Hit & Run Researchers

Have to agree with you there Martin.

 

Click your username, top right, then account upgrades:

 

EDIT: duplicate post/advice - I didn’t see that Tony56 had already advised you how to do it.

 

Thank you!
This should be the note saying "Hurrah!" with a nice patron sticker on my Granddad's face, but PayPal... I'll keep plodding on.

 

I ask Chat GP a test question ( It is very good at waffling.)
It comes back with an answer.
Where did it find the answer.
It quotes a post I put up on WW2 talk.
This has happened several times.
the eternal information circle.

 

Google AI now appears to answer any WW2 search with visit here; albeit not the first line.

 

Google AI does not answer every question the same way. Responses are actively tailored to you based on your location, search history, and language settings. Additionally, AI models like Gemini dynamically adapt their tone and complexity depending on the context of your conversation. - lol.

There are probably work arounds - even asking the same question again later, after having given it a bit more time to ponder it.

You could probably just tell it not to use WW2 talk etc. - though why would you... ;-)

 

My earlier caveat notwithstanding, I think I'm going to let the next arrivals pay for their own paperwork at Kew.

Fellow researchers here can have all I find, but I'm a bit disenchanted with some recent non-responses to help.

 

I must admit, I don't understand the ingratitude. The generosity of spirit and knowledge I've encountered on here has been immense, and I would simply not know half of what I do about my grandfather's war without the kindness of strangers I've been shown. It sometimes feels awkward, maybe, to be in such a deficit of knowledge - certainly I feel that I do not nearly know enough to meaningfully contribute to others' research yet - and this perhaps explains why people simply take what they can get and go, but doesn't fix as an excuse for not even a passing thank you.

So here's my thanks to you all for your warmth, if I've ever forgotten to extend it.

If I had had to pay for what I've gained from this forum so far, I certainly would have, so very happy to become a patron!

 

I can't remember the precise procedure, but you do not (or didn't) need a Paypal a/c, you can settle up with a credit card.

 

You’ve nothing to feel awkward about. I knew zero when I first came here. I’m sure many of us were the same. You’re always learning, there’s something new every day here for me and, nearly seven years on, I’m still in awe of many folk here for the depth of knowledge they display and share.

Trust me, you’ll find yourself helping others with similar interests to yourself soon enough.

 

As I often do....I will second Martin's sentiments here. As I think the modern saying goes - Pay it forward.

 

Cheers Tony
If, like me, you had a Paypal account in 1922 but closed it because of security concerns, you need to throw three sixes in a row then an eight to get them to take your card.
However, after whingeing to my woman and her paying for it, I can claim final VICTORY!

 

If you had a Paypal account in 1922, can I please borrow your time machine?

I too knew so very little before joining the site, and still make rather basic errors, I fear.

 

It would be more WW2Talk-like to call this thread 'Tip and Run' Researchers

 

Maybe "Drive By Researchers", what with being in a hurry and not too fussed about accuracy?
Must say, I do like helping folks out if they're not secretly YouTubers pretending to be family of Rifleman Goggins.

 

When I was well advanced into my PhD, albeit part-time, we went on the annual field trip to the British and Canadian battlefields of Normandy for Master's students. There was a thrusting young thing doing his in three years, of course with a grant (I paid for mine from my own resources). When I started doing my part on Sword Beach about the landings on Queen White, he wandered off up the beach well out of earshot kicking the sand and shingle, showing not the tiniest speck of interest.

Jump forward a few years and I get a phone call from him (acquired through our mutual supervisor) expressing excessive interest in my expertise and could he discuss it. Alarm bells rang. The flattery increased. So I had to ask "what do you want to know for?" He admitted that it was as research for a television company working up a documentary on D-Day. I immediately felt that this was a case of rip off my work, take all the credit for himself. So I expressed great reticence.

A few days later I got another call - from his boss asking me to help. I made non-commital noises. The next day the boss's boss called... even more flattery and hollow-sounding assurances of credit. The next day, a call from the academic adviser to the programme who was more matter of fact; they had picked a basketload of stories - in his view, too many. He wanted to include my work (as he knew it) but in the end the American paymasters demanded the excision of most of the British and Canadian examples anyway.

The chancer now works for a national collection and my. doesn't he play the "big I am"... Yes, but how many others have you used as a stepping stone, uncredited?