Sometimes we just need to say what we're thinking and at the risk of earning the ire of many of the visitors to this site, I feel compelled to address the question of courtesy as it affects all modern genealogists using the Internet.

Twenty-five years ago when I began to work on tracing my lineage, the Internet was not available. Research was done in the library amidst stacks of books; in back rooms of town halls; or parked in front of a microfilm reader. If we were lucky enough to find another person working on our lines, we communicated via US Mail and spent an inordinate amount of time compiling and copying information found in piles of notes and notebooks full of family group sheets.

Follow up:

It would never have occurred to us to ask for everything someone had on a surname. This request would have been too expensive for the researcher supplying the information. Photocopies required a trip downtown and a pocketful of quarters. Postage for a one inch think envelope required a loan. So, we'd give detailed information on the question we were trying to answer. Every kindness we received from another person was answered with a thank you - and an attempt to repay the kindness by helping the next person who looked to us for guidance.

The advent of the Internet has caused common courtesy go the way of the steam engine. Now, before you all start writing me hate mail, I know there are many people on-line who share copious amounts of information whenever they are asked. Most Internet genealogists send thank you notes - and experienced researchers still ask specific questions. But - as a GenWeb volunteer for Addison County, V O L U N T E E R being the operative word here, I've been on the receiving end of discourtesy one to many times to stay quiet any longer.

All GenWeb hosts are volunteers. We are not paid for the time and effort that goes into maintaining our web sites. The time it takes to design, research, build, and maintain these sites is not inconsiderable. In addition to simply managing the sites, most of us are bombarded with research requests which we try to accommodate to the best of our ability. I know that I volunteer to repay all the past kindness shown to me by other genealogists and I imagine many other hosts feel the same way. The fact that GenWeb sites are free to access - does not equate to them being free to maintain. Although answering queries does not require postage and photocopies - the time it takes to research the answers is valuable to the hosts and in my case this is time not spent on my "real" job or with my children. So please, follow these simple guidelines as you pursue your research on-line.

1. Ask questions in a specific manner. Give ALL the information that you have. This saves time for the person to whom you've addressed the question and gives you a better chance of getting the information you're looking for.

2. Always cite your source - this not only includes the location of the information but giving credit to the person who found the answer for you.

3. Don't be afraid to ask again, but do so in a polite and non-accusatorial way.

4. Honor notices on the site stating that the host either does not conduct research - or cannot conduct research because of the location of their residence in relation to the county/state that they represent.

5. Don't get angry if you don't get a response as quickly as you'd hoped. Perhaps the question wasn't phrased correctly - perhaps the email got lost in an inbox - perhaps there was a more pressing commitment at the time the email came in, like work or a sick child.

6. Resend the email and mention politely that you were worried the first was not received.

7. Don't get angry if a link isn't working properly on a web site. Remember, unless the site is a large commercial site - it is likely managed by a volunteer, whoops that word again! By all means let the host know of the problem and send the exact address of the page with the offending link AND the page the link is trying to address. Some of my sites have in excess of 500 pages - without this information I'll never be able to find the problem and I'm sure other web masters are in the same situation.

8. Send thank you notes - and repay kindness received with kindness offered. Not everyone has the time or inclination to host a site - but everyone has a local town hall with records begging to be transcribed. Stop by on lunch hour once a month and copy a few pages to send to the county coordinator of the county you live in.

9. Please remember that there is nothing free in this world - even information. There is a cost associated somewhere - that someone is absorbing.