Rootsweb: It's good and It's bad

As beginners to the field of Genealogy there is always a learning curve period. It is easy to get frustrated and quit when a program seems to large, has to many options, or maybe just seems to be more difficult to work with than we feel capable of handling. Sometimes the nicest thing about many internet programs is the time you have to work with it. One such program is Rootsweb.com So much is offered in this search engine and it can be a gold mine if you take the time to work with it and learn the peramiters it works under. The primary purpose and function of RootsWeb.com is to connect people so that they can help each other and share genealogical research. Most resources on RootsWeb.com are designed to facilitate such connections. New users often ask the question "But where do I begin?" when faced with all the options available at RootsWeb.com. The best way for you to connect to others on RootsWeb.com is to make it easy for others to find you, ask for help, and give others help. Like all programs there is always some good and some bad, I have tried to list a few problems and good points I have encountered over the years as I have helped people research their ancestors in Rootsweb.

The Bad:
1. Rootsweb often refers you back to Ancestry.com which is a fee based program. Remember Rootsweb is owned and sponsored by ancestry and the actual link is: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com so don't be discouraged and keep on hunting.
2. A lot of what you find on the internet is transcribed so watch out for misinformation. Don’t take everything you read as gospel.
3. When you share on the internet many people will take your years of work and information add it to the little they have and call it their own.
4. It takes time and patience to play with a program enough to really learn how to use it. So be patient and don’t be afraid to try new hotspots.
5. It’s very easy to get distracted from your primary target when you start fishing for names on the net.
6. It’s real easy to get caught up and loose track of time. Night creeps by quickly and you may get Computer blurred eyes and your family members may wonder what ever happened to you.
7. Email address may be out of date or the person who posts the information may never respond.

The Good:
1.Gold mines of information are just a click away
2.You can connect with other people doing research on your same lines who may have been closer connected to that long lost ancestor of yours and have all the information you have been searching for at the click of a button.
3.You have the opportunity to share your knowledge, your talents, and your resources with others.
4.You can find people willing to go to a courthouse or take a picture at a cemetery for you with out even having to leave your house.
5.If you wanted to know how to research a particular locality, subject, surname, or just want to learn a new technique. It’s all available in the help sections.
6.Rootsweb helps to connect you to resources not available in any other way.

The Secrets: Find out for yourself. The only way to become familiar with this program is to take the time to set down and explore each tab and subject. Take the time to Share a publication you have at home for Volunteer lookups. Join a message board. Add a Family File. Volunteer to be a message administrator or a locality webmaster. The opportunities are endless if you truly want to learn. It always helps to use a research log or fishing log when you start a project on Rootsweb. For a copy of the log I designed to help with my late night fishing projects on the internet please feel free to contact me.