Happy Thanksgiving! As your "List Owner", I have two adminstrative issues for us all to consider: 1) As you may know, effective over the next few weeks, RootsWeb has begun to make past (and future) e-mails from all 2000 genealogy MailLists available from an on-line, searchable archive. I have indicated to RootsWeb that archiving of this list is desired. If you have any concerns about this proposal (for example, the potential for unauthorized/uncontrolled/uncredited use of shared research has been mentioned by some participants on other lists), please let me know and we'll open the debate via the list. Below is some info from RootsWeb on how the archive service will operate: What do we intend so that the web-crawlers don't scoop up all your addresses? A front door, of sorts. Anyone accessing the archives, either the threaded ones or the search engine or, ultimately, the search engine to the threaded messages, will have to come in via a particular page. The page will have a box in it. In the box, you'll type the name of the mailing list. (We'll make it robust, so that JONES, JONES-L, JONES-D, jones, Jones, etc., all work.) Then you click on "submit" and are deposited on a page (build on the fly by a cgi-bin script) that lets you search the Jones archives, or follow a link to the threaded Jones messages. Brian says he can set this up so that, once you're in the "archive area", you can easily go from page to page, but that if you try to jump into the middle, you'll instead be diverted to the front door where you have to type a list name. So no robo-crawler will be able to wander through our message bases collecting addresses, but your listmembers won't have to remember a "password" any more elaborate than the name of the list. Recent digests (probably a month's worth) will remain available for ordering via e-mail in the usual manner. You may wish to visit the RootsWeb Home Page in several weeks to follow or check the status of the archive effort. 2) Transfer or Termination of the List will occur on or about January 1st. My plan was to establish and support (not much effort there) this list from July through December, and then start one for another surname which I am researching. Any RootsWeb Sponsor (cost: $24 per year) can operate two lists. Information on becoming a sponsor is found at: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html Please let me know at <[email protected]> if you are interested in assuming the sponsor/owner role for this list. Whatever the outcome, I have enjoyed meeting you all and thank you for your assistance and for your enthusiam for our shared passion. Craig