RootsDev

Discussions around Genealogy technology.
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seangates
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Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:45 am
Location: San Jose, CA
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RootsDev

#1

Post by seangates »

I know this may be the wrong location for this type of a post, but I'm going to go with it.

A group of us (some LDS, some not) are attempting to support he larger genealogy and family history community by creating a Q&A site on the excellent Stack Exchange platform. We are currently a few members away from "beta". What we need is people with a reputation on the Stack Exchange system (200+ reputation) to help us get over the hill and into "beta".

http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposa ... /genealogy

As a side question, does the church have plans for any community support projects specifically for genealogy and family history, similar to what we're trying to do at Stack Exchange?

Thanks for your help!
Sean

http://rootsdev.org
https://github.com/rootsdev/
russellhltn
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Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#2

Post by russellhltn »

seangates wrote:As a side question, does the church have plans for any community support projects specifically for genealogy and family history, similar to what we're trying to do at Stack Exchange?
How is that different from forums.familysearch.org?
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
seangates
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Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:45 am
Location: San Jose, CA
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#3

Post by seangates »

Great question, RusselHltn. The best answer that I can give is that Stack Exchange is not a "forum". It's specifically designed to make sure that people get an answer to their questions, and weed out duplicate questions. As a support system goes, this is invaluable.

There are many more features of the system as outlined here: http://stackexchange.com/about

Now, Stack Exchange has licensing, but I've seen the prices and they are astronomical. It's much easier for us to do this through the community and not ask for someone to bankroll a site just for genealogy.

Thanks!
Sean
darthtanner
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Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:10 pm

#4

Post by darthtanner »

That is a question that also came up on the RootsDev google group. Here are some of the members answers to said question:

"Stack Exchange's model is WAY better than a forum thread because it allows the best questions and best answers flow to the top. It also helps people find answers that have already been asked and weeds out the constant duplicate questions. Also, it isn't designed to e a forum for "discussion", but rather a place to get your question answered by people who are experts. You also know the experts by their reputation number, and you won't get some random person telling you junk (even if they're very active).

It's a great way to "support" the genealogy community at large.

--
Sean Gates"

"I agree with the comments regarding the expertise, the rankings, and the QA versus discussion format. I also find that StackExchange sites are much better indexed, so not only have the information I want, but have it easily accessible.

--
Wayne Pearson"
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