I wanted to announce to all that our fledgling GEIGER list which is not yet 2 months old has just surpassed the 100 member mark today. In view of the many new subscribers who have recently come on board I wish to state a few items which hopefully will help to make the list more useful to all, and to acquaint the new members with our list and the rules and procedures to follow. First of all, one of the greatest resources available to you when joining a list such as this is to pay a visit to the Rootsweb Archives and search the archived messages. All messages posted to this list can be found and searched in the Archives. To do this start at the main Rootsweb page at: http://www.rootsweb.com >From there click on SEARCHES which will take you to another page. Look for the link that says something like..."search the archives of over 2,000 genealogy mailing lists" and click on that. From there type in the list name that you want to search. For this list you would type in: GEIGER-L. Then you will need to type in the subject you wish the search engine to look for. For example if you are researching Valentine Geiger--type that in. All messages with that name included will be displayed for you to click on and search and print out if you want to do that. This will enable you to know what has already been discussed on this list and also to contact the person who had posted the information of interest to you. Everyone on this list should understand that the list is concerned with all aspects of the Geiger surname and all variants of that name such as: KIGER, KYGER, KEIGER, GYGER, GIGER, GIEGER, etc. It is also concerned with the families who were allied to the above surnames in so far as the information aids us in researching our Geiger ancestors. The German/Swiss/Alsatian surname Geiger and its variants can be found in all parts of the world today and it should be remembered when posting a message to this list that it is important to identify the location of the Geigers you are discussing. Be as specific when listing your information as you can in your subject. "John Geiger" is a far less helpful subject line than "John Geiger, Somerset County, PA, 1800" would be for example. Also, those who receive this list in Digest format are urged to change the subject line which is automatically placed in the "reply to" function to one which will be informative--since digests all revert to a subject such as: [GEIGER-L] Re: GEIGER-D Digest V98 #64 which tells the reader nothing about the information contained in the message. It can also be helpful when posting messages to the list if you captitalize the surnames in the message for easy reading. Remember while most of the members of this list at present are Americans and are researching Geigers who at some point emigrated to America, not ALL on this list are Americans, and we should remember that when posting our information. This list which concerns itself with a Germanic surname should not forget the fact that many who join us in our discussions are from elsewhere in the world. English may not be their native language. We all can learn from one another, and respect for all is of utmost importance. Remember the roots of our American Geiger families lie in Europe, and the European roots of our families are a vital part of our research. Remember there are others who are researching European Geigers who remain in Europe today. If the English speaking members of this list ever find the need to translate a message posted to it, or a reply you wish to make to someone whose language is not English, I encourage you to visit the following WebSite which provides a free translation service: <A HREF="http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate">AltaVista: Translations</A> Any questions, suggestions, complaints, administration trivia, or requests for help messages concerning the day to day running of the list are to be addressed to me privately at the following address: JYoung6180@aol.com and should NOT be posted to the list. The list is for genealogical discussion. At present the list is setup with a default setting of automatic "reply to list" when you reply to a posting which means that discussion is encouraged to include the list as a whole and not just the individual you are replying to. However, if you are merely thanking someone for information or wish to relay information of interest to only one other person please change the reply to exclude the list and reply only to the individual. In general, reply to LIST is encouraged. I have also set up the list to include the list name in the subject of all messages coming to the members from the list. I realize that this takes space in the subject box that could be put to use in reading the actual subject of the individual messages. the list name appearing in the subject serves no useful purpose for those receiving digests but I hope those members will understand that it does serve a purpose in enabling single message mode subscribers to sort their mail by subject which is a very useful function. At present Rootsweb is working on a solution whereby the list name would only appear in single mode messages and not in digests. If this method becomes available to us, I will enable it. We do NOT allow flames on this list but encourage free discussion, even when that includes disagreements as to research findings. If anyone on this list is flamed or attacked in any way by another member of this list, please contact me privately and I will deal with the situation. Please do not post any such discussion to the list. It is possible (and sometimes necessary) to have disagreements in order to make progress in research--but they must be handled in a civil and polite manner. Joan M. Young, List Moderator GEIGER-L@rootsweb.com