Sloppy Research

Just sat reading through my posts on here and they have made me chuckle as they show that I sure am an amateur at this research. I would find some information and put it on here all excited then later find out I had mis read an item or got the wrong Bill, oh dear too late already let the world know before checking and re checking the source . Like the post I put on about uncle jack , I had been on forces war records site and it said he had been fighting in all these places and you chaps gently put me right and steered me in the right direction -to have fought in all those places at once he would have to be super man and all I should have done was check a map of the area . There is the post where I write about dad being seriously injured then find out it was minor because he was back in the thick of it 2 months later, and it was to be 1 year later when the more serious injury occurred .oh and the time I saw a photo of dad and without thinking came on here saying dad must have been a Chindit because I just seen a photo of dad ,Er, it was not dad, oh dear done it again . So as an amateur at researching I have learnt something that I can advice people on and That is Don't believe what you read is right, check and recheck and try to find evidence of the item you have found and most of all don't put it in print until it has been confirmed. Done it again most of you chaps and ladies already know this don't you. Thanks chaps and ladies for putting up with my sloppy research but most of all thanks for being nice about it . Kind Regards Elsie

 

Hi Elsie - join the club, I am forever trying to find information relevant to my interests and so pleased when I think I have found something do tend to overlook it may not be just what I think it is. Benefit of a forum like this is we can bounce information and ideas around and eventually get at the truth.


Cheers Brian

 

Thanks for that Brian you have explained it in a lot less words than me, it's great to know I am not the only one . I so enjoy reading everyone's post on here they are so informative. Trouble is you have a personal interest that sets you off researching but then you get hooked and want to learn it all Elsie

 

Absolutely agree. It is always nice to be critiqued rather than criticised by the other members when we make errors, and 99% of the time it is in the kindest possible way.

I owe a lot of pints at this stage to other members for their help and guidance. Hope they don't all cash in at once!

One consolation I do have for any silly errors I have made is that I am not out to publish or pose as an historian, but some of the things I have read online or in print have similar types of errors in them. Point is we all make mistakes, and while I emphasis that I should learn from mine, I should not sweat too much about them either!

Happy researching!
Dave

 

Elsie
Its a learning curve which are are all on, some more advanced than others but still learning none the less.

keep going

regards
Clive

 

Thanks for that Dave, reading my posts has made me laugh so much,my dad must have been super human . It's my nature to forget to put my brain in gear before opening my mouth . Elsie

 

I have heard it said that 'The Ark' was built by amateurs while the 'Titanic' was built by professionals!

 

Ritsonvaljos I am steeling the above quote it's great Elsie

 

CL1 this site is the best learning curve I have ever been on Elsie

 

Owen wouldn't life be boring if we knew it all and there was nothing more to learn Elsie

 

I know the feeling bill I've done it countless times, at the very start I thought my grandfather was in the Argylls, how wrong I was I've now been researching my grandfather for 18 months and still not near finished

 

Owen gets great pleasure in telling me I'm wrong about something to do with the BEF

 

Elsie,

I'm still making errors, one of which I found out at the Archives just yesterday. For me, there is nothing better than a Chindit 1 family getting in touch to tell me that my information on line isn't exactly correct, that is why I chose a website over a book in the first instance, it can grow and diversify.

 

Elsie - I joined this forum a couple of years ago and have since had so much help with material that previously I knew nothing about or couldn't find sources for - and I've been a researcher and an academic for longer than I want to remember. I have learned to take everything I'm told with a pinch of salt and while there is a tiny minority on here and other places who delight in nit-picking or putting you right, for the much greater part, people have been delightful and helpful. It's the so-called 'professionals' who give me the pain in the arse.

 

I've just learned that the list of Uboats I have weren't active in the med at the time I'm looking at, I've got the war diaries from America and they were all in dock at the time *face palm*

 

I've just learned that the list of Uboats I have weren't active in the med at the time I'm looking at, I've got the war diaries from America and they were all in dock at the time *face palm*

 

Its a constant learning curve. Recently I found myself reading up on Congers and having to revise my knowledge on how Artificial Moonlight was made.

Part of it is a joy, part of it is a hair pulling challenge. Whatever you do, as long as you learn as you continue and remain open minded then... well you get the most out of it. My initial learning curve was very steep, learned a lot, made a lot of mistakes...

I thought I had done enough work and did several lectures which were well received, well researched, argued... the works. It was a year ago when I realised that some of the material was flawed, since then I've torn up those lectures and restarted all my work from scratch on several projects. Its made my projects take 2 - 3 years longer than they should have done but I learned researching, collation and presentation on the fly which was not taught.

Owen's sentiment"I thought ''I knew it all'' in 2005 when I joined the forum, turns out I didn't." Is spot on, but I find myself asking this question every few months now - not as originally happened every few days...