Dear All, I'd like to pick up this thread, while apologizing for delaying my comments. I agree with Eastern Shore Tom's comments about the "normal" cycles that occur on most lists. One "new" problem is that those cycles are, over time, frequently accompanied by unannounced changes in posters' e-addresses -- making it nearly impossible to go straight to someone who posted something right on your topic a few years earlier. That, in turn, means you just have to wait and hope that person will come back to the list. If everyone methodically checks their book of relevant lists (as I suspect most of the listers here do) this problem goes away, but not everyone does. I belong to what I will call the "second wave" of modern genealogical researchers. That is, I came to the topic with a lot of internet assets appearing, but a great deal of indexing, etc., not yet done. We all remember those days when you had to trudge through every one of a given township's census names in the hopes of finding yours. This contrasts with the "first wave" who came to the internet only after years of doing it the hard way; physically going to courthouses, libraries, archives and LDS family history centers; reading through vast numbers of hard records, scrolling through rolls of unindexed microfilms, and basically turning over a great many stones that the internet is rapidly sweeping aside. Those who came up in the "first wave" already knew from painful experience how little faith could be placed in any data that wasn't fully sourced. Those of us in the second wave could see those demands being made and quickly learned their value. Some of us (this from a retired lawyer) were already primed by professional experience to fully and accurately record and report our sources. That refusal to accept undocumented assertions have led most of us to, for instance, heavily discount almost all of the "tree" material found on the LDS' website and to take much message board material with many grains of salt. I think that those falling in the next, and perhaps current, wave of researchers will be inundated with all the indexed material on Ancestry.com, the seemingly authoritative statements found at the Family History site, the vast amount of "word of mouth" material found on boards, etc. and will then simply collect stuff for a year or so and declare their work complete. It takes time to figure out how important it is to employ only documented data and I'm not sure the new generation will get to that stage. I think it's important to distinguish among volunteers, contributors and supporters. My "ancestral" territories are in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey -- I live in California; traditional volunteering at the local historical society really isn't an available option. I don't manage any boards, but I'm actively reviewing, and commenting where appropriate, on 4 regional US boards and 2 in Ireland. Rather than simply consume the labor of my relevant local societies, I've become a life member in each. Unfortunately, as internet research becomes more and more central, the impetus to join and work within local societies may be waning. However, "my" Virginia Society [Northumberland County] remains active, cooperative and productive. The Library of Virginia is an extraordinary resource that seems to be continually improving itself. Eric, I guess I can see a number of reasons for concern for the future, but my personal experience shows no major falling off in enthusiasm or quality. Jack Fallin Walnut Creek, CA On Jul 14, 2008, at 9:00 PM, VA-ROOTS automatic digest system wrote: > > Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:42:43 -0400 > From: Eric Huffstutler <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Has Genealogy Become Obsolete? > > I hope someone can chime in and relate to my question and concern. > Has = > genealogy taken a back seat or just dieing out due to various state = > regulations about records? > > I say this because... > > 1) Various surname or area lists (like those on Ancestry or > Genealogy) = > often > only show a few posts per year and sometimes only 1 or 2 posts a year! > > 2) Volunteers are becoming scarce, GenWeb counties have none > available, = > and > even RAOGK listings often bounce back or get no reply. > > 3) The volume of email connected to genealogy research had become > slim. > > Has the #1 hobby 5-10 years ago become obsolete? > > Eric S. Huffstutler > Richmond, VA > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html