I had visions of grandeur when I began the series - thinking that folks would find my blog, notice their ancestors or cousin - and begin to contact me and share information.
I've only managed to have a few comments and a few emails about possible connections - all of which I've been too distracted to write blog posts about. If i get time on my next vacation, I will force myself to write those out. Those that have made a connection have been able to provide some leads for further research.
Things I've learned since starting this series:
- The rote nature of writing a blog post day after day about events from my genealogy database can quickly lead to burnout. If it was not for the fact that I can 'pre-load' some of these posts, there would surely be days where I was not able to get a post made.
- There are so many facts in my database without sources, even more than I realized. Back in the day, I was a name-collector of sorts, and added from other GEDCOMS. Also, in the past I have too easily added facts to my database, thinking I would go back later and add the sources. I've found that if I do it that way, the sources just do not get added.
- Many 'facts' in my database have conflicting dates and or sources that I need to get a handle on. If there was a date conflict, I simply didn't add that event to the list of that day.
- Certain family lines have an over-representation in my database, due to the whether I've added from compiled genealogies, GEDCOMS, etc.
- Though I've done some other serious research, I've simply not been able to blog about them. Perhaps it would be better for me in the future to just blog on the fly as I research the line.
- My guilt about not have a blog post every day is simply false guilt. No one notices if they don't get their daily post from me. No one.
3 comments:
Six months is but a drop in the bucket. Remember your information out there permanently. It may take much longer than 6 months for the big breaks to come. You are in this for the long haul.
Also don't pressure yourself to post every day. Slow down, continue to do things right and don't burn yourself out. Think marthon and pace yourself.
Travis,
I found your exploratory data analysis a very helpful tool to use in my own research. So keep up the good work!
Michelle has good advice. I have very few hits on my genie posts as far as cousin bate.
That said, your list of things you now realize and the cure for some of the past errors will surely improve that data base, your research, fill in the sources. All these are GOOD things and one of the things I like most about blogging, the research I have to do to post something, I look at my data in a brand new way, where is that source, why don't I have that, what do you mean?? And, off on a researching jag I go, improving both my data base AND the blog!
Well, done, those ole search engines will point your way at the exact perfect moment.
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