In defence of my honour!

Yesterday I read Tamura Jones' article about the MyHeritage Awards fiasco. I must say, I felt a little... besmirched.

For the record:
I am on that list and I received, and replied to, an email from MyHeritage prior to the list being published.

The email from MyHeritage included the following statement:

We were hoping to simply list you among the winners on our website, and to offer you a html badge to display on your website. There's no pressure with this, so if you don't want to have a badge on your site then you don't have to do that.

My interpretation of the message was that I could choose to participate or not. If I chose to participate, then they would send me a badge which I could choose to display, or not. There was no obligation. It was unclear if you had to reply to be included.

I did think it odd that they would send the email. Why not just issue the awards? Why seek permission to say you liked what someone was doing?

The thought crossed my mind that (although the message read very much like a form letter) I may have been contacted in advance because I had an email exchange with MyHeritage last November, initiated by them. They asked me what I thought of their site. Initally I ignored the message but they asked again - so I told them. I expressed some serious concerns arising from an incident a few years ago. I won't go into those concerns as in that November correspondence I felt that they took me seriously, looked into all that I said, and provided a plausible and possibly even reasonable explanation of what had happened.

After some thought, I replied and said that they could list me and send the badge code, but I may not display it.

When the list was published many of my favourites were included.Quite a few of them reacted with surprise at being listed. I don't doubt them. I wonder how widespread those emails actually were? It all seemed like a bit of fun, so long as you didn't take the name too seriously. My 'acceptance speech' post was intended to reflect that view. I decided to put up the badge for a while on the basis that, cynical marketing exercise or not, I thought there were many great blogs on the list. I've taken it down now that I've learnt what it may do to my reputation!

Can anyone recommend a good tarnish remover for the corners of my blog? ;-)

MyHeritage.com’s Top 100 Genealogy Sites

Yes, Twigs of Yore is among the 100 blogs selected for MyHeritage.com's "Top 100 Genealogy Sites" of 2010.

I'd like to thank my mother and my father, my paternal and maternal grandparents, my great-grandparents (with special mention going to James Black, Frances Gertrude Lewis and Elizabeth Tregoning), my 16 great-great-grandparents, and the countless thousands of more distant ancestors whose names I may never know but without whom, Twigs of Yore would never have existed! Another special mention goes to my husband, who is always willing to get me a cup of tea and who said that I really ought to thank him too.

More seriously, looking at the list, and seeing the company I'm in, it is indeed an honour. Many of the blogs listed are already favourites of mine. The others, I think I'll have to explore! Congratulations to all those named, and thanks to those who have congratulated me!