MyHeritage Launched a Community Section

MyHeritage is really good at engaging its vast community of genealogists. MyHeritage has added something new that will enable its users to receive help with their genealogy brick walls or to help other people with their genealogy questions. It is called MyHeritage Community.

At the top of the MyHeritage Community, there is a brief explanation of what it can be used for. It is a place to come if you want to help other users. At the same time, it is a good resource for people who need some help with their genealogy research.

Typical requests include translation of documents and inscriptions, deciphering handwritten notes, and tracking down ancestors and relatives. It is also a place for people to ask general genealogy questions. In short, MyHeritage Community is a Questions & Answers hub.

Interestingly, the MyHeritage Community wasn’t built in a way that visually looks like a typical forum. It is not composed of lines of text, one for each topic, with additional comments nested underneath. Instead, it has been designed primary for photos. While it is possible to make a text-only post, the MyHeritage Community was made to be an image-oriented forum.

Visit the MyHeritage Community, and you will see 9 boxes with information. There are plenty of other pages, of the same format, waiting for you to click on. The image-oriented forum integrates into the MyHeritage website. This appears to have been done, at least in part, so that current users would not have to separately sign up for the MyHeritage Community. Best of all, this new tool that could be a game-changer for your research can be used for free.

MyHeritage stated (in its blog post announcing the new tool) that the MyHeritage Community was “based on the spirit of volunteerism with which the genealogical community is blessed.” They point out one of their favorite definitions for the word “genealogist”:

A person who, after consuming most research directions for his/her own family tree, starts looking to help other people research their family tree, just because he/she loves the pursuit so much.

Tips for using the MyHeritage Community:

* Provide as much information as possible about your request. Specify the names, dates, and anything you know that is relevant. This can help other genealogists to help you.

* It is recommended that you write your requests in English. That isn’t a must – just a recommendation. Writing in English can help you maximize the size of the audience who can help you.

* Don’t use the MyHeritage Community for technical support. (There is a Help Center for that.)

* Don’t worry if your post is not immediately answered by a fellow MyHeritage users. The post will stay up, and someone who can help might appear at any time.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* MyHeritage Has New Swedish Resources

* Record Your Relatives With the MyHeritage App

* How MyHeritage Engages Users