User:Sjkennedy/sandbox3.1

FamilySearch Wiki is a FREE research tool, written collaboratively by LDS Church and the people who use it. It is a special type of website designed to make collaboration easy, called a wiki. FamilySearch Wiki is a tool people can use to learn how to find their ancestors. It offers information on how to find, use, and analyze records of genealogical value. The site’s content is variously targeted to beginners, intermediate researchers and experts. FamilySearch Wiki is a Website where the community can write and update research advice for any locality or genealogical topic. FamilySearch Wiki was launched on the Web during the first quarter of 2008.

We serve millions of people each year here at the Research WIki. Although the Wiki is funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the overwhelming majority of our users are not LDS. The people who use the Wiki range from the richest of people to the poorest and from all over the world. They come to the Wiki to find their ancestors and to get help as they work on their genealogy. We have records here from 244 + countries all over the planet and that number is growing.

FamilySearch Wiki is a site where the community works together to post articles, lessons, news, and events that provide research advice. But the world is a big place, and there are a lot of records out there, so the wiki will never have everything there is to know about how to do genealogy research. Therefore, when customers can’t find the information they need on the wiki, they’ll need somewhere they can go to get answers from others who know about the topic in question. The Wiki attempts to find a website containing that information and link to it.

FamilySearch isn't new to this domain at all. Our organization has provided research guidance to patrons since 1894 when we were known as the Genealogical Society of Utah. We've always endeavored to do our best to deliver "one-stop shopping" for genealogical advice. During the 100+ years of our existence, we've constantly worked to improve the media we use to deliver that advice, including a few major media changes in the last 15 years. In the 1980s, we published research advice on paper. In 1998, we switched to CD-ROM. In 1999, we switched to html. In 2008, in order to make the work collaborative and scalable, we switched to the wiki medium.

An invitation
We’re eager to build this site to suit your needs, and we’d love to see you contribute your knowledge, as well! Come find research advice on Family History Research Wiki. Create an account and contribute your knowledge!