Have you ever got a response like this?

Question

There was a question that was unanswered for a year.  The person didn't get an answer and I decided to point her in the direction to find it for herself.  That was, how to do the research on it.

This was her reply to me:

This reply is not helpful. If you have no information, please just don't reply. It just clutters up my inbox with useless messages.
 
It appeared to me that this person wants people to do the digging for her and get the answers.

It took me quite a bit of time to get the information that I accumulated.  I know that I have 1,000 contributions on here, and some were already here.  My tree has over 6,000 people on it (on my computer, not here).  It took me a very long time of research to get there.

Does anyone else get responses like this, or am I being a bit sensitive?

Comments

Your question cluttered up my G2G page. Please desist from asking any more.

;-)

Answer 1

Paul,

Your efforts and contributions are of value even if the recipient is not appreciative of the effort.

1. Others who stumble across your gift of sharing will appreciate the information.

2. You are honing your skills as a researcher and a contributing genealogist.

3. Your peers will seek you out for the knowlege that you obviously worked hard to obtain.

4. You are a great example to others for the efforts we all make to make Wikitree a wonderful community.

5. It stings a little but you will build some immunity to it.  But worry about when it no longer bothers you, then you have ceased to care about sharing great information.

Thanks for being bold and sharing.

Comments

I agree with you Michael on all 5 points.  BUT the one issue I have is those few who just DON'T or WON'T let lose the Shared info of an ancestor from decades ago. How do you deal with that?  thanks, Deb

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Hi Deb,

I am not clear on what you mean.  That they have info but will not share it? Or that they will not give up bad info from decades ago?

Answer 2

Paul,
My answer to your question at the end of your post is YES ... to both parts of it!!!

That ungracious response you received sounds much more polite than some of the things I have seen said by some very rude, inconsiderate, and probably stupid people (is that just as bad of me to throw "stupid" in the mix?).

If you are hurt by the inconsideration of others, that can be described as being "sensitive" ... which, to me, is proof that you're human!

Oh, by the way, I want to thank you for being that way!!!

Answer 3

I would categorize most of my contributions to G2G as pointers in the direction where to do the research and not as the definite answer to whatever question was asked. My experience is mostly positive answers, and silence in those cases where my answer may not have been what was expected.

I guess, i just want to say that your experience may be an exception to the general experience here, and hope that you don't let yourself get discouraged by it.

Answer 4

Hi Paul

Please don't be discouraged by the response you received. I've tried to answer many questions on G2G & rarely get responses even close to that. I seriously doubt that this will happen to you very often.

We all thank you for doing your best to help others. It is the rare few that don't appreciate that. Keep the faith & keep participating in G2G.

Answer 5

Paul, every single to time someone points me in a direction , I go there. I am ever so thankful for all the people who take the time to do what you do. I check out links, hints, maybe and appreciate a wide variety of info people provide. Thank You!