This is in reply to the post made by reporter
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=21930#p21940

Suggestion: have subsections, for example, pictures and stories of where Forest folk emigrated to (including darkest Yorkshire), researcher's hints and tips and methods of storing and sorting their data, a general "cafe" style of forum where people could discuss genealogical and family history things not directly associated with the FoD.........

For example, I'm struggling with the public v private issues of having trees on Ancestry and Genes. How do I synchronise my three databases as well as paper work is another topic? (don't reply yet, anyone!)Are there easier ways of recording citations from the 1911 census? Anyone using Linux software? Anyone interested in a mapping of where my grandparents and father went from the Forest, and why......etc etc.

Your suggestion of having a another forum for matters not related to the Forest is a good idea. I have given this subject of having an additional forum some though in the past but now you have mentioned it, I think I will probably go ahead and try it out.

I can easily set up an additional forum for discussing other topics like you have mentioned. One of the good things I worked out how to do when I was testing having two forums was to integrate the userdata between two forums. That means that you could use your current username and password for both forums, once you are logged into one of the forums you are also logged into the second forum.

Okay, Forest of Dean researchers should we have an additional forum to cover matters that are not directly associated with the FoD?

HI Admin,

What about a forum that covers the remainder of Gloucestershire, ie non Forest of Dean, I have family connection in Elmstone Hardwicke (Nr Cheltenham/Tewkesbury) but alas not covered in current forum.

Catchment could cover places just over the border similar to the current Herefordshire/Monmouthshire borders.

Or perhaps this would duplicate existing sites like RootsChat.com ??? with its individual county sites.

However,
keep up the excellent work in providing the site for all us eager family researchers. Thanks again

Forest

Forest

Thanks a lot for your feedback, like I have mentioned before it is always good to get the thoughts from people who use the website.

However, it has always been my intention to keep the website to people and places that have a core connection to the Forest of Dean or near by bordering places and I believe it would not be the same if we expanded any further.

Please read a posting I made on this subject just over 12 months ago.

Web site is specific to the Forest of Dean
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=14613

Hi David

I take your point about keeping the website specific to Fod......but the new Community does expand it a lot! My point about having a forum is that MEMBERS (ie people with an interest in/connection to FoD) can share other genealogical and family research matters.

An example - today I used Ancestry to upload a WW1 record, and it duly added an image as part of the citation. It failed to recognise, and I had not noticed this in the past, that there were 9 subsequent pages, containing very interesting and potentially valuable info, which needed accessing manually. I would like to be able to pass this tip on, and other experiences, but it would be, in my opinion, best kept separate from the existing forum which deals almost exclusively with actual people and places and events.

I feel supported in my family research here, but sometime lonely when it comes to records and data handling. I've been doing some reading about source citations and it makes me feel inadequate!!

Could the existing forum have a sub-section, perhaps? - "General Genealogy"

Keep up the excellent work - a most appreciated site.
Bob Jenkins

All

My family lived very close to the Monmouthshire border. I believe the family also have roots in Herefordshire Glamorganshire Breconshire and South Worcestershire.

I am sure many families have similar roots.

I would support the development of a second forum to cover adjoining areas.

Regards

Tony Jenkins

Tony

Thanks a lot for your comments. I'm sorry but we will not be spreading our wings any further away from the Forest than that what we do now. However, we have always been a little flexible here in the forum with regards to helping tracing peoples direct ancestors that have either come into or left the Forest and we seem to have found a happy mix of how far we sometimes stray away from the Forest.

To give you an example, I will relate to my own great grand-mother Elizabeth Mills who lived the majority of her life in Ruardean but with the help I got in the forum it was discovered that her family came from Clifton, Bristol and then going further back that I had direct ancestors from West Knoyle, Wilshire. You will notice by reading the various posts in the forum that we have helped many people in the same way who had direct line ancestors from other areas.

Here is what I would not find as an acceptable type of post in the forum, it is again an example of my own family. My father Harold Watkins and his family moved from Ruardean in the 1930s to Manchester. Dad later married my Mum, Cecilia Thornton who was a Manchester girl. In would be inappropriate for me to post a message in the forum seeking information on my Thornton line. If I want to get help on my Thornton line I need to join a Manchester mailing list or forum which covers the Manchester area as there is no core connection to the Forest of Dean with the Thornton family.

The new forum I have planned will not be for assisting in Family History Research as that is well taken care of in this forum. It will be a place where people can discuss other related matters like Bob has mentioned above.

Have a Good Day!

Yes please.
I like others would find it very useful especially when it comes to asking for advise and sharing tips.
Sue

This is one of the most successful geneological sites I've come across and its success must in part be that it is so dedicated to one region and that it has the local knowledge of many of its contributors.

An additional forum though may be a blessing in disguise as so many FOD persons seem to have immigrated elsewhere and a forum that allowed discussion and tracking of those people may keep the topic in this forum on track (haivng said that it barely ever drifts very far so maybe its a moot point?).

Just my 10c worth, its a fantastic site and I'm lucky that my relatives came from the forest of dean or I would still be wondering who I am and where I came from...

cheers for such a great site...

Thanks for your 10c worth. The second forum I have just put in place but have not made any announcement about it as yet as I have not put together a description about what it is to be used for. Go to the very top, right hand side of this page and you will se that you can switch to the other forum. To distinguish which forum you are currently on I have given a different colour to the theme.

The new forum will not be for family history research, it will be for other topics and if you take a look through the categories drop down list it will give you an idea what it will be about.

This is one of the most successful geneological sites I've come across and its success must in part be that it is so dedicated to one region and that it has the local knowledge of many of its contributors.

I agree with you completely on the matter of it being dedicated to one region and I often make the same point. It will as far as I am concerned always be dedicated to one region and I have no intention of making it any different.

I wonder about this. I have some great pics. of wider family members not born or lived in FoD from the past. But they were drawn back to their roots to visit, as I am and do. I am in FoD with cousins at least once a year and we love it. I think I will submit some of these pics. in the normal gallery and see what happens.

Then there's the Flickr type idea. There's some fantastic pics. there, Tower Bridge for one, but what's it got to do with FoD.

Roger

While I agree that you should restrict the site geographically the ancestors certainly didn't restrict themselves like that. A river trader from Redbrook is just as like to marry in Bristol or Gloucester. I'm sure a common sense approach to messages on the forum will continue.