I think it's a good idea that you should mark your answer UK or USA, what does anyone else think. Genealogy.

Question

I think it's a good idea that you should mark your answer UK or USA, what does anyone else think. Genealogy.

Answer 1

Putting just UK or USA in a question is not enough, though a step in the right direction.

Scotland is part of the UK, but has completely different genealogy laws to England and Wales.  Northern Ireland is also a law unto itself.  Plenty of individual US states have their own laws as well, and this doesn't just apply to genealogy, it applies to many other sections of YA as well.  Lumping all English-speaking questions into one giant pot was never especially bright, especially when laws and customs vary so much between (and within) so many countries.  I would always make it clear in any question where in the world I was when looking for a relevant answer, but plenty of people don't.

No doubt millions of people still believe that just because their browser address says "http://uk.answers.yahoo.com" that everybody on the board must be from the UK.  That just isn't true.  Anyone can read a UK question, no matter where in the world they are, and vice versa.  It can definately cause chaos and confusion, but do Yahoo listen?  Is the pope Jewish?  At the end of the day, it's up to the asker to provide as much info as possible to get the best answer to their question, and if they don't, then people can only guess and provide an answer local to them, even if the asker turns out to live thousands of miles away on the other side of the planet.  

Many questions are just a waste of five points as they just lack basic info to help people answer them properly.

Answer 2

ideally yahoo should place a 'flag' against our names so anybody can instantly see what country we are based in.

this would solve many issues of culture,time,responses etc as we can see where the  question arises and  where the answerer comes from.

cannot be so difficult surely? or maybe  have yahoo add source country to our names so when we 'log in' as whoever  it uses our room names and adds the relevant country origin so I would become 'hornchurchmale'UK

Answer 3

Doesn't anyone realise that if you click on the UK button at the bottom of the page, then it shows you all genealogy questions posted by Brits?? The trouble is, once you post a question, it's open to be answered by those all over the world. But if you specifically only want to answer questions from British posters, then click there.

I agree though, I always try to specify that I am living in the UK, otherwise I get Americans telling me certain things are available local to me, when they're not. If you specify where you live, or where you're researching, then it's easier on everyone.

BUT having said this, my research is normally around the London area, and most people know that I mean England, so I tend not to bother explaining further.

EDIT - Nice to see fellow Brits on here!

Answer 4

I agree that it is critical in the question.. for genealogy, the more explicit you can be on the location, the faster any of us, can zoom in on the topic.  WE understand generally that what works in London, won't work in Dallas.  

Depending on the question.. the location of the person giving the answer is not always limited. Justme has often been able to find info for US posters, for example.. and people on this side, can sometimes offer generalized information that works, no matter where the poster is looking.  Of course.. a good percentage of persons "coming in" here, are very new to research, and ask vague questions to start with.  

A good part of the time.. I see answers go up for sources that are not applicable to either side.. but generally, that seems to happen more when the poster has not been clear, or one/both sides don't realize that this area does have participants in many different places in the world.

edit-

last thought.. even though the suggestion is good, we still have persons who will be here tomorrow, who won't even see your suggestion.

Answer 5

I always mark it when it's a question specific to something in my country.

Answer 6

UK I think this is  a great idea, it would be easier if answers could flag up from which country a question was posted then we could modify our answers accordingly.

Answer 7

USA...  I think that that is a good idea.  I also think it would be a good idea to mark the question USA or U.K.  The reason being that everyone has different places and areas  that they excel in.  I usually bypass questions  that are  quite obviously U.K. questions. I don't have the knowledge or expertise of the area as someone like Itsjustme or others may have.   The hard part would be to get everyone to adhere to it. Good idea though!

Answer 8

UK answer.

I have started to do that anyway, but I think it's more important that the person asking the question  should make it clear where they need researching.

Answer 9

The answer?

How about if the question is marked by country; all we can do with providing an answer is to give according to where we are. We have no idea where the person is from who asks the question.

Not to mention, it does not have to be "UK or USA"; there is Australia, Canada, and who knows how many other countries!

Answer 10

For us regulars that would be great.  However, there are a lot of people asking questons or answering questions from the Yahoo Answers Home Board and we will have to be patient with them.  When they do that the Yahoo system picks out the category.

U. S. answerer

Answer 11

It would be helpful, but most newbies don't mention approximate dates either. They are simply clueless. Perhaps it would be a good habit for genealogy Yamsters to kindly request such information as time and location so the inexperienced asker could append it to his/her question.

Some of these first timers have NO idea what genealogy requires, and some of them are potential future genealogists, and it would be in the best interests of the field to politely request more information when this happens.

Maybe some of us lowly level 6's should take over the cut-and-paste introductory burdens so the Masters (we all know who they are), have more time for the complex questions.

I'll try to do my part: "Welcome To Yam-Mart Genealogy!" I'd say to them, while suited up in the official Yamster pajamas....

Answer 12

Yeah thats quite a good idea though its kinda easy to spot most of the time. Different spellings like mom or mum and also colors or colours are give aways.