Lost Opportunities

Genea-Bloggers, if you have experiences like this, you have my permission to forward or adapt for the miscreant. Just tick the necessary boxes and fill in the blanks. It’s quite acceptable to tick off more than one box in a section.

Dear Cousin ______:

What a thrill it was for me to hear from you, a new relative, via—
□ postal letter
□ email
□ my blog or website
□ telephone

We made a connection thanks to your new interest in family history and definitely have a relationship—
□ 2nd cousins (add “removed” wherever necessary)
□ 3rd cousins
□ 4th cousins
□ half-cousins
□ step-cousins
□ et cetera

I understand the connection because—
□ your brief message connected some missing dots for me
□ I knew your grandparents (aunt, uncle, greats, whatever)
□ we can help each other fill in more blanks
□ I’m not a salesman, scammer, phisher, or otherwise idle person

After I shared my family research on your line—
□ I’ve heard no more from you
□ emails to you bounce back
□ your phone is disconnected
□ I ask myself if you have a website I don’t know about (with my stuff on it now?!)

To be honest, I am wondering if you are avoiding me because—
□ this new family history interest of yours had some ulterior motive
□ you think I’m an intrusive lunatic
□ you didn’t want to know your grandpa was a bigamist
□ twitter is your only sorry way of functioning with your fellow human beings
□ you went bankrupt since I heard from you
□ you are incommunicado in jail

Depending on the possibility of further communication, I am prepared to—
□ make allowances for personal problems
□ never answer you again
□ delete your whole family line of descent from my family history
□ sue your ass off for copyright infringement

With due respect,
______________________ , hardworking family historian