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I was going to post this in there, & then realized it was gone!
Ok - here's my question...
Why is there a people search forum?!
I mean, has anybody actually found someone from there?
I would have to doubt it.
The posts either have zero responses or one by the same person, or someone suggesting to try the paper or something...
I don't get it! I've never understood why that forum is there...
It may seem a bizarre thing to have, but as was mentioned, desperate people pull out all the stops. If I were really desperate to find someone, I'd look for them everywhere I got the chance.
Now, as far as there being few if any responses to threads, I think one reason for that is that most likely few people browse through that forum. I know I don't. That's the problem in trying to find someone on a forum like that in that it banks on others actually checking it when unfortunately the only people checking it are the people looking for someone themselves.
There is also a greater possibility that people are being contacted over PM rather than over the main board since the information divulged may be personal.
I doubt that the board has many success stories, but I think it should stay basically just because I don't see it doing any harm.
I suspect there is a people search forum because it's a more considerate way to handle the searchers. You and I know that there is little chance of someone actually finding anyone that way (although stranger things have happened). But, consider this: Many people log into a particular state or city forum on city-data and leave messages looking for people. They do this because there is little else they can do.
However, most of the folks reading city-data would soon be weary of the many, many search messages. They really don't belong on the regular forums.
The solution is to remove them. But, is anyone so completely heartless as to simply delete them? So, the management of the forum came up with a wise solution. Set up a forum for people searches, and move all the search messages into it. In this way, they reduce the clutter of the regular forums, without dashing the hopes of the desperate searchers. That is real consideration for the feelings of others.
Right, we created this forum because there were many posts in the state forums about locating people and we didn't want to just delete them. I think there is a chance of success for some of these searchers - these threads are indexed by the search engines, so if somebody does a vanity search on their own name or searches for a friend's name or for some other things in their past, the thread on our forum could show up. One problem with this forum is that people post a lot of personal information and often include their email address in clear-text (making it easy for spammers).
That's pretty much what I figured, but had to ask...
Now that is REALLY weird - I SWEAR that when I posted this, the About The Forum forum wasn't there!!!!! Did I enter the twilight zone or what??!!
That's pretty much what I figured, but had to ask...
Now that is REALLY weird - I SWEAR that when I posted this, the About The Forum forum wasn't there!!!!! Did I enter the twilight zone or what??!!
You probably were not logged-in yet. The About the Forum is not visible for guests.
I was going to post this in there, & then realized it was gone!
Ok - here's my question...
Why is there a people search forum?!
I mean, has anybody actually found someone from there?
I would have to doubt it.
The posts either have zero responses or one by the same person, or someone suggesting to try the paper or something...
I don't get it! I've never understood why that forum is there...
Hi Elfy, actually, there is a person who posted who was looking for info on his ancestors who lived in a small town that is just 12 miles west of where I live. One of my co-workers lives over there and we started PM~ing this person and exchanging info. My co-worker is now putting together a packet of things about the gentleman's ancestors and will send it to him to his overseas home. It turned out to be funny because the poster's Grandmother (?) had once lived with my co-worker's Aunt and Uncle and had done work for them. They ended up giving her their house in their will. We were surprised at how small the world was. So I guess that forum does serve a purpose and there may be a person every once in a while who ends up finding out info. My guess is that most people would PM the poster rather then posting a whole family history on there.
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I've never understood why that forum is there...
