Nancy, Bruce and westender there seem to be a total misunderstanding here and if you would stop the simmering for a minute and allow me the time to explain, I would be most appreciative. On a personal note the three of you are some of the most kind-hearted people that I have ever had the pleasure of associating with. Especially Nancy, because she was the first personal contact that I had with Scotland. To read your comments is very upsetting to me, because I know just how “upset” you all must be to post them. I Personally am well aware of the countless hours westender has poured into his project and the decision made the other evening was not a personal attack, it was purely a business decision on my part. Truly, I was torn between leaving the link alone and removing it. However, if I left it alone, then that would not be fair to all of the countless other links that had to be removed on TS over the years. Its TalkingScot’s Policy and not our own personal decision to make. The guidelines (which I will discuss in a moment) of TalkingScot were created for a specific reason and every member is asked to read them when they become a member of TalkingScot.
ESSENTIAL READING
viewforum.php?f=14
In mid 2004, the discussion board on Scotland’s People failed and a group of their members created TalkingScot. They agreed upon the Essential Reading Forum to create a set of guidelines to abide by. On Dec 7, 2004 the word spread through the Genealogy world that TalkingScot was up and running, allowing a forum for many members of the former SPDG who were aching for a place to meet up once again to continue their research. Soon afterwards, the Welcome e-mails started to be sent out to all of the new members joining the site, asking for them to review the above link. Unfortunately, many of the members are too excited to get their research started and skip the suggestion to give a read over. The rules might seem strict to some, but they are in place to protect the rights of Living People for example. Not everyone will agree or understand the logic placed behind many of the rules, but that’s a fact we have to face one day at a time. I suppose to anyone who doesn’t visit TS that often and then may see a thread such as this, they might think that the removal of a link is based on some fly by night decision. Trust me its not.
To address some of the points made in regards to the removal of westender’s link. It was a very difficult decision to make and one that I had to set my personal feeling aside for the above reasons. For anyone following this thread, westender would bend over backwards to help a fellow researcher and is a very talented Photographer and records many of the events held in Scotland. His hobby is well documented and he has received many acknowledgments in the local newspaper for his accomplishments and rightly so. Well done westender! With that being said, I can certainly understand Nancy and Bruce jumping to his defense and I don’t take their position personally. I write this note with great sadness to see them so very upset with what was a business decision.
The removal of westender’s link was based upon the fact that if you scrolled to the bottom of the page, a service was offered for a donation or a small fee (I’m certain he would give the info for free, but heck with the cost of petrol, etc a small fee would be most reasonable) The reason I posted the link to Paisley.org which also includes a Pay Pal link for donations, was for Alan Sharp's benefit and to give our members who were interested in your information, an avenue to get in touch with westender. The logic behind that decision was based upon the fact that Paisley.org accepted donations to cover expenses of the continuing operating expenses of their board and not personal gain. By this, I am not implying that westender was posting his link for any personal gain, but the sheer fact that the paragraph was included in the link went against the rules of TS and therefore it had to be removed.
Advertising
TalkingScot does not permit advertising in the Forum that would result in direct, personal benefit to the poster.
When I first became a member of the Administration Group of TS, I suggested the Tombola as a fund raising event and have been involved first- hand from its creation and I can assure you personally, that an e-mail was never sent out to any of the members of this board. However, as previously stated there have been many messages posted on the site to raise awareness to the upcoming event over the past five years.
TalkingScot is no way shape or form feels superior to any other Genealogy Board on the internet, quite the opposite, we’re just a small group of volunteers who enjoy helping people from around the world continue down the path of researching their family history.
Paisley.org was generous enough to allow me to create a thread on their site, when TalkingScot crashed a few years back and we would gladly reciprocate if the tides were turned. Our site went down due to no fault of our own and we greatly appreciated your site allowing us to spread the messages on your board.
I truly hope you accept this explanation and would be most pleased if you would visit TS every now and then.
Respectfully
Marilyn
