Hi List, Last October I sent you a letter loaded with tips and helpful hints on how best to send a query or reply to the list. Due to the inappropriate manner in which some members of some of my lists are sending in their replies in spite of my efforts, I guess it's time to offer it up again. This is important stuff and I want all members to read it thoroughly. It might just keep you off the "moderated" list. First before we get started I want to say this: Do *not* reply to this email. This is an administrative email from the Listowner. It needs to be posted *only* by me and no part of it should be repeated or quoted back to the list or commented on by members. If you have a question or comment about this or any aspect of the list send it to me personally. You know the address. Also the rules and guidelines that all new members receive in the welcome letter, a copy of which was sent to the list in January of last year, are still in effect. I would recommend that everybody read that letter again soon, and review it each time you post to the list. If you lost your copy you can replace it by visiting the list homepage or by e-mailing me *privately*. The main purpose of my letter last fall was to encourage members to post their query if they had not done so in a while, and then I followed with tips on doing so and also tips on replying to queries of others. This time, since the problem area is with replying, I'll begin with that area first then follow up with tips on sending original queries. Here are some tips on replying to a query: Okay, somebody posted a query and you have the information they need, or you have some leads or some speculative information or whatever. Perhaps you have a question to ask them so as to clarify a point or you might see a name that you recognize about whom you have a further question. So you hit the reply key and start typing at the top of your editor, leaving the entire query trailing behind along with taglines, the sender's signature lines, administrative messages, advertisements from the server host and the email client, and a virus scan report. Please don't do that. It's ridiculous. It's called top posting and it requires the reader to sift through a bunch of unnecessary stuff and to constantly scroll down to see what the current writer is referring to. Don't be lazy! As one listowner in another list once pointed out, "It is a lot easier to have a sensible discussion that other people can follow if you don't top post." Also sending that extra stuff is against the rules of this list! Do you remember back in the old days when we wrote to friends, family, pen pals, and research correspondents with a pen or a typewriter? We didn't send their letter back to them did we? Of course we didn't. We reminded them about a discussion in that previous letter and then we expanded on that theme. We can do that here too. With computers it's called "quoting" and it's done by leaving portions of the previous message and removing (deleting, trimming, snipping) the rest. Then we type our reply below (after) the quoted material, just like we did in the old days. It's so easy to do with the mail editors (like mini word processors) that come with our email programs and it's much, much easier for readers to follow. For those of you who were initiated into the world of email after the beginning of the "dot-com" era (when businesses entered the Internet and required their correspondents to top post) here's how normal quoting is done. This is really easy and it will become second nature after you have tried it a couple times... After you hit the reply key, before you begin typing, first look at the entire email in your editor and identify what portion of it is genealogical, that is, what part of it did the sender type in an attempt to find ancestors or share data. Next, remove everything else. That's it for starters -- you've got it down to just genealogy. If you remove nothing else from that message you've got it down to being on topic because if you include any of that extraneous stuff your message is off topic. Think about that for a moment. Reread this paragraph if necessary. The next step is judgmental on your part and what you do next depends on what the query includes and how your new information relates to that data. If the original query included an entire family (standard practice) then in your reply you need include only those family members that make up the subject of your reply, that is, typically you descend from only one of the children of a family. Retain those pertinent lines of text and remove the rest. Try to keep enough of the previous message intact so that the reader is reminded of what the thread is about. Leave the "greater than" brackets there. They're there for a purpose. If you can't figure out what else to remove, again if you remove only the "administrivia" as mentioned above and retain just the genealogical data you'll be doing just fine. We're not concerned about saving space. We're just trying to clean the page up a bit to make our submission easy for all members to read. As another example, if the poster sent in a list of first settlers of Boomtown, USA and you would like to reply concerning one name of interest then please remove everything except for the line or paragraph containing that name. Now, this next line is a key statement that you might wish to read two or three times: After you have finished trimming the original message move your cursor down to the end of the very last line, at the bottom of your editor window, hit the [Enter] key two or three times to leave blank lines for readability; then begin to type your response. Go ahead and try it -- it's easy! Other members and *especially* this listowner will be much happier! :-) There's a variation of the quoting method called interspersing and I'll demonstrate it by example. Let's say the poster sent in a basic query, family group sheet style. The parental data comprise, say, two paragraphs and there are six offspring given making a total of eight paragraphs. You wish to reply with comments on the parents plus you descend from one of the