Thanks for all the replies - there must have been two dozen! A variety of
opinion, most on the side of free volunteer lookups.
This is what I think now -
I would be almost nowhere on my genealogy if it were not for others who
looked things up for me for free. I don't think I could have afforded to pay
money to all those people. Once one gets a few generations down, the
quantity of surnames and possibilities are numerous. I have over three dozen
surnames already in just a short time researching. I could not afford to pay
for everyone helping along all those lines. I probably have accumulated over
three or four hundred email REPLIES to my queries. If those were a dollar a
pop - whoa.
Having said that, let me say this:
The time I spend looking up for other people is not trivial - it added up
to, this time, 4 or so hours last month of my annual leave. However, I
consider that time as a gift to genealogists everywhere in return for their
gift of their time and trouble looking up stuff for me. It is exciting to
find someone for other people - I share in the "coolness" of the find. My
time is free.
As for the cost of film rental fees - I have no moral heartburn over asking
people to share the cost of them if I am looking up lots of unrelated names.
However I do not want to handle cash at all - not ask for it, not accept it.
So ..... here's my decision:
I will now ask for a donation - in fact an equivalent $1 donation - asking
people who request a lookup to send me a postcard of their home town, or
perhaps of the region of the person they are looking up. The postcard and
stamp will cost THEM money, but I don't want the cash - all I want is a
thank you and a collection of greetings from lots of people from around the
world.
How does that sound?
Kerry Butler
kbutler(a)biztech.net