I'm going to try something new. On welcoming new project members I'm going to give them a link to my M222 site and suggest they join the M222 Rootsweb email list. I think I'll also send out the same info to the M222 project via the bulk mail option. If nothing else that might help breathe a little new life into the mail list. A lot of these new project members are new to DNA and are looking for assistance and information. Even though the M222 site and email list are on the project site I think many are not finding the links. If there's one thing I'm sure of it's that people on this list will be willing to help newbies. I just thought I'd warn people on this list first so you aren't surprised if get an unexpected notice. If anyone else has any ideas on how to improve the project feel free to post them. John

John, Your plans sound great. The testees in the Excel chart could be broken up into various groups. I am not sure of the best way to group them because I've never worked as an administrator on your site, but something along geographical, then surname lines might help. Doing this would help you meet the first goal listed for the project: "(1) To draw geographical distinctions and establish further clan and family subclusters within the R-M222 haplogroup." Lots of work though. Getting as many people as possible to load to Ysearch and provide GEDCOMs would also be useful. That is really something that should have happened at the surname project level, but it won't hurt to remind them to do it when they join, or when you send out your bulk mailing. On the Macpherson site we try to get these from new testees right away, and one of the co-admins has been working one-on-one with the earlier testees. He offers to create the GEDCOMs if they aren't comfortable making them on their own, and also helps them load to Ysearch as needed. It's a slow process because some people don't respond to his emails, but we've gotten more out of it than we did with a single bulk mailing, although that is worth trying the first time. I need to provide GEDCOMs for my MacAdam lines. The Background message at the website (the FTDNA site that people see when they search for haplogroup projects at FTDNA) needs updating and breaking down into subsections to make it easier for readers. Also, there was some sort of graphic in there that isn't working for me, but maybe that's just a problem for me. The News section hasn't been updated since June 2008. If I were a newbie, I'd be a little worried as to how active the site was. So that's my two cents. Allene