used to keep count of how many people made contact with me through my online genealogy activities.
Before I started this blog, those contacts were made through post-ems and emails about my family tree hosted at Rootsweb, or through my posting activities at Find A Grave.
Since starting this blog, I've lost count of the contacts I've gotten this year, and exactly where they came from. This year, there have been weeks I've received contacts in the double digits. (Sometimes, I take a day off from my day job to deal with those, because I think it's important to reply to everyone who contacts me in a timely fashion.)
People have gotten a lot more tech-savvy and I have cross-linked from every online genealogy profile I have, so usually, when they find me here, they also find me there.
If you are one of those people who has stopped by and taken the time to comment, I want to thank you.
I am honored that you took the time.
If you are one of the people who just comes by to read, and you're kind of hanging out in cyberspace, wondering if blogging could help you along in your family history search, maybe it's time for your Nike moment.
Just do it.
Opinions please...
Aug. 22nd, 2011 01:45 pmIt's not that I have nothing to do.
I'm thinking of starting another blog, just with cemetery photos.
I already have two blogs.
Have I lost what was left of my mind?
Be brutally honest...I can take it.
I'm thinking of starting another blog, just with cemetery photos.
I already have two blogs.
Have I lost what was left of my mind?
Be brutally honest...I can take it.
Many, many geneabloggers have written lots of posts on how important it is to back up your data.
And many of us use a variety of different ways to do that, some of us with all the zealousness it deserves.
And then, we sit back and still second-guess ourselves, wondering if we have covered all the bases.
So when the cloud services became available, I was intrigued.
No worries about fire, flood, tornado or other natural disaster at the cottage that may wreak havoc on my hardware back-ups.
The intrigue has lasted for nearly a year. The thing that kept me from seriously checking into cloud services was concern about intellectual property rights, as well as the possibility of the cloud service being hacked, coming under a DDoS attack or suddenly disappearing altogether.
Intellectual property rights are a serious issue for me.
If you have read the static entry at the top of this blog, you know I am in this to share. I tell people that right in the entry - particularly about the sharing of photos posted here.
But I also make it clear in that entry that the written content of this blog is copyrighted. I can't copyright factual information about any of the people in my family tree, but I can darned sure copyright my compilation and presentation of that data.
And defend my copyright.
Discussed my reservations today with one of my co-workers, who started doing a little nosing around on the net and found The Ed Bott Report, 7 Cloud Services Compared.
It was one of the best presentations yet on why, even if you hate all that legal mumbo-jumbo, you gotta read the terms of service for any cloud service provider you consider using.
I won't be granting anyone else a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display my content.
Not even in an area the provider considers public. It's *still* my content.
Am off to do some comparison shopping on 2 to 3 terabyte external hard drives...
And many of us use a variety of different ways to do that, some of us with all the zealousness it deserves.
And then, we sit back and still second-guess ourselves, wondering if we have covered all the bases.
So when the cloud services became available, I was intrigued.
No worries about fire, flood, tornado or other natural disaster at the cottage that may wreak havoc on my hardware back-ups.
The intrigue has lasted for nearly a year. The thing that kept me from seriously checking into cloud services was concern about intellectual property rights, as well as the possibility of the cloud service being hacked, coming under a DDoS attack or suddenly disappearing altogether.
Intellectual property rights are a serious issue for me.
If you have read the static entry at the top of this blog, you know I am in this to share. I tell people that right in the entry - particularly about the sharing of photos posted here.
But I also make it clear in that entry that the written content of this blog is copyrighted. I can't copyright factual information about any of the people in my family tree, but I can darned sure copyright my compilation and presentation of that data.
And defend my copyright.
Discussed my reservations today with one of my co-workers, who started doing a little nosing around on the net and found The Ed Bott Report, 7 Cloud Services Compared.
It was one of the best presentations yet on why, even if you hate all that legal mumbo-jumbo, you gotta read the terms of service for any cloud service provider you consider using.
I won't be granting anyone else a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display my content.
Not even in an area the provider considers public. It's *still* my content.
Am off to do some comparison shopping on 2 to 3 terabyte external hard drives...
I'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.
Follow Friday
Dec. 24th, 2010 08:43 amA very thought-provoking post over at West in New England, entitled, What is the Worth of a Genealogy Blog?
The blog owner has asked that discussion be kept civil...
The blog owner has asked that discussion be kept civil...
