Hi: Prompted by comments I've received from several subscribers in recent weeks, I've revised and I hope clarified the rules about posting to DEVON-L in the GENUKI/Devon FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) file, which is at: http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonFAQ.html The particular issues that were complained about were excessive repetition of the texts of emails from earlier in a message thread, in replies to such emails, and uninformative subject lines, but below I quote two particularly relevant sections of the FAQ in their entirety. Cheers Brian Randell 19. What topics are appropriate for messages to the DEVON mailing list? Ideas for messages to the list can include: - The Devon surnames you are researching - Queries regarding Devon individuals or families - Questions or information regarding Devon localities - Questions or information about Devon genealogical research - Requests for or offers of help on Devon genealogical research - Tips & tricks regarding Devon genealogical research that you'd like to share with everyone. (The success of this list depends on the continued willingness of people who can do so to aid others who are seeking help - this willingness is likely to evaporate if those who receive such help neglect the common courtesy of offering their thanks, either by direct mail or where appropriate via a message to the list.) It is acceptable for new subscribers to post a message simply listing their Devon research interests. However, repeated posting of such messages, e.g. in response to some sort of "Roll Call", is not acceptable, due to the impact they can have both on the level of traffic on the DEVON mailing list, and its "signal-to-noise" ratio, i.e. average level of interest to subscribers. (Repeated flouting of this rule will lead to the sender being unsubscribed.) Incidentally, it is always a good idea to include with any query to the DEVON mailing list a brief indication of what searches of online and conventional sources you have already made. This is in order to avoid your receiving, and other respondents wasting effort providing, information that you are already familiar with. If you are uncertain whether a message you are considering posting would be regarded as appropriate for the DEVON mailing list, please seek advice beforehand from the list moderators, Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@newcastle.ac.uk> and Terry Leaman <terryleaman@tiscali.co.uk>. 20. Are there other general rules regarding posting to the DEVON mailing list? Please refrain from postings which are not of relevance to Devon genealogy - such as messages concerned with genealogical software packages. In particular, do not post messages about computer viruses to the list. (Anyone ignoring this rule is liable to be automatically unsubscribed.) If you have a query or information about a possible computer virus, send it directly to the list owner, Vicki Lindsay Thauvin <vicki@thauvin.net> or to the list moderators Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk> and Terry Leaman <terryleaman@tiscali.co.uk> who will if appropriate communicate its contents to the list. The reason for this rule is simple - fear of viruses is such that any message on the mailing list about a virus is such that, even if the message is itself timely and factually correct (something which is far from always the case), it will lead to a whole host of follow up messages, often of dubious accuracy, which themselves constitute a sort of virus, and annoy many subscribers. Similarly, please do not use the DEVON mailing list for messages (such as thank you messages) that are aimed at a specific individual, and which do not contain information which is likely to useful to (or perhaps even understood by!) anyone else. Such messages should be sent by direct email, so as to avoid clogging up many hundreds of mailboxes world-wide. Make sure that you use an informative subject line on any message to the DEVON mailing list - messages headed "Help", "New Subscriber", "My Brick Wall", etc., might well escape the attention of readers who might be able to help. Similarly, adherence to the common genealogical convention of giving surnames in CAPITAL letters is strongly recommended. When replying to a message, please avoid needless repetition of the text from this or earlier messages in the message thread. (Such message repetitions may not be immediately evident if lots of text has scrolled off the bottom of your email text window.) However, take care to provide or retain enough text to make your reply understandable. If you have reason to question whether a message you have tried to send to the mailing list has been received and distributed successfully, please ask one of us to investigate - DO NOT clutter up everyone's mailbox by sending out "test" messages. If you wish to complain or comment unfavourably about some other subscriber please do so directly to the subscriber and/or to the list owner or moderators - NOT to the entire list, which just exacerbates the problem. Vicki, as is evident from her occasional messages to the list, is quite capable of dealing politely but decisively with people who misuse the mailing list. Similarly, the list is not an appropriate place for critical comments about archives and other organisations, e.g. regarding their policies concerning access to information they possess which would be useful to genealogists. Finally, note that since the DEVON mailing list is distributed by Rootsweb, it is governed by Rootsweb's "Acceptable Use Policy", which is to be found at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/rootsweb/aup.html In particular this states: "You should submit only content which belongs to you and will not violate the property or other rights of other people or organizations. . . Content submitted for the purpose of commercial use, advertising or fee for service is prohibited. " School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell