For the memorials that I manage here, I have a few preferences, which I realize not everyone shares. One (hopefully small) request: Unless they knew the deceased personally, I would like for folks not to leave virtual flowers on memorial pages that I maintain. Certain flowers/notes have the potential to detract from someone's memory. I've noticed that animated GIFs, especially, tend to become the most prominent thing on the screen (except for the ads). And some notes may turn the focus to you rather than the person memorialized.

If you have questions or special info, please get in touch! Messages here have led to story swapping and productive collaboration. You can also now use the "Contact manager" button found at the bottom of the "SUGGEST EDITS" page for any given memorial.

My general approach to Find a Grave: I have some interest in genealogy, but originally signed up as a contributor here in order to request a single correction. Since then, I've created pages on the site. I've also had memorials transferred to me, both with and without advance communication -- after I'd supplied biographical info (such as birthplace or parents) through the editing tools. This was unexpected, but I later realized it makes sense for someone with a stake in the info to be responsible for accuracy and future maintenance. However, I by no means claim full knowledge of all these folks and I won't necessarily be supplying a bio. I'm always happy to make corrections (provided they don't contradict things I do know), and happy to transfer my "peripheral" pages to descendants or close relatives of those memorialized.

As I said, some transfers have been a surprise -- but some memorials I've chosen to take over, or to create outright, because I have personal perspective on the people in question. These pages I prefer to keep managing, assuming someone with a (more) direct relationship doesn't ask for them.

Lastly, here are a couple of explanations of my choices (past and present) for listing names and locations.

Personal quirk 1: I used to convey that someone went by his or her middle name, in life, by placing the middle name additionally in the nickname field. However, this turns out to be contrary to Find a Grave's guidelines. Therefore I've removed spurious nicknames on the pages I maintain, and I apologize for having occasionally suggested them elsewhere.

Personal quirk 2: When boundaries have changed I now try to use the county name that applied at the time of a person's birth or death, having been told this is the preferred genealogical standard. As a result, if a city or town has shifted counties, that town gets left out of the location entry for a person who was born or died in the "old" county. Similarly, if I know that a person was born outside the city limits as they existed at the time, I leave the rural birthplace as county-only and don't include a city/town -- even if the site now falls inside a municipality. For the pages I maintain, none of this actually comes up often -- sometimes the only thing we know for sure is the state where the person was born.

A big thank you to everyone who's helped on this site -- I've learned a lot.

For the memorials that I manage here, I have a few preferences, which I realize not everyone shares. One (hopefully small) request: Unless they knew the deceased personally, I would like for folks not to leave virtual flowers on memorial pages that I maintain. Certain flowers/notes have the potential to detract from someone's memory. I've noticed that animated GIFs, especially, tend to become the most prominent thing on the screen (except for the ads). And some notes may turn the focus to you rather than the person memorialized.

If you have questions or special info, please get in touch! Messages here have led to story swapping and productive collaboration. You can also now use the "Contact manager" button found at the bottom of the "SUGGEST EDITS" page for any given memorial.

My general approach to Find a Grave: I have some interest in genealogy, but originally signed up as a contributor here in order to request a single correction. Since then, I've created pages on the site. I've also had memorials transferred to me, both with and without advance communication -- after I'd supplied biographical info (such as birthplace or parents) through the editing tools. This was unexpected, but I later realized it makes sense for someone with a stake in the info to be responsible for accuracy and future maintenance. However, I by no means claim full knowledge of all these folks and I won't necessarily be supplying a bio. I'm always happy to make corrections (provided they don't contradict things I do know), and happy to transfer my "peripheral" pages to descendants or close relatives of those memorialized.

As I said, some transfers have been a surprise -- but some memorials I've chosen to take over, or to create outright, because I have personal perspective on the people in question. These pages I prefer to keep managing, assuming someone with a (more) direct relationship doesn't ask for them.

Lastly, here are a couple of explanations of my choices (past and present) for listing names and locations.

Personal quirk 1: I used to convey that someone went by his or her middle name, in life, by placing the middle name additionally in the nickname field. However, this turns out to be contrary to Find a Grave's guidelines. Therefore I've removed spurious nicknames on the pages I maintain, and I apologize for having occasionally suggested them elsewhere.

Personal quirk 2: When boundaries have changed I now try to use the county name that applied at the time of a person's birth or death, having been told this is the preferred genealogical standard. As a result, if a city or town has shifted counties, that town gets left out of the location entry for a person who was born or died in the "old" county. Similarly, if I know that a person was born outside the city limits as they existed at the time, I leave the rural birthplace as county-only and don't include a city/town -- even if the site now falls inside a municipality. For the pages I maintain, none of this actually comes up often -- sometimes the only thing we know for sure is the state where the person was born.

A big thank you to everyone who's helped on this site -- I've learned a lot.