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Rootschat is a free online genealogy forum primarily concentrating on local and family history research in the United Kingdom. It was launched by Welsh couple Trystan Davies and Sarah Mackay in December 2003.[1] 18 months after its launch its membership was 16,000 and it was gaining 140 new members per day,[2] enough for advertising to pay for its costs.[1] Members ask questions and exchange information using a number of online forums.
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[edit] Membership
As of October 2011 there were over 169,000 members with over 3.5 million postings in nearly 500,000 topics.[3] RootsChat uses volunteer forum moderators in an effort to keep a friendly atmosphere and welcome new visitors.
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.[2]
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.[citation needed]
[edit] 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 and Irish 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.[4]
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
- Photograph Restoration board to help restore damaged family pictures.
- Technical Help board providing assistance with hardware and family-history software
- Armed Forces
- Occupation Interest 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[citation needed]
[edit] Rootschat in the News
In a case reported by the BBC [5] 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.[6][broken citation]
[edit] 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 :
[edit] References
- ^ a b Sam Burson New website where genes detectives take on other people's past, Western Mail, 16 June 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
- ^ a b Rob Liddle The kinship of strangers, BBC News, 13 June 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
- ^ "Rootschat Forum Homepage". http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
- ^ "Rootschat Lookup Forum". http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,48.0.html.
- ^ news.bbc.co.uk Genealogists help police inquiry 10 June 2005
- ^ http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/news_0608_16.html
