Let's have a little "love fest" here. I hold you in the highest regard. There is no more valuable contributor to the content on this message board. I have no problem with your postings of of "cut and paste" material which you have garnered from various sources. I enjoy reading the information. I do note that on a couple of occasions, when others have wanted to discuss an individual posting, you have just posted another copied article or story. It comes across sometimes that the tactic is not discussion and debate, but a flooding of the site with various and sundry articles that may or may not represent factual or researched claims. I don't want you to do anything differently and don't think my posting was directed at you, specifically. As you know, I've had run ins with others, some who no longer post here. The post today by "Rick" got my attention, as it is good hearted in its presentation, but is damaging to any real historical discussion. These undocumented family stories are unfair to offer as a counter to an official document or lack thereof. I can handle a family story with some kind of substantiation, but to offer a story from a grandparent or family lore as "proof" of anything is dangerous, unreliable and sometimes just flat wrong.

Just to show how family stories can go wrong, in my family, I have East Tennesseans who were sharply divided between Southern and Unionist loyalties. For many years, I was told that my gg-grandfather, one William Henry Jones, was a Tennessee Confederate soldier. After several years of searching, made harder by the common last and first names, I discovered he was a Tennessee Federal soldier in the 5th Tennessee Infantry, Co. C. Of course that opened up the door to a Union pension app and a wealth of long sought family information.

Even after coming up with the documents, some of my family members, denied the factual information and chose, some still do, to portray him as a Confederate soldier. He is not the only family member of mine, for whom, wildly romanticized, inaccurate and highly embellished family stories exist. My personal experiences and my experiences with almost ten years of managing these sites has effected how I react to things.

David I value and appreciate your participation and you personally. Only thing that might be an improvement is to post a few of these articles, discuss them for a day and then try another group.

Jim