As forewarned in News Item 04, I have started work on simplifying the site, replacing Stirnet Histories with a section that is more supportive of what is the main purpose of the site: the support of Genealogical Research. I am sad to do so, for it means that I am giving-up my dreams of making a contribution to the study of Social History, but for a while it has been inevitable that I should do so That is because I have simply not had the time (or energy) to work on it in the way that was needed to do it justice. The good news to get from this is that it improves the already strong probability that I will be able to keep working on the Families Database for many years to come. It also means that it will be more 'commercial' and less 'personal' than if I had diluted its focus on Genealogy and so it should be easier (than it would have been) to ensure that someone else will take over the work on the Families Database when I eventually retire from it. This exercise may take a little while to complete but I see no reason why it should not be done before the end of this year (2015).

I have passed the milestone of 5,000 data pages in Section III of the Families Database - and that excludes the many pages that have Draft or Temporary status and so have not yet been released 'properly' into the database. Section III, on British (and Irish) families from medieval to modern times, forms the core of the Families Database and so is the core of this whole site. Consequently, passing a large round number like 5,000 is significant to me. Wish me luck for the next 1,000!

This News Release replaces one I had released on 12th August. I thought it better to do a straight-forward replacement rather than prepare an additional new release as otherwise it might be confusing, given that my plans for the site have changed since August.

I had hoped that the structure of the new version of the site, that was launched in March, would make it easier for me to develop the Histories side of the site. I had thought that keeping the bones of the previous structure, but turning it into having a blog format, would be enough to enable me to get stuck into it properly. However, I have found that the new structure, whilst more supportive of my style & approach than the old structure was, is still not right for me. After a bit more thought, this time without the distraction of having to prepare for the relaunch at the same time, and having had more time to reflect on what I really want to do with my semi-retirement, I have decided to simplify things much further. The result is as follows.

1. The ambition I had to make Stirnet Histories a blog on Social & Political History, which was already a big step down from the previous ambition of it being a Library of articles, is to be scrapped altogether. The link to (Stirnet) Histories, that is presently shown near the top of every page, will be replaced by one to Extra Content. That part of the site...