"M. V. Reid" <mvreid(a)eskimo.com> wrote:
My question to you is this - have any of you included on your county
page any sort of "disclaimer" to the effect that "this site is NOT an
'official' XXX County government site, nor is it maintained by any XXX
County Chamber of Commerce"??? How do YOU deal with these definitely
NON-genealogical issues?
Now I can hear ONE of you (maybe even MORE than one!) say, "Ignore
'em!"
- but I'm a Mom... I can't ignore 'em!
Thanks for the help!
Marge - CC for Ferry and Snohomish Counties (and a "Mom" for 36 years
-
which probably explains a LOT!)
Hi, Marge.
On my dozen sites, I've never had an inquiry like the one you
described. I think the way you handled it was entirely appropriate,
and will be unless you find yourself flooded with similar messages.
The ones that disturbed me are the ones I got from people who were
given up for adoption as children and wanted to use my sites to hunt up
their birth parents. Especially since they almost always knew the
names of the people they were looking for, and they certainly knew the
genealogical relationship involved, I would always refuse to help them,
always after a struggle with myself. I've added a note to my
Washington pages telling people that I won't post queries about anyone
that there's reason to believe is still alive.
I also get questions about things that people can look up on the Web
just as easily as I can -- if it doesn't take me more than about ten
minutes to find the answer, I usually go ahead and find the answer and
send them the facts or the URL.
Regards,
John Ashmun
Adams, Chelan, Lincoln, and Skamania CC