Can I post links to other websites?
Links
posted by members of these forums should meet the following criteria:
·
Relevant and
specific - the website should be relevant to the part of the forum in which the
link is posted, but also post in the forum or discussion which is most
specific. For example, if you want to recommend a website that relates to
Devon, post it in the Devon area, not the England area.
·
Tried and
tested - we want to know about sites that you can recommend from your own
experience (just because a site is free doesn't make it useful - there are
hundreds of thousands of free sites). If there are many different resources at
the site tell us which ones you recommend (and any that you consider are best
avoided).
·
Best in breed - if the site
offers access to the same resources that can be found elsewhere tell us how the
site you're recommending is better or different: for example, it might be
easier to use, cheaper, or have a more powerful search.
·
Be direct - it will save
members a lot of time if you link to the part(s) of the site with the resources
that you recommend. If it's not possible to link to specific resources because
of the way that the site works, and the site is complicated for a new user (or
in a foreign language) please provide some guidance.
·
Content - the site
should have content of its own, not simply links to other sites. Sites with
hundreds or thousands of links will inevitably have some links to good sites,
some links to bad sites, and some links that don't work at all. Sites which
consist mainly of links often fail the next test.....
·
Trustworthy - if the site
isn't a well-known one, can it be trusted? Sites which don't tell you precisely
who is running them or which don't provide a postal address are suspicious, and
may be involved in some scam.
·
Don't
disappoint - try to avoid overselling the site you are recommended. Unless you
tell them otherwise forum members are likely to assume
that a site is free and that the data you talk about is online.
·
Follow the
rules - make sure you read the Rules of these forums and stick to them.
If
in doubt ask the moderator of the forum for advice.
Where should I post links?
If
you've found a great website then you want other people to know about it - but
not everyone, only the people who are likely to find it useful.
If
you take a look around these forums you'll see that there are sections for
countries and counties, plus topics like Migration, Occupations, and DNA. Each
part of the forum has a Resources
page where useful links, hints, and tips are provided, but also a subforum called More
XXXX Resources (where XXXX is the county, country etc).
Usually
the best place to post a link will be the relevant More Resources forum.
How do I post links?
The
first step is to find the relevant page on the website you intend to link to -
sometimes this will be the home page, but usually you can make your post more
useful by linking to a page within the website, perhaps a Search page, or a
page that describes the content. Remember that whilst you're only posting the
link once, it could be used hundreds of times - so it's worth taking a little
time to get it right.
Now
type the title of the link - this could be the name of the website or the title
of the records that you're linking to - then highlight the title and click the
icon that looks like a chain (as the mouse hovers over it the words Insert/edit
link are displayed). After a second or two a long thin box will appear - paste
the web address of the page you're linking to into the box and click the Insert
button. It doesn't matter if the link is longer than the box.
Tip:
you can use Ctrl-C to copy text and Ctrl-V to paste it.
You'll find further guidance elsewhere in the New
Members area of the forum.
