FindAGrave Addicts

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Comment by Brownie MacKie on October 5, 2012 at 8:33am

Oh, and Leonard...check the latest copyright laws as they relate to internet research. 

Comment by Brownie MacKie on October 5, 2012 at 8:32am

Perhaps the best thing to do for people who want a site where they can memorialize family members is for someone like Ancestry.com to create that service. There obviously is a need.  by Leonard Smith

 

Leonard, if you think that Ancestry.com is on the up and up, you've got another think coming.  You don't know what trouble is until you've had to deal with them for almost twenty years.  FAG is a breath of fresh air;  let's don't spoil it.  Many of us fully appreciate FAG.  

Comment by Leonard Smith on October 5, 2012 at 6:37am

My approach to personal memorials would be that they were just that and easily recognized in a search. I have just being looking at the links FAG provides for their virtual cemetery tour and most of them are very personal and very interesting.

I am pretty sure there is a market for a family history site much like FAG that would promote what is already being done on FAG but with an emphasis personalized memorials. If I had coding skills and time I would give it a go myself.

Comment by Dixie on October 5, 2012 at 6:04am

FAG's owner has said, repeatedly, he will not change to a "wiki" approach such as you are suggesting (anyone making changes to a memorial). Unfortunately there are too many petty people who would add misuse the ability.  

I don't understand what you mean by "problem of linking when the memorials are created by diverse individuals".  It's the same procedure (sending a SAC on each memorial) whether dealing with one creator or a dozen. The only problem I have is receiving requests for links when the sender typed the memorial number incorrectly. Had the number been copied & pasted, the link would have already been made.  Instead, I had to contact the sender to let them know the  number was wrong and ask them to submit the correct one. Now, I wait for them to send it again.

"the problem is the creator of the memorial is dead".  Not a problem.  Just submit to Edit and wait for the correction to be made. I add the memorials to a Virtual Cemetery and check it about once a month, removing the ones that have been corrected.  Others keep the email as "unread" and check that way, marking the email as "read" when the issue is corrected. I've come to realize it's like the watched pot never boiling.

 

I'm glad you remove the duplicates when you find them.  Too many who talk about the wiki approach or wanting a more liberal transfer policy will not do so because they feel their duplicate is justified. That's an attitude I simply don't understand. I wondered if you were one of those people when you made the comment about "personal memorials" even if they are duplicates.

Comment by Leonard Smith on October 5, 2012 at 5:15am

Oh I have certainly made duplications, some of my own work and I correct them when found. I am pretty far from perfect. As for accuracy, it is pretty much a target and goal and I suppose you can only hope for the best.

I am sure that I am not the only person who thinks there need to be some changes made at FAG to make it a better site for everyone. I think there needs to be a way for anyone to make changes to a memorial that does not require weeks to happen. An example: Two days ago found a memorial for a person not buried in the cemetery. The cemetery name was right but wrong county. The person making the memorial claimed to be using info received from the local historical society. The problem is the creator of the memorial is dead and so it becomes more complicated and I submit the request for change and the name goes on a list to be checked later. We all will die and then who is responsible. There is the problem of linking when the memorials are created by diverse individuals.
Perhaps, since the purpose of FAG is to merely register graves then there should be no links. Perhaps I just expect to much of FAG. My primary interest is history, and personal, family history is the best kind. FAG is just another tool. My interest in it stems from a lifelong interest in cemeteries, beginning with those in old mining towns in Colorado, 50 years ago.

Comment by Dixie on October 4, 2012 at 9:14pm

Leonard, I believe the request for removal of pre-needs has to come from a relative within the same four generations as listed in the "family first" policy.
Do you have a cop

When you send the suggestions, do you have a copy sent to yourself?  If the correction is not made within 30 days, you forward the SAC (suggestion) to the Edit address and wait for the corrections to be made.  That's the procedure.  If you follow it, the corrections will made.

You create memorial by one method.  It is not the only method allowed.   The site allows entering from transcriptions and obits which means people who cannot physically visit the cemeteries are as able to contribute as those of us who can visit and photograph.  That is the spirit of the site. You don't create memorials for the living, even when the birth is prior to 1931. Others do.  Neither is more "right" than the other.  Just as some people transfer any memorial and others only transfer the required ones.  Again, neither is more "right" than the other.

Since your interest is in accuracy, I'm sure all of your memorials are both accurate and follow the guidelines for naming conventions, no duplications, etc.

Comment by Leonard Smith on October 4, 2012 at 6:57pm

I have just re-read the FAG re., pre-needs and while it does allow them prior to 1931 it also says they will be removed if in error. I have contacted the individual per FAG guidelines to remove it and he has declined. I also have a long list of edit suggestions I have sent him that he has ignored.

I really only use FAG as one resource among many. I am interested that it be as accurate as possible and when I make an entry I have almost always photographed the grave and done additional research and that is possible because my only interest is the local cemeteries. I have no inclination sit at a computer all day and transcribe lists and obits. Finally, I have dozens of photos of graves for people prior to 1931 tat are still living and I will not list that grave as a courtesy.

Now in closing a humorous aside, there is a grave here for a man who died when I was a child and his name is exactly the same as mine. I knew I would come across it one day but it still was freaky to walk a line of graves and see your name. 

Comment by Dixie on October 4, 2012 at 5:42pm

Thank you, Michael.  Too many do overlook (never look) at the FAQs or read about the history of the site and therefore try to make it something it is not.

Comment by Dixie on October 4, 2012 at 5:39pm

Leonard, have you read the FAQs about pre-needs?  It includes "Please do not add pre-need memorials from (1931-present) to Find A Grave."  Obviously, someone who is 103 was born prior to 1931 and is allowed.  

When you find an error such as "people listed in a cemetery that are not even there", have you sent a SAC and requested the memorial be moved to the correct cemetery? We also need to remember that some graves are unmarked so we won't know whether or not a person is buried there unless we have access to the cemetery's burial records.  The beauty of FAG is that memorials are not set in stone!  Errors can easily be corrected, if you are willing to work within the system and have patience.

There are already a variety of memorialization web-sites available.

Comment by Betty Jo Blevins on October 4, 2012 at 5:30pm

The two people I was talking about, one got all the names he posted from a cemetery book the genealogy society I belong to printed after going through years of records from funeral homes, cemetery office and walking through the cemetery itself and admitted he didn't know any of the people. The other one took them completely from our local newspaper and posted word for word that is in the obituary.

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