Schelly Talalay Dardashti's Posts - Genealogy Wise2024-03-29T10:32:56ZSchelly Talalay Dardashtihttp://www.genealogywise.com/profile/SchellyTalalayDardashtihttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2206981729?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.genealogywise.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2jj2q9r7b500e&xn_auth=noBook: Sephardic Genealogy's new editiontag:www.genealogywise.com,2009-07-20:3463583:BlogPost:780682009-07-20T00:00:00.000ZSchelly Talalay Dardashtihttp://www.genealogywise.com/profile/SchellyTalalayDardashti
<a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-sephardic-genealogys-new-edition.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOUErCmENI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Yl857oHc9eQ/s1600-h/Book_SephGen_NEW.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360290789495017682" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360290789495017682" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOUErCmENI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Yl857oHc9eQ/s320/Book_SephGen_NEW.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 261px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px"></img></a> Here's excellent news for Sephardic researchers!<br />
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Jeff Malka contacted me some time ago about the upcoming expanded and completely updated second edition of his award-winning book, "Sephardic Genealogy:…
<a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-sephardic-genealogys-new-edition.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOUErCmENI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Yl857oHc9eQ/s1600-h/Book_SephGen_NEW.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360290789495017682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 261px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOUErCmENI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Yl857oHc9eQ/s320/Book_SephGen_NEW.jpg" border="0" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360290789495017682"/></a>Here's excellent news for Sephardic researchers!<br />
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Jeff Malka contacted me some time ago about the upcoming expanded and completely updated second edition of his award-winning book, "Sephardic Genealogy: Discovering Your Sephardic Ancestors and Their World" (Avotaynu).<br />
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The 2002 edition received the Association of Jewish Libraries "Best Judaica Reference Book." The original book is the most referenced Sephardic genealogy book in my library, along with Pere Bonnin's "Sangre Judia."<br />
<br />
Avotaynu has just announced the new edition and I am happy to inform Tracing the Tribe's readers.<br />
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<blockquote><em>New in this edition: - Some 100 pages have been added to include new data and updates on Internet and mail addresses.
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- A new DNA chapter.<br />
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- New chapters on resources for the Sephardic communities of Portugal, England, Rhodes, Hamburg-Altona, and Vienna, Austria.<br />
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- A new chapter on how to research Spanish archives.<br />
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- Clues on deciphering old Spanish script.<br />
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- The Internet section is fully updated and now includes more than 300 links to sites with valuable information for Sephardic researchers. I'm happy to report that Tracing the Tribe is included.<br />
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- A more than 3,000-name surname index, bibliography, and appendixes.</em></blockquote>
With all these additions and improvements, the new book is even more valuable and should be on the wish list for all Sephardic researchers and indeed for all Jewish genealogists. You never know when a family of interest may have Sephardic roots.<br />
The 472-page book costs $45.<br />
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I've known Jeff for many years and can attest to his dedication to Sephardic genealogy in all its aspects stemming from what he has learned on his own quest. Indeed, that journey of discovery has also resulted in the frequently updated, remarkably rich resources at his website, <a href="http://seohardicgen.com/">SephardicGen.com</a>.<br />
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Over the years, we've collaborated and we both work with Maria Jose Surribas, a wonderful researcher in Barcelona, who was responsible for breakthroughs in both our projects. Jeff was also responsible for the creation of SefardSIG, now called SephardicSIG, and KahalLinks on JewishGen. KahalLinks was established after we convinced the website that Sephardic Jews did not live in shtetls - an Eastern European concept foreign to Sephardic communities.<br />
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A retired orthopedic surgeon who lives in the greater Washington DC area, multilingual Jeff grew up in Switzerland. His grandfather was the Chief Rabbi of Sudan (1906-1949). Jeff's expertise and dedication comes from researching his own roots. He is always helpful to newcomers stymied by the diverse challenges of Sephardic genealogical research.<br />
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Professionally, Jeff was an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery (Georgetown University), and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery chair (Inova Fairfax Hospital, Virginia).<br />
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Jeff also speaks at conferences, societies and the Library of Congress on Sephardic family names and their evolution through history and other topics.<br />
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View the complete, detailed table of contents <a href="http://www.avotaynu.com/books/Sephardic.htm">here</a>.<br />
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Here are highlights:<br />
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<blockquote><p><em><strong>PART I A LITTLE HISTORY</strong> Who Are the Sephardim?; Brief History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal; Spanish Diaspora; Andalusian-Moroccan Jewish Universe; Jews Under Islamic Rule; Jews in The Netherlands; Amazon Journey; Sephardic Languages; Sephardic surnames in Iberian Research.
