I also just looked at the list to see if I was very active on it, and I found that not only have I been very active, I also was helped to find valuable information.  It works as is, obviously, and I'm not sure if there would be an advantage of it being a message board.   However, I do tend to go searching on message boards for specific things, names, places, and the like.  I make sure that I watch all the email traffic for this list.  I'm not sure there would be a change needed.  MYRA HERRON Tempus Fugit; Memento Mori  (Time Flies; Remember, you will Die.) Let no one ever say of you, And say it to your shame, That all was always beauty here, that is, until you came. --- On Fri, 8/21/09, Betty <bbffrrpp@comcast.net> wrote: From: Betty <bbffrrpp@comcast.net> Subject: [CAN-USA-MIG] Do We Need a "Message Board?" To: can-usa-migration@rootsweb.com Date: Friday, August 21, 2009, 8:16 AM Hello, I just checked the archives to remind myself of when I started up this List, and it was 2 1/2 years ago.    (It is also when I became an Administrator for the first time.)    It was around that time, or 2 years ago, when another Administrator volunteered to start-up a Message Board to go along with the List.    I'm pretty sure that Administrator told me that her request was denied.    I didn't want to pursue the idea at the time. The other Administrator ended up with health problems at least a year ago, and was no longer able to participate on the Lists.    I finally inquired about her at the Help Desk as she had been quite active on the Lists in the past.    I found out just last month that the Lists and Boards had to be given up for adoption  (included the Maine List).     Since she is no longer on-line, I can't ask her opinion. In regard to Message Boards which are "gatewayed" to the appropriate Lists, I find the Message Boards important.    But, there are varying opinions about whether a Message Board should be "gatewayed" to a List.       I don't mind it.   The main reason is that a List is more active and has more information in the archives when the postings to the Message Board are also posted to the List. Over the past 8 years,  I have found important information for my research - by going to the Message Boards.     Either I post a query and get informative responses,  or I do a search of the archives and "find" important information.    And, I've found that there are many researchers who do not like to participate on the Lists, and many don't !     So, you won't find those researchers mentioned in the archives of the Lists. (The Message Boards at    www.genforum.com   have lots of information in them.)       It was probably those Boards where I "met"  my step-cousins, and a few of my "distant cousins.") I have never tried being an Administrator of a Message Board, and I'm told that that job is a little more complicated.     So, I'd like to ask if anyone on this List would be interested in volunteering to do it.   But, a reminder is that -- whoever "requests" that a new Message Board be started up -- must become its Administrator. So, do you think we would have more people participating on this List -- if we had a Message Board for  CAN-USA-MIGRATION -- where the queries posted there would be gatewayed to this List? Betty            (near Lowell, MA, USA) List Administrator When you want to respond to a query or comment posted on this List,  I find it MUCH easier to post a new message -- remembering to include the SUBJECT from the post you are responding to !!    Please make sure there is a SURNAME or place-name in the Subject. To search the archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=CAN-USA-MIGRATION The information page is: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Immigration/CAN-USA-MIGRATION.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CAN-USA-MIGRATION-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message