Hi Mary, Perhaps I should address your concerns regarding what is published in this email list. This list is unmoderated. That means whenever a SUBSCRIBER sends a post to Fay-L@rootsweb.com, it goes directly to the listeserver at Rootsweb and is distributed to all the subscribers. No human hands even touch it to censor it. It CANNOT be censured. If someone posts offensively, I will remove them from the list. That has only happened once. I also believe that the religuous preferences that you speak of WERE in the post and you can check the archives if you like. They were not censored. Posts from NONSUBSCRIBERS are handled differently. They ALL come to me first for review. Most of the posts from nonsubscribers are SPAMMERS that are trying to use the list for their commercial purposes. It has been a long time since any SPAM got through. I have had a couple of appropriate posts, and just publish them and write the people to encourage them to subscribe. Most do. There has been no after the fact policy change. It has been the same way since I began to administer this list last year. I am the only one that can change the policy for those things. They are posted continuously at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~faywebsite/mailing.html and have been since about December of 1999. There are some areas on the policies that I don't really care that much, and would rather see the subscribers decide how they want this list to operate. That is who this list is FOR. And when I have asked for help no one has been willing to put something together. There are some things that I have to have as policies...various technical things to allow the subscribes/ unsubscribes to move effectively, no violation of US and International copyright laws, and protection of personal privacy. And I have defined the purpose to be the genealogy and history of the Fays. That eliminates email fights about politics, religion, and other contentious issues. I would like it very much if you and anyone else that is interested would help further refine the policies of this list. Within broad bounds I can be pretty flexible, but I really don't like a lot of "Rules" Should postings about people follow the 100 year rule or the 72 year rule, for example? Should the reply-to response to a posting be to the list or just to the poster? Should the purpose of the list be modifed or expanded? These are policy issues that need to be resolved and your help would be sincerely appreciated. I believe what you are reacting to is a an off list email discussion that inadvertantly wandered onlist about placing a group of posts relating to that family on the website. The website is VERY public and must have a very high standard to protect individuals personal privacy. There are individuals on this list that have had difficult personal experiences with this. Thus the website is very conservative compared to this list. Those decisions are made between the author of an article and the Webmaster during the web page development process and are made SEPARATELY and on a case by case basis unlike the general policies of this list. Again, I would encourage you and anyone else that sees things that should be improved on this list to bring them forward and post them to the list and lets get them resolved. Please, Bob Fay, List Administrator Dear Folks, As an active genealogist who lives on the East Coast, I want to thank Ms. Linda Hogan for her comments on the religion at the end of her message.["FAY] Obit for George Fay", vol. 00; #60:x-message #3; posted June 22, 2000]. This kind of editorial comment, and it was clearly given as such, is of a great deal of help to me in trying to figure out your Western FAY Families. Insights, such as Ms. Hogan's, are invaluable to the professional genealogist. In this short note, we are alerted to the fact that one branch of the John Fay Sr.1 (OPF #1) family has become Roman Catholic in a given area. Consider the fact that about 1/3 of the FAY's in the United States today trace their lines from the Irish FAY/FAHEY/FAYHE (probably Roman Catholic) immigrants, and you will get some idea of how invaluable this short sentence was to me. It also alerts us to the fact that a number of the records for this family will be found in the Roman Catholic Parish and Diocese Archives. It also alerts us to looking at similar documents in the Lutheran Church Archives. [Birth records, baptismal certificates, Sunday School Records; confirmation certificates, marriage registers, funeral records, church offices held by members of the family, etc.] Of the three siblings of George Fay, I think that two can probably be identified as Albert Jenner/"Genner" (a phonetic transcription by the funeral home) and Mrs.Peral Louys, who may be Cora Anna Pearl (Fay) Louys/Louis. It is just possible that Faith (Fay) D'Annuncio was born after 1898 and is thus not numbered in the family of Daniel Fay 8 (OPF # 830-3-6) I am awaiting a confirmation of the birth dates and names of Daniel FAY's family based on the Census from 1870 to 1920. If the family of Jonathan Fay 6 (830) is not listed in any Census, then the Church records from two denominations will become invaluable to hook up Ms. Hogan and Ms Anderson's family to the FAY tree trunk. I think that it is very important to receive the informations in posts to the FAY-D list without telling folks to delete a given part of a message. You are stepping on their freedom of expression. Information which you may find somewhat offensive, may not be seen that way by the sender or by other genealogists. As far as giving dates for living persons is concerned, the dates on Obituaries will reveal who was alive at the time the obituary was written. I DO NOT want to see the dates of Obituaries left off of postings. If such dates are left off of postings, the posting becomes next to useless to a genealogist. I would caution folks to be sure to check with older relatives to see if they mind having their birth dates posted. I would point out to all of you that birth dates from Census material before 1920 is already available as that (1920) Census is open now. I also note that nothing besides Ms. Viola Fay's birth date was given. If she married, then her data would be fairly well protected. My personal policy for the FAY FAMILY DATA BASE is to close the "living" FAY Data files to non immediate family members, unless instructed to open them by the informant. I think that policies concerning information to be submitted, ought to be posted regularly, perhaps on a monthly or every two months basis, and new subscribers should receive a copy of such policy when they are entered into the list of participants. I do not like "after the fact" policy changes. Sincerely, Mary (FAY) Nelson 9 ============================== Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com