<strong>PART II GENEALOGY BASICS</strong><br />
How to Get Started; Sephardic Genealogy; DNA and Genealogy; Organizing and Documenting Records; Computers and the Internet; Genealogy Software; Periodicals.<br />
<br />
<strong>PART III COUNTRY RESOURCES</strong><br />
Resources include history, archives, additional reading, country-specific information and much more: Algeria, Austria, Balkans, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Caribbean (Curaçao, St. Eustatia, St. Maarten, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Nevis), Egypt, England, Germany (Hamburg/Altona and elsewhere), Iran (Persia), Iraq, Israel, Italy, Morocco, The Netherlands, Portugal, Rhodes, Salonica, South America (Argentina, Brazil, etc.), Spain, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.<br />
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<strong>PART IV INTERNET</strong><br />
Sephardic Websites; Sephardic Family Pages; Jewish Genealogy Websites- General; Jewish Genealogy Blogs [Tracing the Tribe is here]; Internet resources (Anusim/Crypto-Jews, Balkans and Greece, Caribbean, Egypt, France, Hamburg, Iraq and Syria, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, North Africa, Portugal, South America, Turkey, US, Gazetteers, People Search).<br />
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<strong>APPENDIXES</strong><br />
Etymology of Selected Sephardic Names; Sephardic Cursive Alphabet; Arabic Alphabet; Sephardic Documents (CAHJP); Sephardic Registers and Record Books (JNUL); Genealogy Forms; Jewish Names in Printed Sources; Moslem Calendar; Ottoman Records in Israel; Inquisition Tribunals in Spain; Tombstone Inscriptions from Small Egyptian Towns; Surnames & Synagogue Affiliations - 16th-Century Salonica; Example: Malka in pre-Expulsion Northern Spain; Glossary; Bibliography; Surname Index; Index</em></p>
<p></p>
</blockquote>
If you (or someone you know) have Sephardic ancestry, this book will definitely assist in your quest as a valuable, oft-consulted volume in your personal library.<br />
Avotaynu will be exhibiting at Philly 2009 - the 29th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. Although the publisher offers free shipping in the US on orders of $50 or more, international shipping incurs a significant charge. If you're coming from outside the US to attend the Philly 2009 conference, and wish to purchase "Sephardic Genealogy," send an <a href="mailto:avotaynu@earthlink.net">email</a> to Avotaynu. Let them know to bring a copy for you to pick up.Book: An Ashkenazi given name handbooktag:www.genealogywise.com,2009-07-19:3463583:BlogPost:780482009-07-19T23:30:00.000ZSchelly Talalay Dardashtihttp://www.genealogywise.com/profile/SchellyTalalayDardashti
<a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-ashkenazi-given-name-handbook.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy blog</a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOrJccWF3I/AAAAAAAAA5U/0J3ktWRy-Uk/s1600-h/BOOK_ASHKhandbook_NEW.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360316160243275634" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360316160243275634" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOrJccWF3I/AAAAAAAAA5U/0J3ktWRy-Uk/s320/BOOK_ASHKhandbook_NEW.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 291px"></img></a> Avotaynu has announced the publication of Alexander Beider's "Handbook of Ashkenazic Given Names and Their Variants."<br />
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This softcover book is the dictionary section of his previously published and massive…
<a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-ashkenazi-given-name-handbook.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy blog</a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOrJccWF3I/AAAAAAAAA5U/0J3ktWRy-Uk/s1600-h/BOOK_ASHKhandbook_NEW.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360316160243275634" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 291px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3ScN8ApBQ/SmOrJccWF3I/AAAAAAAAA5U/0J3ktWRy-Uk/s320/BOOK_ASHKhandbook_NEW.jpg" border="0" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360316160243275634"/></a> Avotaynu has announced the publication of Alexander Beider's "Handbook of Ashkenazic Given Names and Their Variants."<br />
