03 November 2014

What the WHAT?

If you haven't read a "WHAT?" post before, these comments were found on various Facebook pages, message boards, and anywhere people discuss genealogy online. They were all cut and pasted, no editing. I have removed all names to protect the clueless. My comments are in red and should be taken with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

 ✿ I love the TLC show Who Do You Think You Are? last night's episode on Brooke Shields was fascinating!!! I've gotten back to 17th century on mom's side; finally found Scottish connection on dad's side....then my free 2 wks Ancestry.com ran out. LOL. i have the names; now want some stories. :-)
Two weeks to get back to the 17th century? Yeah, that's a well sourced tree.

 ✿ My paternal great grandmothers lineage goes back to the 1st high king of Ireland, Brian Boru. Now I have set to document it!
If you haven't documented it how do you know that's who your line goes back to?

 ✿ Let me on [Who Do You Think You Are?]. I heard my dad say he is a direct decent of Sir Lancelot. I want to see if its true
You need to be on a television show to find out your father is not a descendant of a fictional character? Actually, I might watch that show. It wouldn't be WDYTYA? but a show confronting people delusional about their genealogy would be highly entertaining.

 ✿ ben [surname, not capitalized] ancestry search results
Knowing the difference between posting on Facebook and using a search engine should be a requirement before doing either.

 ✿ I had a one month subscription and i cant get a refund even though I only used it for a day. I don't care what your policies are. ITS MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW.
"I don't care what your policies are" or that I agreed to them.
[same person about two hours later]
NVM! They actually refunded it! Yayyy
Good to know. Complain on social media and you don't have to abide by the terms of service. Ancestry.com will just refund your money.

 ✿ FIND SOMETHING ON THE RALPH [surname] FAMILY.
Apparently this person doesn't know the word 'please' and thinks a Facebook page will respond to a demand.

 ✿ I just created a new tree and evidently the hints system is down again. I just renewed my subscription less than a week ago and once again....I'm not getting what I paid for. And please don't tell me to clear my cache & cookies or give the the same link that I always get. None of those things work.
The search is working but I can't be bothered to do that. I only add records that are handed to me on a silver platter. The 90% of collections that don't show up as hints aren't of any concern to me.
This was a comment by a self-proclaimed "professional" genealogist by the way.


 ✿ Is there an easy way to find missing generations?
Research?

 ✿ I have been an Ancestry member since 2006. In all my years of looking for ancestors I have never gone an looked at other features they have. I discovered today with the help of the search button that they have free downloadable pedigree charts and family group sheets. Needless to say my printer has been running. Got on Amazon and ordered my legal binders for my family trees.
Eight years. Eight YEARS and you haven't poked around the site? SMH.

 ✿ got it pierman ,rogers. pierson ,burroughs
[a few posts later the same person continues]
Thompson , morrision,rogers,pierman,pierson, bird,murry, Johnson,moores,
And your point is?

 ✿ love hearing the stories of the different families, makes me want to search more and more into my family. thanks to ansctery i've been able to get past some road blocks and gotten back to greek myths. thanks for the education and stories
Not enough education apparently.

 ✿ Any word on how long until the search function for those born before 1000 A.D. is going to be fixed? I've got a LOT of family from way before then, and I can't get anything but some stray German school book information .... I've talked to customer service, who sent a report to the tech folks. Slowing me down !!
How am I supposed to find all those fantasy trees to copy if your search isn't working?!!? Oh and all of us have "a LOT of family from way before then" but none of us can document them.

 ✿ I love ancestry.com found my family back to 202 a.d.
Ancestry's records usually don't go back further than 1600. There are a few exceptions. None of those exceptions include records prior to the year 1200. 


AFTER THE JUMP: Adam & Eve comments, some head/desk moments and a few comments that would require an Idiot Whisperer to decipher.

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ADAM & EVE

 ✿ My aunt got one of our lines back to Adam & Eve.

 ✿ It took 175 generations, starting with my grandmother to reach Eve, yes, of Adam and Eve.

 ✿ I took mine all the way back to Adam, supposedly. Lot of work verifying all the information. It is very interesting though.

 ✿ back to adam and eve threw the kings of ireland england troy and scotland

 ✿ I can trace my family tree back to Eve as well. and her husband Adam... The entire human race descended from Adam and Eve since they were the first humans created by God...

 ✿ 600 AD, I am currently researching the line to confirm everything though as many historical records as possible. But all the way back to eve, that seems a little far fetched.
But 600 AD is totally reasonable.

