How to Contact Diana Holland Faust

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If you want to contact me I’d like you to read the following paragraphs first, for they will help you gain an understanding into my situation and avoid any possible hard feelings between us.  Feel free to ignore this, and jump to the bottom of the page for my email address if you’d prefer, but it will help us both if you read this.  

I’ve been blessed with a very successful website -- a labor of love, I assure you.  I get hundreds of hits a day.  I also get a great deal of email.  It is very flattering to receive so much email, but at the same time, it is stressful for me because I cannot possibly answer it all and still have a life.  This email overload forced me to create this "How to Contact Me" page.  I have been wanting to do this for several years, but never had the time;  most of my time at the computer is taken up with answering email -- clearly a "Catch-22" situation. 

When I was so hopelessly behind that it seemed of little consequence to stop and make this page while my email went yet another week without being answered, I did so.  I think that was in 2003, and it helped my stress level a lot, just knowing that you know not to expect an immediate answer from me.   It also helps you if you know what to expect from me.  I apologize in advance for not answering your email in a timely manner, for the odds are high that I will not be able to answer you very quickly.  I’m truly sorry about this, but I get so much mail that it is impossible for me to answer it in the time-frame that you expect and like.  

I’m not asking you to refrain from writing me, for I do read every message I receive, and I do answer most of the mail eventually.  I used to feel obligated to answer every message in a very thoughtful, personal, and thorough way; but it is sometimes impossible now.  I have to choose between answering email non-stop, or using my computer time to add to and improve the web site.  I like to balance the two, with the emphasis on improving the web site by adding more and more pages with documented families.  This is another "Catch 22" situation, for the more information I add, the more mail I get, but it's a good thing to expand our family history.  The upside of this is that I put the information online so that you can do the research yourself. 

In addition to this web site, which was up to 600 pages at last count in March 2009, and which I have been developing since 1996, I developed and maintain several other web sites, and own a web design business.  And in addition to developing web sites and answering email, I enjoy researching my genealogy, as you apparently do, too, or you wouldn't be here. 

My life is not just computer work;  we get our exercise by dancing .   You can see a video of our samba on Google for an example of how else I spend my time and stress my feet.   We started ballroom dancing in 1999 and it's become a passion.  The longer we do it the more we enjoy it.  Our latest 2007 samba is also now on Google.  We performed a waltz in 2010 and a salsa dance at my high school reunion!  We dance 2-5 times a week.  We vacation on the Gulf Coast every year and enjoy traveling when we can. 

For all of you who are waiting for an answer from me, I returned from Morocco in 2009, my second trip there, where I attended an amazing wedding -- my son's, and met a terrific new family.  A description of the wedding and pictures are in the Stories section of this web site.  I have quite a bit of catching up to do.  I was away most of September and October 2007:  on vacation on the Gulf, an anniversary trip to Cancun, then a trip to Morocco and Germany for a few weeks.   I will be away much of February -- a trip to North Carolina for a wedding and then a dance cruise.   In February 2009 we moved back across town -- what a major upheaval that was!  We are still in Huntsville city limits but have a Madison, Alabama zip code. 

Please don’t take this personally, and please don't stop writing; it is just logistically impossible for me to answer every email I receive as though it were the only one I'm getting.   I am only one person, and I do genealogy for fun.  This is not a business, but a hobby!  I don't have a staff, and I cannot spend all my "genealogy time" answering email.  I have a family and an active life outside of genealogy.   I do enjoy hearing from you and hearing about your family, though. 

So, having said all that, and assuming you’ve read this far, I want you to feel free and uninhibited about writing me.  I promise you I’ll read your message, and you could be one of the few I’m able to respond to quickly. Often I sit on messages for months and then answer them, so you may get an answer long after you wrote me, sometimes even years later.   Unfortunately, I cannot post when I am going to be out of town because of security considerations, so you will have to take your chances on when I'll be here.

Now, here is some basic "Netiquette" (Internet Etiquette) you should use when writing me (or to anyone else for that matter):

1. Who, When and Where - Be as specific as you can about how you found me and why you are writing.  Names, dates and places help immensely.   I maintain several web sites so you could have found me from any one of them, or from a query I posted somewhere, sometime.

2. Who are you? - Please sign your message.  I seldom answer an anonymous email.  If possible, please give me an alternate way to contact you (snail-mail address, phone number, or something) for sometimes by the time I'm able to answer, you will have changed your email address and I will no longer have a way to reply. Unfortunately this happens to me a lot.  A few weeks or months after you write, I write you a long reply and the message bounces back to me because you've changed your email in the meantime.

3. Subject Line. Please create a meaningful subject line.  With the amount of spam I get, your email could accidentally get deleted because the subject line is blank or suspicious (like "Hi") .   I use automated spam filters.  Vague subject lines are also not recommended (like the word "Genealogy").   If you put a Holland name in the subject line, I guarantee it won't get filtered out.  Otherwise you take your chances of me not ever seeing your message.

Well that is it, I wish I could spend much time with each of you.  I know that I would enjoy you.  I wish you the best of everything.  

It's March 30, 2011, and I add this footnote:  My lovely daughter-in-law Nawal is coming in April to spend three months with me, and I am going to begin teaching her how to keep the family history.  We'll start with keeping the database, then how to put the information into the website, and image editing.  While it is usual for me to be running 1-3 months behind in replying to email, it is going to be even longer for the next several months.  Please hang in there! 

It's now June 2012.  While it was a pipe dream that Nawal would learn to take over the family history, she is adding to it in an important way - she and my son Roy are expecting a baby in December!  I didn't do much family history the past year but I am working hot and heavy now, concentrating on Jesse's branch.  Bear with me, please.  You and the information you send are what make this website what it is.  I am very grateful for you, all my dear cousins.

Diana Holland Faust, USA.

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