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This softcover book is the dictionary section of his previously published and massive volume, "Dictionary of Ashkenazi Given Names." It does not contain Beider's 300-page introductory section - his doctoral thesis for the Department of History at the Sorbonne (Paris).<br />
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Included is the description of each name's origin and evolution, demonstrating how name variants are derived from the root name, with the indexes listing 15,000 name variants of the 735 root names.The three-part index is in the Latin alphabet, Cyrillic and Hebrew.<br />
<br />
The 232-page softcover is $26 plus shipping. Avotaynu offers free shipping for orders of $50 or more in the US. If you will be attending <a href="http://philly2009.org/">Philly 2009</a> - the 29th IAJGS International Conference of Jewish Genealogy - and live outside the US, contact Avotaynu to reserve a copy for pick-up at the conference and save what can be a major international shipping charge.<br />
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Here's a very small portion of the full-page Yentl entry; view the complete entry <a href="http://www.avotaynu.com/books/YentlHandbook.pdf">here</a>.<br />
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<blockquote><em><em>Several names with the same root gentil were used by Jews in various Romance countries. Since the Middle Ages, Gentile was a common name in Italy. Gentel appears in medieval documents from Spain. Migrants from these countries came to the Ottoman Empire and as a result ג׳ינטיליה and ג׳ינטיל were common names in that area. Gentil, Gentile, Gentila and Gentilia appear in medieval sources from southern and northern France, while ינטיל and יינטיל are quoted in Hebrew documents from England dating from the 13th century. Note that English Jews mainly originated from northern France. In old French, the adjective gentil(l)e meant noble. The use of the similar names in France, Italy and Spain could either be due to migrations between these countries or independent events.</em> ...</em><p></p>
</blockquote>
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For more information, click <a href="http://www.avotaynu.com/books/Handbook.htm">here</a>; to see the 15,000-name index, click <a href="http://www.avotaynu.com/books/dagnindex.htm">here</a>.New Mexico: Secret ancestry, hidden health riskstag:www.genealogywise.com,2009-07-18:3463583:BlogPost:708912009-07-18T17:18:57.000ZSchelly Talalay Dardashtihttp://www.genealogywise.com/profile/SchellyTalalayDardashti
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-mexico-secret-ancestry-hidden.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
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Hispanics in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado are more frequently uncovering a secret Jewish ancestry, as well as a hidden health risk.<br />
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The story mentions FamilyTreeDNA.com's Santa Fe DNA Project, Father Bill Sanchez (with a moving 30-minute video interview - see below), a genetics counselor, information on the so-called…
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-mexico-secret-ancestry-hidden.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
<br />
Hispanics in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado are more frequently uncovering a secret Jewish ancestry, as well as a hidden health risk.<br />
<br />
The story mentions FamilyTreeDNA.com's Santa Fe DNA Project, Father Bill Sanchez (with a moving 30-minute video interview - see below), a genetics counselor, information on the so-called "Ashkenazi" breast cancer (it isn't only Ashkenazi, but simply Jewish).<br />
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It is an important story for all Hispanics, and points up the need for focused education among the people as well as medical professionals. Learning about one's ancestry and roots may save lives.<br />
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The story was at KRQE (Albuquerque, NM).<br />
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"Nothing survives but a name, a blood line, and curiously enough a tendency to contract certain auto-immune diseases," said University of New Mexico adjunct professor Stanley Hordes - author of the book "To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico".<br />
