Registration do-over begins tomorrow

Genealogists can break the internet.

Well, at least parts of the internet.

If you had any doubts, what thousands of hits per hour did to the registration site of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research this past Saturday should change your mind.

Yep, genealogists broke that part of the internet completely.

So for those who didn’t manage to register on Saturday — and that’s most folks — the registration do-over begins tomorrow. Instead of having the site open on a rolling basis by hour, it’ll open on a rolling basis by day in the hopes that with maximum capacity and fewer folks online at the same time the registration process can work this time.

So here’s the deal.

First off, those who did manage to complete the registration process have been / will be notified by IGHR by the end of today. Those folks don’t need to register again.

Second, there are seats available in all courses. (And by the way… if you don’t get into the course you want, get your name on the waitlist. There are always cancellations and changes.)

Third, everyone who still needs to try to get into one of this summer’s all-virtual IGHR classes needs to do a number of things before trying to register:

• Go to the IGHR website and make sure you have an active IGHR account. You can check your account status by signing in using the green Faculty/Attendee Login-Logout button at the top of the IGHR pages. That sign-in button will also get you to where you can retrieve a lost password if you need to.

• If you don’t have an active account, you need to create one (the directions are here) — and you want to do that well before registration opens for the course you want.

• Read — and if need be re-read — the IGHR Course Registration guide so you know what to expect.

• Know what day your course registration is slated for and what time registration will open (see below!!).

• Sign into your account before registration opens for the course you want.

Got that? Good. Now… here’s the new schedule for registration:

Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 10, 11 am ET, 10 am CT, 9 am MT, 8 am PT:

Course 1 — Methods and Sources, coordinated by Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG.

Course 13 — Fundamentals of Hispanic Genealogical Research, coordinated by Lynn Turner, AG.

Course 5 — Genetics for Genealogists: Beginning DNA, coordinated by Patti Lee Hobbs, CG.

Course 7 — Irish Genealogical Research & Methodology, coordinated by David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FIGRS, FUGA.

Thursday, March 11, 11 am ET, 10 am CT, 9 am MT, 8 am PT:

Course 2 — Intermediate Genealogy & Historical Studies , Intermediate Genealogy & Historical Studies, coordinated by Debra A. Hoffman PLCGS.

Course 6 — Military Records I: The Colonial Era to the Vietnam War, coordinated by Michael L. Strauss, AG.

Friday, March 12, 11 am ET, 10 am CT, 9 am MT, 8 am PT:

Course 8 — Understanding Land Records, coordinated by Angela Packer McGhie, CG, FUGA.

Course 12 — DNA as Genealogical Evidence (Advanced), coordinated by Karen Stanbary, MA, LCSW, CG.

Saturday, March 13, 3 pm ET, 2 pm CT, 1 pm MT, noon PT:

Course 3 — Advanced Methodology & Evidence Analysis, coordinated by Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL.

Course 10 — Genealogy as a Profession, coordinated by Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL.

Monday, March 15, 11 am EDT, 10 am CDT, 9 am MDT, 8 am PDT:

Course 4 — Writing & Publishing for Genealogists, coordinated by Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA.

Course 11 — Virginia: Her Records & Her Laws, coordinated by Victor S. Dunn, CG.

Tuesday, March 16, 11 am EDT, 10 am CDT, 9 am MDT, 8 am PDT:

Course 9 — Research in the South: Trans-Mississippi South, coordinated by J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA.

Now… with everything IGHR is trying to do to increase website capacity and spread things out, understand that opening the website on multiple devices or in multiple browser windows is part of what contributed to the traffic that took the website down on Saturday. It’s one thing to try to handle 1000 potential registrants. It’s a whole ‘nother issue if all 1000 hopeful folks are logged in five times each.

So plan accordingly, take a deep breath, and cross everything you have that you can cross.

Because genealogists really can break the internet.

And we’d all sure like for that not to happen again…

Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “IGHR registration redux,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 9 Mar 2021).