Hi folks-- For those who have not heard about it, Rootsweb, who host this mailing list, had a major server failure last weekend. This was the cause of problems that some of you may have experienced in not receiving all or part of the messages between last Friday and yesterday afternoon. The server was up and down a few times allowing some things to trickle through but not long enough to restore normal performance. Most of the messages sent during the down-time would have been held by the sender's ISP and eventually should have appeared. Repairs are now reported as complete. If you sent messages that made it to the list, they will be in the archives which can be accessed by going to: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl Type COE in the box and it will take you to the archives of this list. You won't be able to check on messages that you have sent within the last 24 hours because these archives are constructed from the Digest version of the list. Our Digest is set to be sent whenever the size exceeds 40,000 characters or at least once each 24 hours. If you want to review all of the messages that have been on the list since September 1, use "Sep" without the quotes on the search engine with the 1998 box checked. If you just want to see all the messages you have posted, search on your name. For any of our new members, the archives is also a good way to "catch up" on any messages previously posted about the subject of your search. You can search for names that you personally are researching. Rootsweb asks that we not send "test" messages to their lists. If, after checking the archives, you believe that your message has been lost, please repost it the next day, or if it is the same day, send a follow-up message asking if anyone needs to have it repeated. You can "test" reception by sending an actual query and seeing if it appears. <grin> It's been a rather confusing week but hopefully all is now back to normal. By the way, during the breakdown, the techs also installed some spiffy upgrades that should make messages flow even more quickly than before. We owe a big thanks to Rootweb for our opportunity to even have the list. If you would like to lend a hand by becoming a member or sponsor and helping to support the costs go to: http://www.rootsweb.com/ Hope this explanation helps with some of the confusion. Joyce Cummings Listowner-COE Mailing List