Kathleen: You have received good responses to your message. However, neither has responded specifically to your questions in the manner that they were asked. When I clicked on the "Judge Objection" tab on the Review Objection page, I found I had four choices: > 1) Accept : Remove this message from the Daff message board > 2) Reject: Don't remove this message from the Daff message board > 3) Remove: Remove request. No notification will be sent > 4) Unlock: Don't do anything at this time. > > Could someone explain 3 and 4? 3 -- This removes the request for action on your part (objection) and it does not trigger a message to the person that clicked the report abuse link that opens the window to lodge an "objection." 4 -- When the admin accesses an objection, it is temporarily "locked" so that no one else (super admin or STAFF) can deal with it.... sort of a place holder showing that you are attending to business. One of the choices while doing so is to leave it unlocked and not do anything, including not removing the objection without action on your part. It leaves the objection in the que until acted upon by you or others (super admin or STAFF). > As you can see, there really aren't any surnames mentioned IN Ann's post...just DAFF which is in the title of the post being responded to and FITZGERALD, the surname of the person (me) who posted the message being responded to. > Should I remove "none mentioned" and type in DAFF? There is some difference of opinion here. To strictly follow the guidelines, if there are NO surnames mentioned in the body of the message, it would be left blank. Others will insert the surname as mentioned on the Board, just to have the message found when someone does a search by surname box. To completely blank a surname box that had content, one must not only delete the words that one desires to remove, but also hit the space bar. If there is not one space left in the box, then the items you deleted will reappear when you submit the changes. Odd, but true. We live with it. > This is the first time I have had to deal with an "Objection". What should I do? > Mr. Anderson seems pretty determined to have this "corrected". Firstly, you should never take "objections" personally. Be thankful that another reader/poster or admin has spotted something that may need your attention and marked it for you. Secondly, review the objection and the post and determine how you need to act. Then act. Admins must act within the guidelines set forth. This does not always mean you are to do what the reporter of abuse/objection "insists" you do. Sometimes our review determines that the appropriate action is to do nothing, except to remove the objection. Mr. Anderson was correct to point out that the post in question needed attention. He apparently went to a greater length than some to point it out to you. It is our "job" to maintain the integrity of the boards. In order to do so, we must review the surname boxes and ensure there is appropriate use of them and appropriate content. Otherwise the Advance Search feature will not properly function. Many Admins and even more posters are still not familiar with what properly belongs in the surname box and what its intended use is. > Who is the "staff" that would have recommended he report this "abuse" to me and ask me to "correct" it? Message Board Staff is Elaine, the Message Boards Co-ordinator. It is also possible that Ancestry.com STAFF may have been contacted via their Help Desk. Or he may be referring to Rootsweb's Help Desk -- which is mainly "manned" by volunteers overseen by STAFF -- Donna. "Abuse" is a bit of a misnomer, in the manner in which most of us interpret that word. To "report abuse" is merely a shortcut to contacting the Admins to let them know that something needs attention when we are reviewing our boards. STAFF also sees copies of all reports of abuse/objections. STAFF, under certain circumstances, may act on such reports before we even see them. SPAM will trigger such quick response, as will spotting of items they continually watch for... like e-Bay posts (a no-no, even if it the poster says, "I am not the seller and in no way benefit from this monetarily.") Also-- there are some that would also delete this post you mention as it is merely a "thank you" and contains no genealogical information/data. The culture of the boards is different than the culture of the lists at Rootsweb. They are not "chat" or discussion oriented. I hope this helps to better round out the responses to the questions you asked. Cheers, Lauren