Dear Margery, In addition to the advice Mary gave you, make sure your subject heading is as helpful as possible. Try to put: (1a) on a location list, puts at least a family name (with a given name is even better!), OR (1b) on a family name list, put a given name (2) when available, add a location or even two. For example, if you are looking for John Smith who moved from Delaware to Indiana, you could write: John Smith: DE>IN. (3) when available, add a date or two. Examples: John Smith: DE>IN; d @ 1885 John Smith: DE>IN; son Edward b. 1862 in IN John Smith: DE>IN; lived late 1800s Many people who get a lot of messages don't open messages whose subject headi ngs aren't specific enough to show them how your request or information might relate to them. You can help ensure your message will be read if your heading is specific. ALSO: Remember to check your heading when you reply to someone's message. If your message does not match his or her heading, change your heading before you send the reply out. (For example, someone may send a message looking for John Smith and mention in the body of the message some other family name that you either know something about or want to know something about. If you reply asking about someone else or another family name mentioned in the message, don't leave John Smith's name in the heading, change it to "Daniel Jones" or "the McCullough family." MORE ADVICE: When you reply to someone's message, make sure the automatic "send to" e-mail address is correct. Some lists are set up to have the reply option list only the list address, some to list only the sender's address, some to do both. If you want to send a message off list to just the person who sent the message (which you might want to do, for example, if you are expressing sympathy but have no information to contribute to the information quest). Please, however, if you have additional information on the person or family, reply to the person if you wish to be sure he or she gets your message, but post it to the list as well so others who might be connected to your information will be able to get back to you. Enjoy! Karen In a message dated 2/1/2004 10:25:31 AM Central Standard Time, mary.yoder@verizon.net writes: > Just state who you are looking, post any dates > know, areas know. People on the list can't help > you if you don't have dates/places!! If anyone > has the data- you will get it!!! > > Mary >