General Chat

I have been going through 'Name Summary'. I have 5 Allens in my Tree. There are 55,346 Allens on the Site. If I am to believe what people have put 7,550 of them were born before the year 1000 including 1 born in the year MINUS 192! How the H... does anyone expect to get a match if they can't be bothered to enter the correct year of birth!!! Sorry, I had to get this off my chest before I lose my rag.

Yes, you tell em Grampa lol Marion

Jim, I wonder how many of these are of an unknown forename. I think some people put in the surname and approximate year for those they haven't found yet, eg: Grandad Allan was born in 1900, therefore his father must have been born aprox 1880, his father 1860 etc etc. as these people are essentially unknown I assume they presume the surname must be the same as the father's!! I get very frustrated at the number of names with no date or place of birth on the name summary, and wonder why these names are even on people's trees!!! Lorraine, I agree with you about the places. County followed by town would save everyone having to look in a road atlas to see where that small village is, and stating someone is born in Whitchurch could be one of about 6!! maggie

Lorraine - within one family there can be several variations of the spelling of the names in some cases i.e. Mather/Maither/Maider/Maidder/Matter

I don't mind that Maggie, but why say he was born in 1900 therefore his father must have been born in 80 and his father in 60? We really do need GR to toughen up if our searches are to be successful. Hopefully they will do something about recognising Christening dates when Gedcoms are uploaded. At least 60% or more of mine were born before 1837 so there are very few birthdates. And I do agree about the Place names. I had a reply from GR today after I had pointed out that Ashford, Kent is treated differently than Ashford, Kent.(Full Stop) and from Ashford Kent (no comma). It remains to be seen whether anything happens, but I won't hold my breath.

Like Lorraine did with Shelia?

Oh my. I must be tired. I read it as aliens!! I am sure I had/have a few of them in my family though Jane

I think I may have told you this before Jim but I have Allens in my tree. (my maiden name!) My lot are from Lancashire. Any help? lol probably not Sarah

What about the so called genealogists who enter names and never respond to enquiries. On several occasions I have sent mail to incorrectly entered names, do I get a reply, pigs will fly first, thats my moan. Weekend over, had a lovely day in sun and pool, same again tomorrow. Byeeee, Derek in France

I know the feeling Jim seeing that Allen is my maiden name as you know. It is not an easy name to trace, too many of them Ann glos

hi grandpa, I never add an ancester unless I have them on a birth certificate or census, I don`t like doing any guesswork on names & dates! linda x

I agree with you entirely, Jim. :-) Joy

Linda, I don't mind having doubtful or unconfirmed people on my Tree as I consider it to be a 'Work in Progress'. I just wish that some people who take up Genealogy would realise that without accurate information it is impossible to find links. If I see that someone was born in the year 40 I have no crystal ball to tell me whether it means 1940, 1740 or 1140. However I do know it is not 40AD. And, of course, if they are slipshod in the way they enter stuff on here, how sure can we be that their other info is correct?