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"It's absolutely fascinating to see the intersection between the historical and the cultural and the genetic and the genealogical," Hordes said.<br />
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Research shows Sephardic Jews held on to their religion in secret after leaving Spain and Portugal during the Spanish inquisition in the late 15th century, which eventually followed them into the New World.<br />
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The people are finding out more about their history now than ever before. Quoted in the story is Albuquerque resident Bernadette Martinez:<br />
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"Our family had been in the Pojoaque Valley forever and ever and ever," said Albuquerque resident Bernadette Martinez. "We thought that we were just thedescendants of Spaniards that came into New Mexico."<br />
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Martinez confirmed she has Jewish blood, through DNA testing three years ago.<br />
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Other Hispanics are learning about their ancestry through genetic testing that is also revealing the health threat. <b>...</b><br />
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It offers comments by a Denver geneticist, author Stan Hordes, as well as links to interesting video interviews, to the New Mexico DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com and to additional genetics information.<br />
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Read more <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-mexico-secret-ancestry-hidden.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Paul Allen's Apology: GenealogyWise.comtag:www.genealogywise.com,2009-07-18:3463583:BlogPost:692502009-07-18T06:00:00.000ZSchelly Talalay Dardashtihttp://www.genealogywise.com/profile/SchellyTalalayDardashti
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/paul-allens-apology-genealogywisecom.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
Early this morning, Paul Allen posted a very frank and open apology about the recent GenealogyWise.com incidents. He had attempted to post it on Terry Thornton's blog, but it was too long, so included the entire message at his own site, <a href="http://www.paulallen.net/">PaulAllen.net</a>.<br />
<br />
Among the issues he addressed was the…
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/paul-allens-apology-genealogywisecom.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
Early this morning, Paul Allen posted a very frank and open apology about the recent GenealogyWise.com incidents. He had attempted to post it on Terry Thornton's blog, but it was too long, so included the entire message at his own site, <a href="http://www.paulallen.net/">PaulAllen.net</a>.<br />
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Among the issues he addressed was the censorship of Terry's comment, the gimmicky contest (which I have posted about twice), the genealogical inexperience of staff members and other topics. He wrote, "We have made more than one mistake in the 8 days since GenealogyWise debuted."<br />
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About the contest, he wrote:<br />
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<blockquote><em>The earlier mistake was creating a contest that was a marketing gimmick that had the potential to spoil the legitimate community experience of GW users. I apologize for that too.</em></blockquote>
While no one questions Paul's motivation and genealogical community experience (Ancestry, MyFamily, World Vital Records, FamilyLink) - and this in itself was confusing for those of us who know his background - I for one could not understand where some strange actions (like the contest) were coming from. In the apology he wrote:<br />
<blockquote><em>So, I have a long history in the genealogical community. So does some of our team at FamilyLink. But some of our 60 employees and contractors are very new to the genealogical space. They are gifted entrepreneurs, designers, and product managers. Some have even built online communities before. But no community, in my experience, is anything like the genealogical community. And everyone on our team needs to learn what is unique about this community, and how to enable it, and never cross it. We aren’t off to a great start at GW, but we learn quickly.
