The List Archives are now working!!!!! HOORAH, HOORAH!!!!! For those who have been waiting to access them in order to search for things, this should be welcome news. HOW TO USE THE ARCHIVES: There are two types of Archives access: 1) SEARCH the Archives for specific messages by searching for names, words, etc. Use this URL and substitute the name of the List for XXXXX: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=XXXXX (In other words, you would replace XXXXX with SMITH to search the SMITH Mailing List for something. In this SEARCH you MUST type the name in ALL CAPS. Another example would be to replace XXXXX with EUDORA-MAIL, VIRUS-DISCUSSION, or WINDOWS- FOR DUMMIES, etc.) Once at the appropriate page, you would type in the word or words, and select the year to search. Some Lists have been in existence since 1996, while others are relatively new, starting in 2000 or 2001. 2) BROWSE the Archives to go from message to message, month by month, year by year: Use this URL and substitute the name of the List for xxxxx: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/xxxxx (Replace xxxxx with the appropriate surname, e.g. smith. In this search, you MUST type the name in non-caps. Again, for non- surname Lists, examples would be eudora-mail, virus-discussion, or windows-for-dummies, etc.) On this page, you can choose to see all List email "threaded" or in "chronological" order. You will see a list by month and year, from the first month the List was active, to the present month. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT !!!!! If you do a BROWSE, you cannot search for a word or words; what you will see will be all the emails for a specific month/year, either arranged by date, or by "thread", with the only identifier being the SUBJECT line. This is why it is VERY, VERY IMPORTANT that when you post an email to a List, or reply to an email, you MAKE SURE your subject line is descriptive of what you are sending. These BROWSE pages give lists of emails by SUBJECT LINES !!!!! Thus, if you are subscribed to the -D (Digest mode) List, and you reply to an email contained within the Digest and DON'T change the subject line, it will look something like this: Re: GERMANNA_COLONIES-D Digest V01 #104 So, your reply gets Archived with THAT subject line. What does that tell searchers when they are using the BROWSE utility? Absolutely NOTHING!!!!! In short, if you're a -D (Digest mode) subscriber, CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE to match that of the email within the Digest before replying. Please!!!!! A word about using the SEARCH feature. You will have to experiment to find out how to best word your queries. Unfortunately, the search engine at Rootsweb is not a true "boolean" utility. You cannot search for a phrase. For instance, if you do a search for "germans in virginia", you will get "hits" on all emails that contain all three of those words, but not necessarily all together in a phrase. Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Knoxville, TN Listowner