War Diaries Talk

Nominal Rolls +++

  • bje by bje

    The 168th Bde RFA has included a nominal roll of all men in the brigade for the last 3 months I've tagged (Nov & Dec 1916, and Jan 1917). Eleven pages long each time and has taken me hours to work through, so when I got to the end of Feb and found another one my heart sank. The last 2 pages of each have been a list of people who joined and left. I'm wondering, as the majority will have been tagged 3 times by now, whether it would be reasonable to skip most of it and just tag the joiners and leavers.

    I know I'm being a wimp, and not living up to the high standards of the adjutant who managed to make these lists in the middle of a battlefield ..... but I'm losing the will to carry on.

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Those long nominal rolls can be tedious, we know, especially when they repeat every month. While we would like every name to be tagged eventually, and we generally encourage our volunteers to work their way through these lists, if you feel that you just can't face another page right now, we aren't going to force you to do it. Every page is tagged by five people before it is considered finished, so other taggers will come along after you and fill in the gaps.

    You have some options right now. You aren't required to stick with one diary from beginning to end; you can take a break, tag another short one or finish up one that is nearly done, and come back to the the 168th Bde. RFA, although you might not come back to the same spot if other taggers work past it during your break. You can also just move to another diary and never come back to this one. Or you can carry on here as best you can. We are grateful for you help whichever choice you make.

    You may be cheered up a bit to know that this is an unusual occurrence. I've been working on OWD for nearly four years now and I have never seen an artillery diary with a nominal roll of any kind, except officers. The OR in most artillery diaries get short shrift so the fact that they are all listed makes this an out-of-the-ordinary document.

    Posted

  • bje by bje

    Thanks for your reply. I've moved to another diary, just couldn't face another 11 pages of names but may return when I've had a break.

    I'd never seen a full nominal roll before, so was very excited when I found the first one, a feeling which wore off as they kept repeating!

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    You're welcome!

    Posted

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    I am tagging this diary now and I started my first page and apparently there are more to come. So may I asked when the names in the nominal roll should be the same, do they have to been tagged again?

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    We would like you to tag each name if possible. You can just tag them as they appear in the diary without searching for confirmation of names or service numbers.

    We realize that 11 pages of nominal rolls after each month is a lot of tagging, but there are probably small changes from month to month. If you just can't face it, if you can use the #nominalroll hashtag that will be helpful.

    Posted

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    Done. Finished. I'll miss the nominal rolls 😃

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Wow! And a HUGE thank you to you, Erik! When I look back up this thread, I see that you first started tagging those rolls 8 MONTHS ago. I am more than impressed with your perseverance.

    Good work!

    Posted

  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Yes, great work Erik! Thank you.

    Posted