"Rh Domino" <rhdomino@hotmail.com> wrote: > > May I suggest this article: > > > > "Effective Use of Genealogy Newsgroups (and Mailing Lists)" > > > > http://www.pipeline.com/~richardpence/effect.htm > > > > "Richard A. Pence" <richardpence@pipeline.com> > > Richard, Very funny, now write one that is useful to all of us > newbies. Thank you in advance. A New List Reader. Here is the "translation" I prepared for a "newbie" right after the "Effecive" article appeared as an April Fool's article in RWR: I've done some updating. [ This is a great article and you *will* be a more effective poster if you follow Richard's guidelines. HOWEVER, do not let this discourage you from posting to Methods. Nobody's perfect and you have to practice posting to learn to be effective at it. - Mod ] "Translation" of "Effective Use of Genealogy Newsgroups" 1. HOT WORDS. Run your spell checker before posting. Your messages will look foolish if you misspell "genealogy." Proper punctuation is essential for clarity - and that includes using your shift key at the proper times. 2. FREQUENCY OF POSTS. Don't be a bandwidth hog. If you are stumped and have exhausted other reasonable approaches, then accurately frame your question(s) and post it/them to the appropriate newsgroup or mailing list - that is, make sure message is apparopriate to the topic of the group in which you post. There are many genealogy newsgroups and its up to you to properly direct your questions. Don't post them in several different groups except over a reasonable intervals. Since many participate in a number of different genealogy NGs and MLs, seeing the same message in several places will be an irritant. [ Every once in a while some technically astute individual observes that talking about "bandwidth" limitations with respect to text file transfers on The Net became absurd after about 1986. That's correct, of course, but it utterly misses the point: *humans* have sharp bandwidth limitations, and you don't want to waste their time and patience. - Mod ] 3. WHAT TO QUOTE: Do reference the question you are responding to by quoting from it - but only quote what is actually needed to convey that message and delete other portions of the previous message(s). Quotes of quotes of quotes make messages incomprehensible and take up unnecessary bandwidth. 4. SIGNATURES. Include as much information as you are comfortable with, but try to stay within the guidelines for signature length. That means a maximum of 5 lines, 3 preferred - and no art work. Using your real full name in genealogy newsgroups is a big plus in making worthwhile contacts. And remember not to clog up the system by attaching a list of surnames to every message - because every message is archived and you really don't want to archive 20 or 30 of those lists every day, do you? 5. CHOICE SUBJECTS. Describe as fully and accurately as you can what your message is about in its subject line. Nondescriptive subjects are often ignored. If you say you "Need Help," a reader doesn't know if you are drowning or lost a grandmother. 6. SURNAME QUERIES. We don't often realize it, but lots of people have the same name. If you don't identify the persons you are looking for completely, no one can help you. Full name, time and place are essential to proper identification. 7. BOOKSHY. For heaven's sake, do your homework before you post. You encourage the wrath of your fellow Netters if you ask a question you should be able to find the answer to with relative ease. There are dictionaries, glossaries, encyclopeias, maps and place finders galore on the Internet. Learn to use them. Cyndi's List http://www.cyndislist.com/ is a great starting point. Familiarize yourself with it and you'll soon learn how to find the sites you are looking for. [The Moderator of a "prominent newsgroup recently confided in me that he ruthlessly suppresses the urge to snap off this response: "You obviously have less neural capacity than planaria because even the slowest of the flatworms should be able to discover the answer to your question in less than 30 seconds using Google ... " - RAP] 8. FAITHFUL PARTICIPATION. The "faithful" NG or ML participant is not the one who posts the most, but the one who posts the wisest. It's sometimes tempting, but try not to comment on every issue. If you don't know the answer, don't guess. That usually confuses the issue. If possible, cite the source of your response. 9. INFORMING THE CROWD. It is often not necessary to post your answers for all to see. Evaluate your response. If it's primarily of interest only to the person to whom you are responding, the preference is to send it e-mail (individual thank-yous are a good example here). If others might benefit from it also, by all means post to the group or list. If you are asking a question, don't make it difficult for others to respond directly to you by intentionally using an invalid return address (sometimes referred to as an "anti-spam address"). It is bad manners to ask for help and not provide an accurate return address. 10. MAKING SURE. Test messages to a newsgroup are a last resort. Don't do it. If you ABSOLUTELY must "test" the system, do it with an actual message. That will keep the blood pressure of some others down. 11. CRAFTING REPLIES. We're all authors at heart or we wouldn't be participants - but do weigh whether it is really necessary to respond to a question that has already been answered or to add your "amen" to it. There is no limit to how often you can post, but there is a limit to other people's tolerance of what they see as abuse. There is no need to clog a group or a list with unneeded responses. 12. INTERNET TRUTH. Not everything you see on the Net is the truth. In fact, a good bit of it is ill-informed and undocumented. Don't pass on information that you haven't verified. Myths and hoaxes abound, but these are easy to check. Even a trusted friend sometimes can pass on faulty information and, besides, is ityour responsibility to be Chicken Little? Richard A. Pence April, 2000 (Updated May 2003) "Richard A. Pence" <richardpence@pipeline.com>