The "Waving Leaf" of Ancestry

For years I have been using Ancestry data bases to do research, but haven't posted a public page on any of my lines.  My early training in genealogy was definitely of the "what can you prove with documents" style, and so what others had put into a family tree (oh yes, I did have a look) without any sourcing was mostly very uninteresting.
so...

I decided to walk on the "leafy" side, and posted a small number of Rentchler ancestors.  This is a family name of middling size, shows up in Pennsylvania and my section moves to southern Illinois.
and...
two days after posting about 10 ancestors, 3 generations, I now have 100+ hints - and Ancestry sent me a special email to celebrate this !!!

Most are from family trees of other people, good for finding cousins, but not new info, many are from census (got that one nailed), and most are repeating info I already have, so circling the wagons and rehashing vs. moving forward.
With this intro, I'm tempted to post a tree of another line.  This line has about 20 people in the US that still carry the name.  They married late, with few or no kids, and it would be interesting to see how many "wavers" that tree would generate.

Stay tuned.....

Lingua Genealogic...... Forma Genealogic

The world of genealogy –

Every “doing” has its own world – activities & vocabulary.  For most Americans, sports is an obvious one.  For most men, cars, and for most women, cooking &/or fashion.

Genealogy is a world that few learn from their parents.  Possibly good, in that all the forms and procedures are a learned language, and so all more easily done with the same ‘accent’.  Possibly bad, in that it is something slightly scary, and one more time grab for busy schedules.

Anyway, back to basic forms and procedures.  I have been lecturing on various topics for the past 6 years, (researching over 25) and include some form of the following in every lecture. 

General comments about research:

• Move from the known to the unknown
• Test every hypothesis
• Look at all information available
• The further back, the fewer records
• Decide early (like today) how you are going to keep your information
• Citing your sources is VERY VERY VERY important

General comments about the info:

• Record dates – 5 Sept 1897
• Record names – Margaret SIMPSON
• Record places – Chicago, Cook, Illinois
• Living people have the right to their privacy – name/dates/locations

For the next few weeks, each comment gets its own blog!  Stay tuned.

public and private - the dynamic balance

My son is very comfy with his life being known on facebook -- and yet he won't 'friend' me...

I know that the social network offered by family trees on ancestry can potentially link me with far flung cousins given my very sparse family tree -- at the same time, I am somewhat private, and don't wish to deal with identity theft or 'bothering' because of public postings.

My current solution .... to start the family tree, or rather 4 family trees, with the parents of my parents.  It means that I have more than one place to look, and post, as I do publish my research on line, BUT.. all those people are dead, and so there really isn't a link to me.

thoughts??