Genealogy Karma from Mocavo

The folks at Mocavo sent Olive Tree Genealogy this announcement. I have not tried this out yet but it sounds intriguing!

Mocavo Announces Genealogy Karma

Back in 1999, a fantastic resource was established to bring together members of the genealogy community all around the world. The brainchild of Bridgett and Doc Schneider, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) was created to help genealogists collaborate with the genealogy community to document their research, while also offering genealogists a way to give back to a community that had helped them in the past. RAOGK quickly turned into a global organization. The group’s volunteers were able to help thousands of genealogists make progress in their family history research.

Bridgett Schneider courtesy of RAOGK Wiki

The ROAGK website went offline in 2011 because of a computer disaster. Sadly, Bridgett Schneider passed away later that year, and the website was never able to come back online. In tribute to Bridgett and Doc Schneider and all of the participants in RAOGK, many volunteers have created programs similar to ROAGK to help bring together the expertise of the genealogy community. Doc and Bridgett’s legacy and the efforts of thousands of volunteers inspired us to create a place for researchers to come together and collaborate to help other members of the genealogical community.   

Today, at Mocavo, we are excited to announce the launch of Genealogy Karma. Modeled after Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, we hope to empower the Mocavo community and connect researchers all around the country. If you’re looking for documents, records, or photos from an ancestor who lived far away, we will connect you with family history volunteers who can do this research for you in other cities. Likewise, if you’d like to give back to the Mocavo community and have a little time to donate, you can sign up as a volunteer.

To begin visit www.mocavo.com/karma

To request help:

1. Simply click on “I need to request help.”

2. Select the county for your request.

3. Create a short title and add a detailed explanation of your request so that others can help find what you’re looking for.

4. Tag your request to help others discover it. For example, you can tag your request as “photo”, “birth record”, or “tombstone”.

5. You can also select to be notified if someone replies to your request.

6. Post your query.

To Volunteer:

1. Simply click on “I want to be a volunteer.”

2. Select the counties that you can help with.

3. Submit your information.

4. We will then let you know when there are opportunities to help other genealogists in your area.

Similar to surname groups, genealogy karma has a new twist that allows the most valuable content to float to the top of the page.

You can vote positively or negatively on each question and answer.  As a result, the most popular questions and most relevant answers rise to the top so that you don’t have to dig through heaps of information to find the good stuff. Next to each question or answer within a Surname Group, you will see arrows.  If you find a request you are interested in or response that is particularly helpful, you can “vote it up” so that more people will see it. If you find a request to be wildly off topic or unhelpful or if you think an answer is inaccurate, you can “vote it down” so that it will migrate to the bottom of the page. The topics at the top of the page will be the ones with the highest number of “up” votes so that you can quickly see the most valuable questions and answers.

Check out Genealogy Karma and take advantage of the vast network of Mocavo community members spread far and wide. Let us know what you think by emailing us at support@mocavo.com.

The Kindness of Strangers

This blog post has nothing to do with genealogy. It's about something that happened to me many years ago (33 years to be exact). It's been on my mind a lot recently although I don't know why.

When my oldest son was 4 years old, the two of us flew to Florida to visit my mother for a week. We used an airport near Naples Florida, but I can't recall the name. On the day we were to fly home to Canada, we discovered that the airline had gone bankrupt.

Somehow we managed to get a flight to New York - I honestly can't recall details as I was quite distressed by the turn of events! Flying to New York was a nightmare as we had to keep landing and picking up new passengers.

I guess we were on some kind of commuter plane. My son and I were both hungry as we'd had nothing since a quick breakfast with my mom but all that was on hand were bags of peanuts. We are both allergic to nuts so we went hungry for many hours.

I was told that after I landed  in New York I had to take a taxi to another airport to catch my last flight which would take me to Toronto where my husband would be waiting for me. But that was going to be several more hours. My 4 year old son was crying with hunger and I had no money to buy food when we landed. Nor did I have money for a taxi!

I'd been chatting with a man sitting beside me on the plane. He showed me pictures of his wife and family and we shared stories. When he heard me telling my son that he had to be patient as I had no way to buy him food, he immediately insisted on buying us lunch in the New York terminal. I wanted his name and address to pay him back but he refused, saying it wasn't necessary and that he hoped someone would do the same for his wife and son if they were ever stranded.

So we had lunch with a very kind stranger who then made sure my son and I were safely put into a taxi (which he paid for) and that the driver knew exactly where we were to go.

My son and I both waved as the driver pulled out. We did arrive safely home, some 14 hours after we started out that morning, exhausted but glad to be safe and sound.

That was the last I saw of this kind stranger but I have thought about him over the years and hoped that his kindness was repaid. I don't know why I've been thinking about that event but it's been on my mind a lot. I think it's time I acknowledged his kindness even though I do not know his name.

So whoever you are, wherever you are - thank you.