Greetings: I have been entrusted with the RootsWeb mailing list for the FORBES surname. My deepest condolences to the family and friends of John Brandt; I was not a personal acquaintance, but his fellow list admins speak very highly of him. I know he will be missed. In the next few days I will be browsing through the FORBES-L archives to get a feel for the list and who some of the active contributors are. I can be reached at either: darrellm@sprynet.com FORBES-admin@rootsweb.com I am also the admin for 5 Vermont lists, 1 Massachusetts list, 18 surname lists, and 1 genealogy web site creation software list. Two of the surname lists are FORBUSH-L and FURBUSH-L, which (to anyone with a New England accent who has tried to puzzle out "Forbes" spoken with heavy Scottish brogue) are obvious spelling variants of the original FORBES. A few of you may recognize most of this message (likely the longest one you will ever get from me). The position is voluntary, with no qualifications and not many onerous duties. With the conviction that FORBES-L has been and will be what its members make of it, I intend to administer with a light touch. You will of course want to know what that *means*: 1. Each list has its own look and feel, to which the members become accustomed. I intend to change nothing without a reason, and if it's visible to the subscribers I am likely to ask for opinions even then. I welcome suggestions for improvement. You will note in the next few days, however, changes to the "taglines" which I hope you find useful and interesting. 2. There are some exceptions to my "light touch" approach. One is "Rootsweb's Common-Sense Acceptable Use Policy" at: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/aup.html 3. Besides egregious violations of the AUP, there are two things that will get you banned from the list without further warning. One is flaming, which is a personal attack on a fellow subscriber. You may contradict any idea or statement made on the list, and you may do so as vigorously as you care to; but you must do so cordially, without becoming personally antagonistic, and without disrupting the list as a whole. 4. The other unacceptable behavior is the posting of virus alerts, scam alerts, and all such. If you have just discovered proof of the virus which will end the Internet -- tell ME off list. Let the other list members get some genealogy done in the last few days left to us. (NOTE: No, the virus *you* just heard about is NOT an exception!) 5. Praise publicly, complain privately. Except to provide evidence correcting statements of fact, all criticism of others or their messages, or of how the list is being run, should be sent to me -- privately. Another exception: if I should happen to say something you *like*, as admin, don't clutter up the list with the e-mail equivalent of the Parliamentary "Hear, Hear!" 6. The list is about the FORBES surname, and is hosted by the largest and oldest genealogy site on the 'net. There is a reasonable expectation that messages will have some connection with FORBES genealogy, history, and family doings. What that means is for the most part left up to the list subscribers. Information on related spellings, such as FOWERBESS (which I just made up), would be welcome. 7. An intolerance for irrelevancies and an inability to filter out unneeded information are not positive traits in genealogists. Please accept slightly off-topic messages, the opinions of others, expressive signature blocks, and the like, with good grace; or if you can't manage that, with silence. 8. Newbies are my friends. A newbie I haven't met has the key to that elusive ancestor I have agonized over for decades. Please don't insult or patronize my friends on this list. 9. I am, like most of us, an amateur genealogist with FORBES/FORBUSH ancestry. You can see information on my oldest (and admittedly quite poorly documented) FORBES ancestor at: http://www.darrell-martin.net/genealogy/p2432.htm#i2432 10. I am very pleased that the "reject file" (banned users list) is empty. I will do everything in my power to keep it that way. Darrell RootsWeb List Admin - 5 VT and 1 MA location lists Darrell A. Martin - 18 surnames lists darrellm@sprynet.com - 1 software list