NOT a lookup, couple of questions though.

[Gardener]

Hi. Sorry if this should be posted elsewhere, please move it if so.
I am just wondering if it is best to have all the census lookups together. Say, for the sake of arguement, that I could do lookups for Worcestershire. At the moment there are only 2 pages of posting for that county but 31 for census lookups. So if I wanted to look through every now and then to see if I could help I would have to scan several pages trying to pick out the Worcestershire ones. Would it be possible to allow postings to both county and census? Or may be split the census lookup pages into counties plus a general page? Too complicated?
Also, if a request is not answered is there a set period of time before a repeat posting can be made on the same subject?
I think this site is doing a great job with a fast turn round of answers. Thanks.

[Kazza]

Hi Gardener,

And thank you for your kind words to our looker-uppers.

I am just wondering if it is best to have all the census lookups together. Say, for the sake of arguement, that I could do lookups for Worcestershire. At the moment there are only 2 pages of posting for that county but 31 for census lookups. So if I wanted to look through every now and then to see if I could help I would have to scan several pages trying to pick out the Worcestershire ones.

Rootschat has only been running since January and things are changing as we learn which is the best way to proceed.

People are currently offering lookups in 3 different ways:

1.  An offer is made on the Offers board,  inviting requesters to post a question in the requests board.

2.  An offer is made on the Offers board,  inviting requesters to PM (Private Mail) the offerer with their request.

3.  An offer is made in the appropriate county board and requesters reply to that offer.

Our recommended method is 1.  Please do not worry about missing an offer,  as I moderate the board daily and if a request is missed I PM the offerer with a gentle nudge.  

Also, if a request is not answered is there a set period of time before a repeat posting can be made on the same subject?

I log all unanswered requests,  so there is no need to post the same question.  We do not delete the old unanswered ones.  When a new offer is made I PM the offerer to let them know if they can help with any older unanswered postings.

Hope this helps,

Kazza.

[Gardener]

Thanks for your reply. The light is dawning a bit here, so the topics at the top labelled "sticky" are the ones that have not been answered - I wondered what sticky meant! Good system.

[Kazza]

Hi Gardener,

Chris in 1066Land has also reminded me that use of the search button helps in this case.  A search on the county name,  restricted to the Requests board will bring up all those you are interested in.

We used to sticky up all of the unanswered requests,  but it was a bit off-putting for new posters and seemed to reduce the number of requests we received.

Kazza.