Welcome Aboard ! ! ! Glad to have you as a member of our BRADLEY-ROOTS Family Discussion Group. As of this moment, there are 56 subscribed members. I'm soliciting your support in making this list a friendly, pleasant and an exciting place to discuss ancestors from the distant past. Because I started this list, RootsWeb considers me the listowner; however, up-front this list in reality is owned by all subscribed members, for without such... a list would not exist. Therefore, I shall consider myself as the list moderator and as such will NOT mandate any self-proclaimed rules, except the following. "Please treat each list member as you wish to be treated." There are some COMMON SENSE practices for this list and will be discussed later. In case you haven't visited his website, John Fuller has included the following listing on his "Genealogy Resources on the Internet" website (http://users.aol.com/johnf14246/gen_mail.html): BRADLEY-ROOTS. A mailing list for the discussion and sharing of information regarding the Bradley surname and variations (e.g., Bradlee, Bradely, Bradleigh, Bratley) in any place and at any time. If there is a surname variation which should be considered for inclusion, please advise. If you haven't done so yet and since messages to the BRADLEY-ROOTS-L list are being archived, why not help fellow cousins NOW and in the FUTURE by sending information on your line to the list in the form of ancestor reports, family group sheets or a combination thereof. Let's not wait until we are too old and don't care about our genealogy before we decide to share our data which we have so proudly collected. <Grin> By all means, please post any surname related information passed to you or discovered during your research which may benefit list members now and in the future, even if it is not related to your line. Please feel free to comment on any information posted on this list and consider posting any available documentation references related to the information. For those new to email discussion groups and this list, please place the following address in your email address book: BRADLEY-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com Please use the above email address to post messages and follow-up responses to the BRADLEY-ROOTS-L list. Since I don't like rules particularly those which will impede communications, below are some common sense DOs and DON'Ts for this list: (1) DO post all follow-up responses to the BRADLEY-ROOTS-L list for the benefit of all those interested and for archive purposes; (2) DO NOT send idle chit-chat messages to the list for someone will yell at you; (3) DO NOT send email ATTACHMENTS to the list because attachments will lock-up some email programs. PLEASE... DO NOT SEND GEDCOM FILES TO THE LIST; instead, send it to the member's personal email address with prior coordination; (4) DO NOT send messages greater than 20,000 bytes (20KB) to the list because they will not be processed; and (5) DO have fun and some excitement in searching for and finding your ancestors and new cousins. I want to share some of my thoughts on using meaningful subject lines on messages posted to the BRADLEY-ROOTS list. Up-front, please understand that this is your list and individually, you may format your message subject line as you see fit; however, consider the following: (1) Some subscribed members may receive so many messages on a daily basis that they scan the subject lines to determine if the message is opened or sent to the trash bin (deleted); and, (2) Archived messages which have subject lines such as the following must be retrieved individually and opened before researches can determine if the message applies to their line... whereas, messages with meaningful subjects lines can either be selected or passed-over: "Searching for Great Grandfather BRADLEY", " My BRADLEY Line" or "My Family Line". To ensure email recipients will at least scan the subject line of my email messages and consequently, assist in archive searches, l include the known full name, life span, and migration path in my subject line, i.e., John BRADLEY, 1740-1821, VA, TN. I do this to maximize the potential for finding those researching my line (or them finding me) and hopefully, receive additional information on either ancestors and/or descendants. I wish to alert the membership about Harold Helm <sundance@neosoft.com>, the BRADLEY-L listowner, who is subscribed to this list. Some on this list may have been subscribed to his BRADLEY-L list and have been subjected to his rude incomprehensible behavior by failing to abide by his self-proclaimed rigid RULES. Perhaps, a few (including myself) are persona non grata on his BRADLEY-L list for either failing to follow his rules and/or making some critical remarks regarding his rules. I have given Harold Helm's ample opportunity to personally unsubscribe from this list. However, he has elected to remain on the list and by default, understands that his incomprehensible behavior which he exhibited on the BRADLEY-L list will be not be tolerated by neither the list membership nor me. Conversely, if anyone has pent-up animosity toward Harold Helm, I'm asking that you please exercise self-restraint on this issue and not let it become a topic of discussion on this list. Should Harold Helm decide to post a message on the list, please consider one of the following options: (1) Respond cordially; or, (2) delete the message. Anyone receiving a rude message from Harold Helm or anyone else are encouraged to forward the message to me for action. If you have any suggestions, comments, questions or problems concerning the list, working a GEDCOM file, accessing archived messages, etc., please contact me using my personal email address; however, comments and suggestions (pro or con) with general membership interest should be posted to the BRADLEY-ROOTS-L list. COME ON... post your line including any other surname related information and have fun doing it. You may meet a cousin you never knew you had. Happy Huntin' Jim Young RR 3, Box 329-A McAlester, OK 74501 (918) 423-4788 Email: myoung@icok.net