Over the past decade forums have helped me break down some of my toughest brick walls and also helped me connect with distant ancestors. Similar to any forms of interpersonal research, my success with forums has largely been dependant on the users that I am connecting with. This means that finding the "right" forum for you is dependant on the type of information you are looking for. This can mean focusing on a specific geographic region or life event such as military service. Unfortunately, when it comes to forums there is no "one size fits all answer". However, I have found that following five forums provide a great great place to start. They cover a wide geographic range and feature a vast array of topics.
1. Ancestry Message Boards
If you already have an Ancestry account, then the Ancestry message boards are a great place to start. They can be accessed through the "help" tab.
There are several ways to search the message board. The first involves using key terms which can be filtered using the same filtering operators as Google. The second method requires you to confine your search to a single geographic region or topic folder. I tend to not use this search method as it can eliminate some useful results. Although, it should be noted that all posts MUST be made to a specific folder.
Compared to other forums, I have found Ancestry message boards to be very hit and miss. Based on my personal experience, there is a lower user engagement rate than other sites and many of the posts go unanswered. Despite this, it is still a great starting point because of how universally applicable it is.
2. RootsChat
I can not stress enough how much I LOVE RootsChat! Its user base is highly active, knowledgeable, and willing to go the extra mile to help you breakdown brick walls. They have a board for almost anything that you can think of - even requests for information.
RootsChat is primarily used for British resarch, however it does features some threads that are designated to generic topics such as document transcription/translation, photo restoration and, photo dating.
The site is completely free to use. You can search/browse without an account, however an account is required for commenting/posting and private messaging. It should also be noted that you need to have three comments/posts before you are able to privately message another user.
One of my favourite features is that you can view a users entire comment/post history. This is especially useful if you are trying to find somebody who is researching the same lineage as you. This is how I actually ended up finding some of my distant relatives!
3. British Genealogy Forum
This genealogy forum is run in association with Forces War Records (now owned by Ancestry) and focused on British history (including that of former British colonies such as Canada). I chose to include it though is because it features very detailed information about military history which I have not seen anywhere else.
Of all the forums in this list, this one is by far the most difficult to use because the search tool is not readily available. If you go into a specific post thread, the "Search Forum" tool will appear on the right hand side of the blue banner. By selecting "Advanced Search" it is possible to search the entire forum. It should be noted that, according the FAQ section: "You can search any forum that you have permission to search - you will not be allowed to search through private forums unless the administrator has given you the necessary security rights to do so".
In short, the wealth of unique and highly detailed knowledge contained in this forum makes up for its lack of user friendliness.
Related Posts:
Finding Distant Ancestors Using Forums
Googling your Ancestors
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