If
you read as many blogs as I do, you will no doubt have been amazed (and
somewhat annoyed) with the many sites that, over and before the holidays, going
back to the American Thanksgiving period, passed on advertising and promotions
to readers – informing them how they could acquire all manner of
genealogy-related products and services. We are used to being bombarded with
commercial ads from local department stores and electronic outlets. I was not
quite prepared for the barrage of entreaties from bloggers and commercial
genealogy suppliers doing the same thing.
If
there was any doubt that genealogy has become a business, then the emails of
the past couple of months has dispelled that notion.
There
are/were some good deals out there but was there really the need to send out
daily messages (actually multiple messages daily by some people) to remind us
of our good fortune? And why does everyone have to wait until a special
occasion to offer people a deal. I found a few promotions pretty much the same
as what I receive on a regular basis, with free days to search certain
databases of commercial sites or special prices on publications. Which begs the
question, how is it then a Special Deal?
What
annoyed me was the profusion of messages from serious bloggers, whose ideas and
comments I generally enjoy and learn from, strongly oriented to sales pitches.
I suspect they make a few dollars if readers click on their links and buy
something – and that’s ok, I’ve looked at the idea myself – but – People –
enough is enough already!
Now,
seemingly, everyone lately wants to get on the New Year’s resolution bandwagon to
stimulate researchers to (re)organize their files and renew their resolve to
work in more orderly or effective ways. I think that message gets out
regularly. At least, I often see it come up in blog posts throughout the year.
It’s why I read so many genealogy blogs. January is just another month. The
idea of doing good (or better) research never gets old. We don’t need to have a
special day (January 1st) to finally take the bull by the horns and
improve our ways.
If
you need to make a resolution to lose weight or stop smoking then it likely
won’t be very effective. The same applies to genealogy research. Helpful ideas
about research methods – normally provided in abundance by most bloggers – are
the most effective ways to help people. And those are appreciated on a
continuing basis, not through being incentivized to purchase the latest
software or book or scanning tool.
