Send me everything

After posting some notes on message boards, I may get a note or two in response but usually nothing that directly relates to the family I'm researching. A good section of the responses will be in the direction of 'I have that same name but in another county, another state, etc - do you think there's any connection'.

Sigh.

What really gets me is the responder who, to my note about John Smith born 1850 and dying in 1911 in Union County, replies, "hey i have smiths in that county 2 send me everything you have!!!"

I don't think so.

First off, I'm not going to send 'everything I have' to someone who hasn't even bothered to identify any possible connection to any of the people I'm researching. Actually, I find that response a bit rude - to demand something without even the offer of providing anything in exchange.

Not that I'm expecting other people to 'send me everything'; I just want to be certain that we might actually have a connection before we waste time posting or sending info about people who may have nothing in common at all. A simple 'I have a John Smith, son of Jack and Catherine, married to Mary Adams in that same area - could we talking about the same people' and give birth and death dates for comparison works much better than demanding people send you stuff. And even if we don't have an immediate connection, it leaves a trail for someone else to find who might have more information for either of us.

A little consideration, some specific information, when writing and answering message board posts goes a long way.