Blog / Website / Twitter

[bobbyfamilytree]

Whilst my researching history isnt as long as many of you folks i've gathered up quite a bit over the last 2.5years and this is due to the internet and making contact with me because i'm in google.

I promote my ancestry in 3 ways. I first started with a website that was made from the software from Legacy. It was very basic and consisted of names/dates and i think i has a few notes but it was very plain but it was something nonetheless and got the ball rolling. Costs? Well, i have to pay for the URL, which is a yearly fee and i pay nothing for hosting (no ads or whatnot)

Not long after i started the website i got into a blog. I wanted to ramble on a bit more and the blog was ideal particularly as there were no costs associated with it and i could easily add pics, notes, rambles etc. Works hand-in-hand with my website.

So after a few months of having the website i decided to upgrade and overhaul and did so. Very happy with the choice of software and so now my tree is completely on the net, not on my computer whereas most of you probably update your tree on your computer with your choice of software. My costs havent changed, i still pay yearly URL fee and pay nothing for hosting.

And so twitter came along, just another way to promote my ancestry. This form doesnt need much of your time, i only twitter everynow.

I used to put my gedcom up on other websites to help try and get my Gambrill ancestry out there, but i no longer do this. In fact i deleted my gedcom from every site (maybe 4 or 5 or 6 or something) after one website had shown all my living details to all and sundry even though the settings had told me it wouldnt. So my gedcom is only on my website now.

So thats me and what i do for my ancestry. I try to keep the people numbers down in my tree and proactively (yet sometimes a bit too aggressively) seek out a photo or a peice of paper that has something relavent to all folks in my tree.

I currently have about 1600 people in my tree with about 700 images linked to a person. Images include photos, BMD's etc.

I'm happy with my progress and this is due to generous folks, the internet and my weekly pay packet.

[Procat]

So after a few months of having the website i decided to upgrade and overhaul and did so. Very happy with the choice of software and so now my tree is completely on the net, not on my computer whereas most of you probably update your tree on your computer with your choice of software. My costs havent changed, i still pay yearly URL fee and pay nothing for hosting.

Hi bobbyfamilytree,

You certainly seem to have many aspects of promoting your research covered - in fact far more than I do.

For me personally however I would never solely rely on having my data on a web based platform. It is certainly an excellent option for backing up and making it accessible to others but what happens if the host site disappears for any reason or is hacked and your data is lost.

I for one would always want to have my data on my own computer and backed up to an external drive, a CD or stored on another location - such as the web site you refer to.

[bobbyfamilytree]

Hi bobbyfamilytree,

You certainly seem to have many aspects of promoting your research covered - in fact far more than I do.

For me personally however I would never solely rely on having my data on a web based platform. It is certainly an excellent option for backing up and making it accessible to others but what happens if the host site disappears for any reason or is hacked and your data is lost.

I for one would always want to have my data on my own computer and backed up to an external drive, a CD or stored on another location - such as the web site you refer to.

Hi Doug, my host does regular backups of my website and i also do regular backups which are held on disc and on a online backup service i use (so in fact my backups are stored in 3 places). I backup the blog on CD (and online) and twitter is backed-up online automatically through another service a i use.

I realize the importance of making regular backups and so i do - and have them stored in a variety of places.

Bobby.