User talk:Dianekay

= Welcome to Beginners Grin and Dare It =

Sometimes Genealogical research can be intimidating to a beginner.

The object of this page is to simplify the process as much as possible including links to assist you in your new adventure.

Gathering

 * Contact relatives for information. Begin the writing pyramid by starting with known relatives and, after gleaning the information they know, ask them for addresses or phone numbers of other relatives who might be helpful. If relatives say "I don't know anything", try the Rudyard Kipling approach "I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew. Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who." You might make your questions more specific such as: Who is oldest relative you can remember? Where did your family live? What funerals do you remember going to? How do you know this information?  Do you have old letters or documents? Why do you think your family moved? What did your family do for a living? What religion do you think they were?  Any war heroes?


 * Make it fun for a family night. Have a scavenger hunt asking the family to scatter and find certificates, bible records, any other documents relating to family; immediate and ancestors


 * Collect information from other sources, remembering that this information is only as correct as the sources used. You will always want to learn the sources used or double check in case the information has been passed down like the old telephone game we played as children where the last sentence is totally different than the first. You may wish to try some of the following websites.

Welcome...
Hello Diane!

You may be using this page as a sandbox to create new articles. If so, that is great! If not, you may want to move the above information to your user page or create an article for it. Nice work!

The Welcoming Committee is here to support you and offer you a warm welcome to a Community that loves Family History. We thank you for your contributions! Please continue editing and consider joining in Projects Seeking Contributors or a live Community Meeting where you may meet other experienced users and contributors.

This message is posted on your Talk Page which is associated with your personal User Page. Try creating a User Page about yourself, it's a great place to practice new skills and lets others know something about you and your genealogical interests. We hope you like this place and decide to join in.

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 * The Community Center for the Wiki.
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Again, welcome! Kara 20:26, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

Problem with United States Land and Property
I got your message about the US Land and Property page. I don’t know if anything I did caused the unwanted changes. When I create unPortal pages and move the content, I may make minor wording changes, combine similar information under one heading, or rearrange the order of the page, but I make sure I move everything from the portal page to the new page - except subjects or headings that don’t have any content. I make sure any broken links are fixed. Of course, that doesn’t mean I haven’t made mistakes. Please let me know what information is missing and I will see what I can do to fix the problem.StroudIL 20:31, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

FHC information
I'm puzzled about the removal and replacement of simple information that had been standardized by the FHC group. Sandra put in this simple information (this was discussed and standardized by the FHC group)

Sandra put this in:


 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Family History Centers
-


 * Albany New York Family History Center

and I see this: Albany New York  411 Loudon Rd Loudonville, Albany, New York, United States

I didn't work on the FHC. I put a paragraph in with the county courthouse. If something accidentally happened with the FHC, I did not intend for that to happen. I promise I did not touch the FHC information. I thought it was wonderfully done! diane

Websites
Phone: 518-463-2566 Hours: T,Th 10am-8pm, W 10am-2pm Closed: Closed the last two weeks of the year.

Note: These are not mailing addresses. Due to limited staff, Family History Centers are unable to respond to mail inquiries.

???, considering that it is preferred any updates be made to single pages instead of thousands of county pages which was agreed. Dsammy 18:29, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Land and Property page
Yesterday I typed an explanation in the Land and Property Discussion page of why I rolled it back. I took too long rewording, changing, adding, etc. and the wiki timed-out on me and I lost it. I was hoping to retype it this morning but I just noticed you had changed it back again. I have a template that I was instructed to use for all of the Un-Portal pages I create so that they're all consistent. I make changes to the layout as needed, but the template is the same. Sometimes I rearrange items so the content "flows" better.

When I did the rollback I made sure, before I finalized anything, that none of your information was lost! It may look like something is missing - it's just that some things were rearranged. For example: I moved the links in the sidebar Acquiring Land to The Land Acquisition Process, because both deal with the same subject.

