Jane Davis wrote: >Yet I find inconsistencies even with this website. My own messages >have been returned to me without posting when they exceed 300 words. >My two most recent postings were returned, one--twice, one--once, >before posted. Is there a limit to the length of our postings on >this website, or it selective? Yes, there is a limit, but it is considerably more than 300 words, if you are making certain to transmit your message in plain text. Sometimes, your message itself may be short enough, but you neglected to trim off the old portions that are no longer relevant, and the computers are very good at counting every single keyboard character -- even the spaces! The default setting for many e-mail applications is now HTML, and the RootsWeb servers are set to handle a small portion of that, attempting to automatically "transcribe" it into Plain Text. However, it has been my observation that they don't really discard the original version; it remains, hidden but a part of the message, which is why many such messages go over the limit, which is 40 K per message (plenty for even most of us long-winded types!). So, one way to help your messages "go through" more easily is to be sure you are using plain text, and not including everything that has been included and added to for the last three or four replies. The other issue is not so easily resolved by the sender. It has to do with some of the methods RootsWeb and others use to guard against accidentally receiving bad messages. It is an automatic service called SORBS, which "blacklists" certain domain addresses (by the specific numbers) for transmitting too many pieces of what is reported as s*p*a*m. Fortunately, most of these are for a 24 or 48-hour period, and they often involve only one specific address, and not an entire domain. Domains like RootsWeb have dozens of separate server boxes, each with its own specific number (your ISP almost certainly does, as well). That is why, even when there is a transmitting issue, we can often get our messages "through" if we just try it every half hour or so: one of those attempts is likely to hit a server that is NOT on the blacklist. So, is the "limit" selective? Well, yes, a little bit, but in a very random sort of way! Just keep trying every hour or two, allowing enough time for your message to post or be returned, before trying again. And, if it is returned, look at the section for the reason; somewhere in the two or three lines of techno-speak you will probably see that dreaded word, SORBS, or else the phrase that your message was too large. In either case, you now know what to do. -- __________________________ James Shuman, Co-Moderator [email protected] __________________________