Hi I am still feeling my way as a new admin so I need some advice on a point of principle If there is a thread along the lines of 'looking for the parents of my GGG Grandfather Angus McDOUGAL b Glenduckie, Scotland in 1776' - lots of help and advice offered - all good stuff and pertinent to the discussion of birth records in 17th and 18th Century Scotland.... Then wham - right in the middle of it all -subject line is changed - and the thread veers off at a tangent, and we end up discussing the McDougal family of Vermont USA in the 1960's and then it goes back to the original I don't want to dampen the enthusiasm of anyone, but it doesn't have much to do with the original topic being discussed. Though of course there is a remote chance that there may be a relationship Can I move the post sideways on the board and start a new thread with it so it stands as it's own thread? Thus keeping them both on topic - or is that just not done? Advice needed (by the way these are just extreme made up examples) Thanks Fiona

I think you are creating more work for yourself than is necessary. Jim -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Fiona Hall Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 5:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [BAd] Cleaning Boards Hi I am still feeling my way as a new admin so I need some advice on a point of principle (snip) Advice needed (by the way these are just extreme made up examples) Thanks Fiona ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

IF a thread has a CLEAR point where it can be split, yes you could make that section a new thread on the same board. However, let's say the thread has 3 major "parts" A, B, C - -- sometimes you cannot move "B" and have A&C stick together. You have to *very carefully* evaluate whether each move you make will keep each "part" as a whole. Sometimes that is impossible. Just know, you cannot stick 2 distinctive parts back together if the moved middle part is what keeps the other 2 sections attached. First, look at each "indent" and look UP the thread to see what attaches to what. As a new admin, for your very first move, try to ID a section that say has 2 or 3 posts that can be moved without disrupting the rest. **Important** if you mess up, you could end up moving an entire section you never intended to move-- you should be able to "restore" it from the recycle bin (only restore your own mistake though). Now, having said all that... you might want to save yourself all the headache of doing it. Sometimes, threads veer but are related. It happens frequently when a thread starts about "overseas" ancestors. Everyone in the USA dreams of finding that connection to "back there." So, unless the thread gets so unwieldy and confusing, I'd leave the whole thread be-- OR, just move a very small section IF it can be moved easily. Judy On 3/24/08, Fiona Hall <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi > > I am still feeling my way as a new admin so I need some advice on a point > of principle > > If there is a thread along the lines of 'looking for the parents of my GGG > Grandfather Angus McDOUGAL b Glenduckie, Scotland in 1776' - lots of help > and advice offered - all good stuff and pertinent to the discussion of birth > records in 17th and 18th Century Scotland.... > > Then wham - right in the middle of it all -subject line is changed - and > the thread veers off at a tangent, and we end up discussing the McDougal > family of Vermont USA in the 1960's and then it goes back to the original > > I don't want to dampen the enthusiasm of anyone, but it doesn't have much > to do with the original topic being discussed. Though of course there is a > remote chance that there may be a relationship Can I move the post sideways > on the board and start a new thread with it so it stands as it's own thread? > Thus keeping them both on topic - or is that just not done? > > Advice needed (by the way these are just extreme made up examples) > > Thanks > > Fiona > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Washington County PA Websites: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~florian/ http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~florian/ http://freepages.religions.rootsweb.com/~florian/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~pawashin/