Barking Up the Wrong Tree: August 2014

27 August 2014

Pet Peeves: WDYTYA? Edition

These Who Do You Think You Are? pet peeves are not about the show itself but rather the "Me! Me! Me!" fans. I know, you're shocked.

I love you. Now change.

The show is amazing but they should change it and feature regular people. They should listen to ME since my idea is so original.

I'd volunteer.

After the show is completely revamped they will need people to feature so why not ME? The producers will have to beg people to participate just to fill a single season so they will appreciate ME offering to be the recipient of free research, free travel, and national exposure. Look at ME being completely selfless.

Everyone would want to watch ME.

Once this show happens there is no question that they would pick ME. An episode about ME would be just as interesting as Gwenyth Paltrow's or Tim McGraw's and would definitely draw the same number of viewers.

Behind my brick wall is an amazing story.

No one knows what is behind that brick wall but it would definitely make for the most amazing television show you have ever seen. The research blocks couldn't possibly be because the family has been peasant farmers for 10 generations. Doesn't matter, a show about ME would be completely fascinating.

This is what goes through my head when I read comments from WDYTYA? fans. I really should stop reading them.

Related Material: Interview with Lisa Kudrow (Aug 2014)
Interview with Dan Bucatinsky

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13 August 2014

Social Disgrace III

The more I see social media's so-called "experts" at work the more I am convinced they are the snake oil salesmen of our generation. They convince unwitting suits that they have the cure for all their company's ills while knowing nothing about the company's products or services. Managing social media is needed for many companies so there must be people competent at it. Unfortunately they don't work for Ancestry.com.
Ancestry.com has a number of knowledgeable genealogists on staff. Unfortunately knowing anything at all about genealogy, the Ancestry.com website or Ancestry's other products is not a requirement for employment in Ancestry's other departments. Sometimes it seems as if Ancestry prefers to hire people who know nothing at all about genealogy. It would be nice, however, if they at least knew something about their field of expertise.

Can you spot the errors? If you found more than I did add them in the comments. My list and much more after the jump.

Warning: Sarcasm Ahead >>

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Blog Reviews

Barking has been "deemed offensive to [Ancestry.com's] brand" and is banned from their Facebook pages. In Ancestry's "Community" comments with links to Barking are censored.
Dear Emma, Hannah, Jemima, Mary Jane, and all of her other personalities agree that I use "the banner of 'education' to actually mock, deride and laugh at [Ancestry's] own customers" and I "can make [my] point concerning tree inaccuracies & cock-ups and their effect on our 'hints' system without being downright unpleasant and sarcastic about it."
Allen says, “your cute little blog is a waste of bandwidth at best”
Ann thinks I'm "...copying and pasting mistakes on trees and calling it a blog" and that my readers are "mean-spirited people...who like to have a laugh at the expense of others."
Sue was really offended by the “...continual stream of sarcasm and constant poking fun...What a nasty taste in my mouth your blog left me with. Unpleasant, sarcastic and jeering at people who you obviously see as your intellectual inferiors. Won't be reading that again.”
And finally from Les, "You truly are a horrible woman, pointing out mistakes is one thing but blatantly laughing and taking the p is completely out of order."

Why?

Researching our family histories we are bound to make mistakes. Hopefully we are quick to correct them. Unfortunately some people refuse to read or think before adding information to their family trees. Some trees have been abandoned so the errors are there for eternity. Here we will laugh, mock and shake our heads at the carelessness, stupidity and/or ignorance of those errors.
All examples are taken from trees published online.
I'll also post tips occasionally, though the messed up trees are a great example of what NOT to do.
If you have an online tree to suggest for a future post please send me a link: buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com

The Fine Print

1. Copyright: Barking Up the Wrong Tree is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and is owned and administered by Loretta Gillespie.

2. Content: Barking Up the Wrong Tree is responsible for the content of this site, not including visitor comments. Barking Up the Wrong Tree reflects the personal views and opinions of Loretta Gillespie.

3. Credit: Credit is not given to tree owners to protect the clueless. A tree owner who discovers their tree on this site should correct their mistakes so no one else realizes they were once a clickophile.

4. Accuracy and Validity: While there are helpful pointers on Barking Up the Wrong Tree a majority of posts are intended to be humorous. The disastrous trees are copied exactly as they appear on Ancestry.com. These trees are being used to show others what NOT to do.

5. Images: Attempts are made to source images used despite the fact that the trees they are taken from do not include source information.

6. Comments: Barking Up the Wrong Tree will exercise its right to delete comments which are deemed to be spam, offensive, childish or just plain stupid.

7. Liability: The content at Barking Up the Wrong Tree is not to be taken as fact nor absolute. Barking Up the Wrong Tree contains posts that are humorous and posts that are research tips. Barking Up the Wrong Tree is not responsible for anyone who cannot tell the difference between the two. The sites that Barking Up the Wrong Tree links to via hyperlinks are not under its control. Those sites are responsible for the content of those sites. If you do not find the humor on Barking Up the Wrong Tree to your taste then stop reading. If you choose instead to send an email to the owner it may be published on Barking Up the Wrong Tree and mocked publicly.

Thanks to Thomas MacEntee for allowing the use of the GeneaBloggers terms as a template.