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Rootschat
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Rootschat is a free online genealogy forum concentrating on local and family history research in the United Kingdom. As of October 2008 there were over 67,700 members with over 1.8 million postings in 287,000 topics.
Since its creation in December 2003, RootsChat has maintained a policy of using volunteer moderators working in close co-operation with the RootsChat members in an effort to keep a friendly atmosphere and welcome new visitors.
The site handles every query from finding a relative called John Smith, to locating the remaining families of airmen killed during the second world war from just a photograph found at a crash site.
message posting area of the site is organised into various boards, some grouped together.
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Encyclopedia
Rootschat is a free online genealogy forum concentrating on local and family history research in the United Kingdom. As of October 2008 there were over 67,700 members with over 1.8 million postings in 287,000 topics.
Since its creation in December 2003, RootsChat has maintained a policy of using volunteer moderators working in close co-operation with the RootsChat members in an effort to keep a friendly atmosphere and welcome new visitors.
The site handles every query from finding a relative called John Smith, to locating the remaining families of airmen killed during the second world war from just a photograph found at a crash site.
Site Organisation
The message posting area of the site is organised into various boards, some grouped together. As well as generic beginner and "common room" boards, countries and British counties all have their own boards to allow people researching in the same area to communicate and share knowledge. There is a strong ethos of sharing resources, with members frequently looking up census and parish records for each other.
In addition to these boards there are special Cornish, Irish, Gaelic and Cymraeg boards for postings in each respective language.
There are also several very active "Special Interest" boards, including
- board to help restore damaged family pictures.
- board providing assistance with hardware and family-history software
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- for people interested in the history of a particular occupation
Friendship bonds created between members have led to the creation of two boards, the "Lighter Side" and "Totally Off Topic" available to members only, and a chatroom for humorous and postings unrelated to family history.
Social and Fun
Members have created various games combining the resources available to them, and their passion for genealogy. These include Censuswhacking, whereby people look through the English census indexes for a unique first name, surname or occupation; and a monthly challenge with an aim of discovering as much as possible about a randomly selected person
At irregular intervals "Meets" are organised, where RootsChat members can meet and get to know each other "in the flesh", and not just as anonymous contributors to the forum. These, and the numerous 'mini-meets', not just in the UK, all go towards building the sense of community spirit that many members value.
RootsChat hosted sites
In addition to the forums, RootsChat has in the past provided free webspace for members to host their family trees and other genealogical information. Two of note are:
Rootschat in the News
In one case reported by the BBC the members of the site were successful in closing a police enquiry dating back over fifty years. In another, through the help of RootsChatters, the relatives of airmen killed in a crash in 1942 were traced and were able to attend the funeral ceremony for the lost airmen.
RootsChat maintains a list of its other appearances in the Media, which include:
- Liddle, Rob. , BBC NEWS Magazine. UK Edition
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External links
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