I never read anything about a "default" guideline. The posting instructions I read said that the MAJORITY of the post should be on topic for the board -- so if 6 or 7 locales are given on a county board, that's not a majority in my mind. The majority of the post would be about the person/surname. If the Classification is Obituary (and that's why board admins should keep those accurate) I don't know why you couldn't find an obit on the surname board by using the Advanced Search feature and the name. Also........Isn't there a feature that if you put the full name in quotes, (such as "John Jones") only the posts with that complete name would show up in a search? Lou ------------------original message--------------- In a message dated 4/7/2008 11:44:46 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: I though these county boards had a default def of "if the county is mentioned in the post, it's on-topic." That means in an obit, where the birth place of the deceased is mentioned, any place he worked, and the addresses of the survivors, there could be 6 or 7 locales mentioned. I don't see that it would be off-topic in any of 'em. I'd certainly never find anything on some of the boards for surnames I research -- LEWIS for instance has thousands of posts, so does WHITE, ANDERSON, DODD, WILLIAMS, WILLIAMSON ... MUCH easier to start with the county I have for them. Cheryl **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)