Tip of the Day: Information Collaboration!!!

That's right folks, today we will learn how to SHARE!!!  Let's spell that out together, ready?  S-H-A-R-E, share!!  Do YOU know how to share?  If not, I will give you a few pointers and information on why it is so important!!!

Why people share:

1. Sharing provides for a good way to get to know one another
2. By giving something up of yours that means a lot to you, people are able to see just how much you love and trust them.  In return, they will generally give back an equal or greater amount of their important things that may bless and benefit you!!
3. Sharing is caring, duh!!!
4. If you don't share, some people may talk bad about you and call you a "meanie stinker head" behind your back.  That's not cool.
5. The more you share, the better you feel!!
6. The better you feel, the more you share!!!
7. Endless loop of feeling great and spreading the love!!

So there are the top 7 reasons why you should share.  If you don't share things, then people won't like you and you'll become a smelly hermit who lives under a rock of anti-sharing bullies, that simple.

"So Sterl, what does sharing have to do with my dead ancestors?"

I'm glad you asked!!  If you share your family history research with others, they will be more apt to return to you the knowledge and research to see how the families tie together!!  Sharing is a HUGE blessing and effective research tool when it comes to gathering information about a family you know about or want to know more about.  If you share, that shows you care.  If they share back, then they care too!!  If you both care, then you will stay in contact with one another and share many, many more things as time unfolds!!  SO SHARE!!!!

Some simple examples of how to share family history:

• Going to Ancestry.com and finding a public or private family tree someone has posted.
• Doing a google search for your person's name with quotes ("") around it (ex. "William Kopping") and seeing what people post about that individual.  If you need to be more specific, add information outside of the quotes!!  Try it with and without middle names, that helps too :) :)
• If you are LDS then you can find someone's contact infomation who has worked on an individual on New.FamilySearch.org.  That is usually located in the Details tab on the far right, labeled "Contributors."  Just click that and email/write/call away to your heart's every whim!!  You'll be surprised on how much information some of the people you will meet may have.
• Just get the name out there!!  Someone you may or may not know could randomly say "Oh hey, I remember that name!!" and BOOM!! you have a conversation about family history.  I have met a few people who I am directly and indirectly related to because I pop a few names who I am researching here or there, and you would not believe the information I received from such a simple action!!!  SUPER HELPFUL!!!

So that's it for today!!  It's been a while since I posted and I totally forgot to talk about sharing your family history research and work with others until just now.  Now I can sleep easy, knowing that I updated my blog and taught people to share finally.  Remember, sharing is kindness insurance!!!  The more you share, the less people will be apt to talk negatively about you :) :)