children, let's say the fifth one, for whom you have some information to share. You would retain the first two paragraphs then type your comments below. You would then remove the paragraphs containing children 1 through 4 (not your ancestors), retain the paragraph that contains child 5 (your ancestor) and remove the 6th. Hit the [Enter] key once or twice (always leave one or more blank lines between each section) then type your further comments. Here's what a finished reply might look like. The quoted lines from the original query are preceded by "greater than" signs and the rest is our new material. ===== At 4:00 p.m. Percy D. Ancestorhunter wrote... > I'm looking for the ancestry of blah-blah > who were born [date] [place] blah blah. They > were married blah blah blah > They settled and raised their children in blah blah > but I'm told they were buried in blah blah Dear Percy, I descend from that same line and I still can't find their ancestors. I do have some leads, which I shall share with you. Go to http://www.Blah-blah-blah, also there is a book which blah-blah, etc. [children 1 through 4 snipped] > 5. Mehitabel born blah-blah married blah blah > more about Mehitabel blah blah Percy, this is the branch that I descend from. I'm glad to have found that we are cousins! I have all Mehitabel's children's names and I have a large database of her descendants that I will send you in private email if you wish. [child 6 snipped] I hope this is helpful. Best regards and have a great day. Your cousin, Annabel T. Rootsdigger ===== Now that you know how to reply to a query sent in by another member here are some tips to help you get started writing your own query. First decide whom you're going to write about and put that name in the subject area. If you're looking for the ancestry of say, your great-great-grandfather Ansel Fuller then type that name in. Or maybe prefix it with something like "Looking for... ". If you know where Ansel was from include that place also. So your subject title might look like... Seeking ancestry of Ansel Fuller of East Overshoe, Maine. (Include the state, county, province, country, colony or territory) Don't put simply "Fuller" as the subject. We all know that we're looking for Fullers. The object is to catch the attention of the reader who might have some information on the individual ancestor you're looking for, who might otherwise delete your email. Some list members are on multiple lists and they may be inundated with dozens or hundreds of list messages each day. You want them to open your email if they have the information you need. Use an eye catcher. The only time you might include the surname only would be if you were looking for all Fullers of a particular place. In that case, using my town as an example, your subject might indicate that you're... Looking for all Fullers of Searsport, Maine. Don't type "roll call" in the subject area. That's not who you're looking for. Most serious researchers will delete that unopened message in a heartbeat. Now, let's talk about the body of your post. Try to give as much information as you know, dates and places of all vital events if known, along with enough info on other family members so that the reader can positively identify if they are researching the same family. "Anyone out there researching Fullers?" is going to find its way into members' trash bins. You don't have to use all capital letters for surnames. Many tutorials will advise you to use that style (i.e. FULLER) but it is no longer necessary. Now that we have mailing lists that zero in on individual surnames and local places the sheer volume and variety of messages is greatly reduced in any single list. In the Fuller list everybody already knows we're looking for Fullers, and it is much more readable in lowercase. Write the names the way we were taught in grammar school. Break your query into paragraphs and leave blank lines between them for easy reading. If you wish to list a family's children and their spouses leave blank lines between each of them. Don't cram everything together. Don't worry about message length or file size. There is a maximum that the list server allows but rarely will you reach that limit. But do post only one query at a time. If you have two Fuller lines that you'd like information on send your queries in two separate emails. When you're done sign your name. It can be simply your first name or your nickname but let people know what to call you when they reply. Sometimes people like to add some additional surnames that they're "also looking for". If you wish to add some names try to use a small list, perhaps 3 to 6 surnames of ancestors *closely* related to the person you're looking for. Only include surnames that might be helpful in finding the ancestral line in question. For example if I'm looking for information on the wife of Joseph Silvester who was born in 1674 I might state that I'm also looking for Hall, White, and Rogers -- names contemporaneous with the subject name of my query. I'm not going to include surname Washburn because my Sylvesters didn't connect with that family until more than two centuries later. I've made a web page with links to several query tutorial sites. For more tips and ideas check out http://www.feliixplace.com/genealogylists/query.html . I hope you have taken the time to read this message and I hope you apply some of the methods given. Most importantly please follow the rules and guidelines of the list. Do post your query and help your cousins find their roots. We now have new members and hopefully we have new information on your missing ancestors. Again please don't reply to this message in the list. Any comments or questions are to be sent to me at my administrative address that is given in the welcome letter. Best wishes and good luck with your search. David http://www.feliixplace.com/genealogylists/fuller.html

Hello, folks, as FULLER List administrator, David has requested that any responses to his post be sent to him personally at FULLER-admin@rootsweb.com, and I have taken the opportunity to do so. PSW David Sylvester wrote: > Hi List, > > <snip>