I don't want to start a war. I'm sorry this has been upsetting. I was just doing what I was told to do, the way I was told to do it. StroudIL 19:29, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Hi! I am really not upset - just very confused. And Nathan was surprised because he was teaching a BYU Idaho class in the morning and using the page as an example and then in the afternoon the original page was gone. I think we are confused about this unportal thing. Did you move the Beginner's corner as well? Perhaps it would be good for you to visit with David or Nathan since they understand all of this better than i do. Or if we could meet and you could show me what you are doing so that I can see where everything has gone that would be good. I am curious as to who is giving the instructions so that maybe we can learn what is happening and be better prepared for others pages that may change. Thank you for answering, diane

Thursday -

We totally understand that you are following driections and it sounds like you are doing a great job and we are grateful for everything you are doing. But, after talking with Nathan Murphy and David Dilts this morning, we have thought it would be a good idea if the un-portal procedures could stop for a time until we are able to visit with the person who instructed you to do this. Something is just not quite right and we are concerned about pages we don't know about.

US Land and Property
Some of your questions and concerns I can answer here. Darris Williams is the one in charge of the portal to un-portal project. He is the one who showed me how to do it. The template he has me use is in a help document - Help:How to Create an Un-Portal page. You asked whether I moved a Beginner's Corner. When I come across one, I move it to Getting Started. I have put together a document that I hope will explain the portal/un-portal thing, and what, how, and why I do what I do. I will send it to you by e-mail because it's too big to include here. There are step by step explanations and screen shots showng the stages of creating an Un-Portal page. If you still want to meet so I can show you what I do, I will be glad to do so. It would have to be on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. I am only here on those days. I had no idea that your original Land and Property page was being used for teaching a class. If I had known that, we could have saved a lot of problems. I don't want anyone to take this wrong, I am truly not trying to attack anyone. I am just frustrated as, I am sure, everyone else concerned must be. It doesn't seem logical for anyone to expect that changes won't be made to what he or she created in the wiki. It exists for people to use, add to, and update. I had an idea this morning but I don't know whether it will work or not. Since the Land and Property page needs to stay the way it is, is there any way Nathan could copy it to his user page or some where else to preserve the original? There is a real possibility that someone else will make changes at some point in time. If not to Land and Property, maybe to something else that needs to stay the way it is. It won't be me because I have stopped working on the US or Canada for now anyway. I don't want to inadvertently cause problems for anyone like this has been. StroudIL 00:51, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your explanations. Please know that it wasn't a huge problem and we aren't upset. It was just that when i went to look for something I knew was there to help a patron, I couldn't find it. That was when we realized something was completely different. And when Nathan went to look for things, they were missing. We weren't blaming you at all, but wanted to know what was being done and how many other pages it might be affecting. When you spend as much time as we have on these pages (every working hour we aren't on the counter) and then they are completely turned around, it is a little disconcerting. We do expect changes and additions in a Wiki, but this was an overhaul without explanation. We were concerned in case there was a misunderstanding somewhere and the whole idea of unportaling a page that was already not a portal was very confusing. Perhaps when David reads the information it will make sense to him. We certainly don't want you to stop working on US/Canada because your service is invaluable, but it is very helpful to know who is behind the tasks so that we can talk to that person. We know you were doing what you were asked and doing it to the best of your ability. We appreciate that. I hope you understand that it needed to be addressed so that we could learn what was happening in case there was an error which might be repeated. It is always good to investigate things that seem unusual because misunderstandings and mistakes can happen.

I hope I haven't given the impression i was upset or overwrought or anything of the kind because i wasn't. I was merely trying to get to the bottom of things and tried to let you know what I was doing. If i was unkind in any way at all, i truly apologize. It was not intended. You all are the salt of the earth - we just want to understand the instructions you are given and perhaps it is them who need to let us know before major changes happen.

Comments Requested
FamilySearch_Wiki_talk:WikiProject_New_York Dsammy 02:44, 23 September 2011 (UTC)