 ✿ I have been working on my dad's tree for a while now. I have also traced my history all the way back to Adam and Eve (with some very important historical figures included beginning in the early 1700s). I guess my beef is researchers need to be careful what they pass on as information. So far I have found ancestors from the BC years (which is Before Christ, NOT British Columbia, Canada). and Greek Mythology is just that--mythology. I've got at least two lines ending that way and I refuse to put that in my tree.
Well, as long as you have standards.

And then there are those who will say anything to justify their Adam & Eve tree... 

 ✿ It's possible if you hit royalty. I have a line that goes that far back.

 ✿ It is possible, I love the ones on mine that go through Joseph of Arimathea. His lineage can be verified in the Talmud.

 ✿ It is possible, there are two books documenting it. One called One Hundred Thirty-Eight Generations From Adam by George Edward Congdon and the other one is A Guide to Irish Roots by William and Mary Durning. I have several lines that match up in there. If you get back that far, follow the Wales lineage, you will be surprise where some of the lines go.


HEAD MEETS DESK MOMENTS

 ✿ I heard a radio commercial yesterday about free weekend. I have since forgot the web address to go to. I have searched and searched and can't find it. Can you please post the web address to go to? Thank you!
This was posted to Ancestry.com's Facebook page. *head/desk*

 ✿ I'm curious. Would my 2nd great grandmothers parents still be related to me or not?
I...Uh...How...? *head/desk*

 ✿ Dear Ancestry.com; I don't want to know my real past, I think it is about time your site offered replacement histories after all America is the land of dreams
Just create a fantasy tree. Everyone else does. *head/desk*

 ✿ To whom who be in command,
I would like to volunteer my family tree at which is 38 billion years for a amature genealogist and a non celeberty for posabilty of being on tv. Thank You
[two minutes later]
Correction 13.8 Billion years. I just think that a non celeberty person would be a very awsome thing to see.
Thanks for the correction. 38 billion years is completely unbelievable. 13.8 billion years? So much better. Doesn't everyone have their tree back to the Big Bang? *head/desk*


HUH? 

Shouldn't communication skills be improving because of social media? We need to get our point across effectively and succinctly. Unfortunately social media only magnifies the lack of those skills.

 ✿ this is [name] hope your all fine,trying to find dead people ancetrys help sucks,there like docteers i got my five now get yours

 ✿ I Don't Want To Hear Everybody Else Crap.................I Do I Connect To Find My Mother..............................

I've saved the best for last.
 ✿ Ok so psycho gotta no me... spit in a tube not one occassion but twice... My mother, aunt, grandmother told us stories of my grandfather coming right off the reservation and that we had a lot of Native American blood in our family tree, especially on my mother's side. So I read this article that says how people with a certain percentage of native american blood are getting PAID by the tribal casinos... pronounced (non-taxable $$$) cha-ching... So like the buffet of life, I decide I gotta get me some of that!
Only DNA place I knew of was Ancestry.com went to the site, ordered my ancestry dna test (different from paternity) spit in the tube, mail it off 4 weeks later POOF they said "Yo mama's a liar, your Aunt's a liar and your Grandma's a liar too..." I mean DAY um.... forget the things that make you go "Say what?" So needless to say, I was furious... How dare those crazy scientist with their spin the wheel Ouigi DNA board laughing somewhere makin stuff up.... OH just so angry! So then my friend, my buddy, my pal... [name of friend] super sleuth, Private Investigator and special consultant to CBS News... suggests that I try 23andme.com the OTHER DNA specialty house... Well apparently they are all in cahoots! Gnosis Divine Goodfellas Freightrain they even told me I my bloodline at 0.01% comes from Africa... [name of friend] I told you guys!!! Forget the 52.3% Irish and Nordic Deity (aka Snow Whites big mean ugly ancestors...) Oh and 23andme also said 0.01% Native American. Seriously... I am cornbeef and cabbage Irish, Scottish and Nordic. Love to fight, for fun... Love to drink, for fun... Dying to introduce you to my The Leprechaun or would you prefer to see my Schleighley (One of you cornfed Irishman teach me how to spell that!?!) Oh and the last thing was 0.01% Asian... So [name of friend] I am thinking I am South Korean (brains) and [name of friend] of course Filipino (singing and dancing) /grin



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3 comments:

  1. Some of these are funny because I see bits of me (small, small bits) from when I first started. But the others... Wow. Just wow.

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  2. I'm Middle East historian, and while 600 AD is virtually impossible for people of Western European heritage, the Royal Family of Jordan has a pretty well-documented line to the Prophet Muhammad with no gaps, and he Bagratid royal families of Georgia and Armenia can trace pretty solidly to Byzantine times. (Yes, they claim Biblical descent, but I'm talking about documented royal succession.) I love the blog though, and have one genealogy for 50 years (he real kind).

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