I am new to these groups and need some help on how to use them. Is there a help tutorial available?
I just tried to upload files to ask for translation help in the German group and I get an error because "the image is going through moderation". What is that? Is my question going to be posted in the group? Previously I learned that you can't upload PDF documents that they need to be JPEG or TXT (there were some other options, but the others were not familiar to me). I just need a basic tutorial on how to use these group. Please help me!
Answers
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When you have a specific question and really are looking for a specific answer (and arent just asking a rhetorical question - you should use the Question option)
However - also realize there are many people who are are using the community to actually share information with others . In those cases they would just use the post option - since they are not really expecting a substantive answer to a question.
sometimes a submission is grammatically a question like (after posting some new item) "what do you think of this?" - such a post of "sharing something and asking for feedback is often generally submitted as a post - rather than a question.
Obviously sometimes it is a gray area - - and not black and white. - and you shouldn't be overly concerned about getting in trouble if you posted it as a question when maybe it should have been a post - please dont worry about that. The difference is mainly for administrative purposes to make sure true question do get answered.
As to PDF - it sure would be nice to have that option. - but at the current moment for certain administrative reasons it is not allowed. But in many cases there shouldnt really be the need - and also realize you could send a LINK (url) to a pdf on an external site - maybe asking someone what they thought about this pdf on site X and the info it had.
We are all here to help and collaborate - don't worry about making mistakes - we are all patient and respectful - and we have been new at one point just like you.
glad to see you as part of the community.
Dennis
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if after a few hours you see that the photo didnt go through moderation - maybe try it one more time
after that if it still doenst work - send a message - to the group admin stating the issue.
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Thank you Dennis for your help, I greatly appreciate your taking the time to help me. The documents that I am trying to attach are files on my computer. I have the German document as a JPEG image and my transcription was in a TXT file. When I deleted the TXT file from the attachment I was able to post the JPEG images. Apparently I couldn't post the TXT file. I had to put my transcription in the comments instead of attaching a file. I would like to know if there is a preferred method.
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only certain file types are acceptable - but generally speaking if it is something that can be copied and pasted to the body of the text of the submission it is often better to do that
but yes - graphic images are fine to post the way you are doing.
the "monitoring" message you got - is a little inconsistent (as to what triggers it and how long it takes to be moderated) - and even I myself have not been sure why I occasionally get it.
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Thank you, thank you, and thank you for your help with my learning journey here.
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any time
all of us enjoy helping other people "learn the ropes" and make the community a diverse but united and great group!
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by the way - what are some of your research focuses?
let us know a little about yourself and your research.
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My maternal side is from the United States (Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania) with surnames such as Peyton, Smith, Keller, Robison, Hatfield, Simmons, Stevens and Webster. My father was born in Germany, thus my request earlier today for transcription/translation help in the German Research group. My mother's brother was very interested in family history and did extensive research before the days of computers. I have used his work as a beginning place for my research. I had put off doing much with my German side because of the limited number of records available to me. However, last year I visited Germany and was able to find many documents. Now I am trying to piece together those families.
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tell me more about your uncles research in paper.
how have you thought of "preserving" his research.
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I'm not sure what you want to know about my uncle's research, nor how I might "preserve" his research.
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just wondering what thought you have put into - what will be the ultimate fate of his papers.
will others ever be able to leverage his years of research and the items that he collected?
FamilySearch and other tools can help you both preserve his research and make it available for others.
what is the format of most of his research? a bunch of binders for example?
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He has family group sheets, pedigree charts, books, and photos. I think that most of the photos and information on the family group sheets and pedigree charts has been entered in to FamilySearch. I have some recordings of him telling stories and those I am transcribing and also I have uploaded the some of the audios to FamilySearch. I am trying to preserve his research, though not necessarily the specific generic forms that have been filled in (family group sheets, etc.).
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so have you ever considered having someone take a high speed scanner and digitizing his large collection into pdf files and upload to FS
here is an example of what I have done for Yancey researchers
(click on the FS LINKS for Sylvia Anderson for example)
http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/yancey_researchers.htm
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WOW!! No I have not ever thought of doing something like that.
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And here are examples of a different approach of pdfs on a web page
http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/darla.htm
most office copy machines these days
can scan 100’s of pages in a few minutes and send to email in pdf format.
Yu can scan thousands of pages in this manner – if it is in format you can feed into an auto paper feed
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