I am in the process of trying to understand the status of the archives and search procedures at RootsWeb. There has been considerable discussion about the pros and cons of having the archives accessible from a web page rather than via e-mail. RootsWeb intends to go with the web page and toward that end, they have set up a demonstration page at: http://searches.rootsweb.com/example.html Here you will find eight lists that you can play with. This page will only be active for a short time, or possibly until all the 2000+ lists are available (target date is 1 December 1997).. You can do single word searches or combinations using 'boolean operators'. Examples of these are: enter: Ebenezer & Avery if you want to locate all posts to a particular list that have both words, Ebenezer <and> Avery; enter Blanchard | Saratoga if you want posts with the word Blanchard <or> the word Saratoga; etc. As soon as a complete set of instructions for searching the Archives is available, I will report it to our List. Here is a summary of information received from Karen Isaacson at RootsWeb and a few other sources, through 16 Nov 1997, along with my personal comments. 1. Archives for the 2000+ lists have been moved from the 'lists' server to the 'searches' server and are being indexed. Once the new web-based system is on line, the old (e-mail based) system will be turned off. <All> list archives are available from RootsWeb to any listowner who wants to set up their own FTP site. I'm disappointed about this decision since some of you may not have ready web access and we will have to come up with some plan for you to be able to intereact with the Archives. I also have a complete set of message files (hard copy, as well) which are available in an emergency. 2. Any List can choose not to have their archives indexed and available on the web site. BLANCHARD-L <will request> that our Archives be assigned a web site and each participating List will have its own site. 3. After considerable discussion about password pros and cons, RootsWeb, at least for now, has decided that no passwords will be required to access an Archive web page. 4. Here is Karen's description of the appearance of the page returned by a search of the Archives, "if a 'hit' is on a message sent while the list was at RootsWeb, only that message will be displayed. If the 'hit' is on a message sent while the list was at MAISER [our old server, prior to about 3 May 1997], the entire file (such as a weekly archive) is returned and you'll need to use the "find" feature of your web browser to hone in on the message you want. I intend converting the format of these files so that only the matching message is returned, but it may be awhile, and I thought too much was better than none at all, in the meantime." 5. Another parallel but related archive effort has been pursued by Marc Nozell, whom some of you probably know. My understanding is that this archive will be for current "threaded" messages and will allow you to follow a message backward and forward. The RootsWeb Archive web pages will offer access to all the archived files (RootsWeb and MAISER), and a link to Marc's archive of more recent, threaded messages. 6. RootsWeb listowners will have no editing capability for their Archives, at least for now. Any cases of "egregious copyright violation", grossly inappropriate messages, spam, etc. will have to be manually removed at RootsWeb but Karen and Brian are not encouraging these requests. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I still do not see how our Index-Lines Database fits into the new archive plan, if at all. Nothing suggests that we will be able to retrieve specific messages, based on our Index-Line identification system. If you have a different or better understanding of the new archives procedures, I would appreciate your input. I will try one last time to get a reply to my personal e-mail to Brian at RootsWeb. Fletch