And as everyone can see, we connect in real time via Twitter, Facebook, and blogs like this, so that we can respond immediately to concerns or complaints. We’ll add more personnel very soon so we can cover all the boards and forums, not just some of them.</em></blockquote>
And, he wrote to Terry the words I was looking for. "For this reason, our missteps in our first 8 days are very painful for all of us that sincerely want to create the best social network for genealogy. Again, I personally apologize for our deleting your comments and for launching that $800 contest."<br />
As of yesterday, Gena Ortega is the full-time community manager for GW.<br />
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Paul again addressed the value of the genealogical community:<br />
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<blockquote><em>If the community flees from GW now because of our mistakes (and lack of a clear policy about inappropriate content), I think everyone loses. We can’t build a community site without the community–no matter how feature rich it is. But we want to invest in building something you and others in the community will love. We’re in a unique position to do this.</em></blockquote>
In his final comments, Paul writes to Terry and, by extension, the entire genealogical community:<br />
<blockquote><em>If you’ll accept my apology, and appreciate our sincerity, and if we (everyone at GW) will learn to respect you and all other genealogists for their opinions and the right to express them — then perhaps all of us can pull together and build something remarkable and free that will bring together the genealogists of the world (and their families) in a special way.</em></blockquote>
Time will tell, and I hope it all works out.Changing the rules: Genealogywise.comtag:www.genealogywise.com,2009-07-16:3463583:BlogPost:621992009-07-16T21:30:00.000ZSchelly Talalay Dardashtihttp://www.genealogywise.com/profile/SchellyTalalayDardashti
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/changing-rules-genealogywise.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
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GenealogyWise.com has changed the rules on its "contest," and may do so again, according to this early morning message from the company.<br />
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The rules are somewhat better and not focused on the goal of "grabbing" (quantification) as many members and posting as much as possible. The objective has changed to something more quality-oriented,…
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/changing-rules-genealogywise.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
<br />
GenealogyWise.com has changed the rules on its "contest," and may do so again, according to this early morning message from the company.<br />
<br />
The rules are somewhat better and not focused on the goal of "grabbing" (quantification) as many members and posting as much as possible. The objective has changed to something more quality-oriented, which puts the responsibility on the page writer and poster for their own work, and not for their "organizing" ability.<br />
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Why the change? It seems the geneablogger community and others felt much the same way I did in my previous post. The feedback was not good and GenealogyWise responded quickly.<br />
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I am still wondering if the company will now decide to set up an advisory council of geneabloggers and other individuals who will ask the right questions before such events are announced, and thus avoid these type of incidents that come under my favorite category of "Yes, we <em><strong>can</strong></em> do such-and-such, but <em><strong>should</strong></em> we?"<br />
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It appears that something like that is in the works, as the contest will be judged by 10 members of the GenealogyWise community.<br />
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The new rules still offer $100 for each winner, but the categories are newly described as these:<br />
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<blockquote><em><em>Due to community feedback, the rules of the contest have been modified so that content contributed by members is more meaningful and of a higher quality: - for the member with the highest quality blog posts.
- for the member with the highest quality videos shared.<br />
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- for the member with the highest quality forum posts.<br />
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- for the member with the highest quality photos uploaded (including descriptions).<br />
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- for the member with the highest quality surname group.<br />
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- for the member with the highest quality society group (historical or genealogical society).<br />
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- for the member with the highest quality other group (not surname or society group).<br />
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- for the member who has been the most helpful person to new members.</em></em></blockquote>
The message indicated that the corporate goal of the contest is to help members of this new social network get to know each other, and to encourage members to add valuable, relevant content to this new site. That's a good thing.<br />
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I was delighted to see this sentence: "GenealogyWise may disqualify any members who are 'gaming' the system, such as adding irrelevant or low-quality content." That's also good to know.<br />
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Somewhat disturbing, however, is the statement that "GenealogyWise reserves the ability to change the rules (again) if necessary."<br />
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I don't know about you, but I believe future events need to be thought out much more carefully. A game that keeps changing the rules mid-stream is just as annoying as one which isn't well-thought out before it is announced the first time.<br />
