A few days ago I wrote about how Findagrave had taken credit away from me, even though I added some close family graves first. Instead, they reversed their own algorithm in order to give credit to one of those people who compete with each other to see who can add the most memorials. A stranger.
Now I see an article by Judy Russell (“the Legal Genealogist”) suggesting oh so gently that Findagrave might want to reconsider the way they allow (I would say “encourage”) strangers to add memorials even while the family is in deepest mourning.
This struck a cord with me because this is what happened to me when my sister died. We weren’t even back from the funeral before a stranger had created her memorial on Findagrave, and added her obit, and picture.
It doesn’t take much for me to see that my sensitivity to having credit for my step-mother’s and step-brother’s memorials taken away from me is just that much worse because some other stranger grabbed the credit for my sister’s memorial.
Truly, the folks at Findagrave aren’t thinking about the human connection. They are working to reward the volunteers who churn out the volume and create the money. Which is really what matters.
More Information
- Judy G. Russell, A modest proposal (Aug 5, 2019), The Legal Genealogist, visited Aug. 5, 2019.