Fellow List Members: We have recently seen an interesting discussion on the origins of Peter Hitt, and several requests by list members to switch to digest mode. Three comments: (1) The List Administrator, George Durman, cannot switch you from "List" to "Digest" mode. You have to do that yourself, just the same way you subscribed in the first place. You first must unsubscribe from the list, then resubscribe using "digest" mode. Sending out requests for "somebody" out there to switch you to digest should not be sent to the list, or even to the list administrator. (2) When replying to any topic, in this case the Peter Hitt thread-- please do NOT repeat the entire thread. This results in one having to read over and over and over what you have already just read, plus all the tag lines for both the sender and the list message itself. If you want to REPLY to a message from Digest Mode, the default merely states the Digest Number and Message Number in the subject line. You MUST change that to refer to the topic you are replying to. Otherwise nobody will know what it is about, and won't show up in the archives under that subject. This is an active list with many great researchers on it. As intelligent people, we all need to be cognizant of proper netiquette procedures. Yes, it is so human to want to react immediately and hit that REPLY button. But take just a few moments to edit your responses. In other words, the old KISS theory. (Keep It Simple, Stupid). (3) Grammar. I am probably a bad offender here. Not so much for my grammar, but leaving words out of sentences and not using spell check. George is right: Words do mean things, and grammar is important. When I see a post full of misspellings, bad grammar and no logical flow to what is trying to be conveyed, you can rest assured I will not reply to that message. Why? What's the point if someone is that ignorant, trying to guess what they talking about and then replying will probably result in that person not understanding the answer anyway. If you are intelligent enough to figure out to get on a mailing list in the first place, and inquisitive enough to do your genealogical research, do take the time to write meaningful posts and replies. (4) Religion and Politics. I take a much more liberal view than George on inclusion of these topics, but only as they relate to our ancestors, and not espousing current day opinions on either subject. We all have our own political and religious beliefs, and it is a real digression of the purpose of the list to try to impose one's beliefs on the rest of us. It gets everyone very off-topic and is guaranteed to start a flame war. That being said, religion and politics are the very reasons why the Germanna colonists came to Virginia in the first place--and their role in subsequent events like the Revolution, westward migration, and the Civil War. There cannot be any meaningful discussion of the history of Germanna without a serious discussion of those two topics. My Two Cents, Craig