Hi List Members - It's time for a few friendly reminders. Please check all messages you post to BLANCHARD-L to be sure that they have meaningful and useful Subject: lines. This will permit our members to identify topics of interest and to 'connect' further discussions by using the same Subject: line. The new Threaded Archives make use of the Subject: lines to organize the threads so if these lines are missing or are not consistent, the purpose of the Threaded Archives is defeated. There is a wealth of information in the BLANCHARD-L Archives (3 yrs. worth, next month!) and on our Web Pages. I realize that much of this may seem overwhelming to a new member but I urge you to spend some time getting familiar with them and trying some searches for your people, to give you a better perspective on what information has been collected and shared on this List. As always, I am grateful to some of the "oldtimers" who can always be relied on to help our newer members and to steer them in a direction that will optimize their research. I wish I could share more of the advice that Henry (Hank) Z Jones, noted German Palatine researcher and writer, offered at a recent genealogical seminar, but "readily admit our mistakes and correct them" is one that hit home recently. One of my wife's lines appears to have been seriously confused by a surname change in the late 1700's and is only now being corrected. The ever-present problem of bounced messages on mail lists is difficult to deal with. At RootsWeb, the usual threshold is set to 4 bounces, after which the offending address is usubscribed. When I see 2 or 3 bounces to an address, I usually send a brief note to offer assistance but, of course, my message will also bounce if the problem has not been resolved. The best advice is for members to unsub and then resub if they are aware of a problem with their system or ISP. If you are using more than one address, be sure to sub and unsub the correct address and always send to the -L-request or the -D-request address depending on whether you are subbed to Mail or Digest Mode. If you need assistance, I'll do my best to help you. Fletch