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Personally, I think this is opening another can of worms.<br />
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A better way would have been to just call this off for now, sit down, discuss ramifications and consequences and work out the final rules beforehand. Then announce it again when the proper groundwork has been set.<br />
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While both previous and new rules messages indicate contacting Debbie Anne Jackson for questions, the only email given is a general mail@.<br />
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Let's see what tomorrow's messages brings.Wise Guys: GenealogyWise.comtag:www.genealogywise.com,2009-07-16:3463583:BlogPost:578392009-07-16T03:27:02.000ZSchelly Talalay Dardashtihttp://www.genealogywise.com/profile/SchellyTalalayDardashti
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/wise-guys-genealogywisecom.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
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The geneablogger community went through Facebook fantasy, followed by Twitter twisting.<br />
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This past week has been a whirlwind of wise guys (and gals) setting up shop at GenealogyWise.com.<br />
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If you haven't heard about Genealogy Wise, it is likely because your cave in the hills is still waiting for an Internet connection.<br />
<br />
To tell the truth,…
From <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/07/wise-guys-genealogywisecom.html" target="_blank">Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog</a><br />
<br />
The geneablogger community went through Facebook fantasy, followed by Twitter twisting.<br />
<br />
This past week has been a whirlwind of wise guys (and gals) setting up shop at GenealogyWise.com.<br />
<br />
If you haven't heard about Genealogy Wise, it is likely because your cave in the hills is still waiting for an Internet connection.<br />
<br />
To tell the truth, I've also been caught up in this.<br />
<br />
When Facebook entered the geneablogger spotlight, my learning curve was steep and it took time to decide to join. When Twitter was next, I thought less about it and acted more quickly. When GenealogyWise was announced, I joined immediately and setup three groups, Tracing the Tribe on GenealogyWise, Jewish Genealogy and Sephardic Genealogy. I'm still learning how to use it to its potential and finding some stumbling blocks (topic for another post).<br />
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Today, when I announced our new Tracing the Tribe logo, the news went out nearly simultaneously on the blog and on my GW groups.<br />
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When I joined GW, there were only a few hundred members. Today, there are more than 5,000. Groups have also increased rapidly, with many people adding several.<br />
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Today, the site announced a contest of sorts offering financial incentives (read prizes) for a host of categories, such as the group with the largest number of members and such.<br />
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Personally, I'm not happy with this event and think it smacks negatively of running an annoying numbers game for profit (of the individuals attempting to win). I'm not thrilled as it means my inbox is now filled with invitations to become members of groups I'm not interested in, and to be "friends" of people I don't know. Much of this contact is "fishing" and thus false, in my opinion.<br />
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The minute such a "contest" - even with the relatively nominal amount of $100 for each category - is announced, the vultures come out of the woodwork. Yes, I know, vultures don't live in woodwork, but you know what I mean.<br />
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This is an example of what I call the ethical dilemma of "yes, we can do this - but should we?" Many geneabloggers can think of past incidents by other companies that also fit that classification.<br />
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Someone thought up this "great idea," but didn't think it through as to what would happen in the great rush to win $100 in each of the following categories, between now and 1pm MST August 6:<br />
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<i>- for the member with the most confirmed friends in GenealogyWise. <b>(How are they going to "confirm" them? It's a snap these days to set up hundreds of emails/identities and have these phantoms join a group and become "friends.")</b><br />
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- to the owner of the group with the most members. <b>(See above comment)</b><br />
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- to the owner of the surname group with the most members.<br />
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- to the creator of the genealogy-related video on GenealogyWise that has been viewed the most times. <b>(Yep, and the phantoms can also view the video.)</b><br />
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- to the member who has uploaded the most historical photos.<br />
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- to the person who adds the most genealogy-related videos.<br />
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- to the person who has the most popular blog entry (most page views). <b>(Is there a theme song for the Phantoms' Parade?)</b><br />
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- to the most active member in the forums. <b>(Some people do have other lives!)</b></i><br />
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At some newspapers (where I worked in the past) there were signs in the typesetting room: "Don't annoy the typesetters." Sites such as Genealogy Wise might consider a similar sign, "Don't annoy the geneabloggers."<br />
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I believe the site has great potential, but strange contests aimed at "grabbing" friends and members detracts from the positive appeal Genealogy Wise had for me - until today.