Nan Wolf wrote: >I am posting this on the Hinds message board because I just learned that google.com will find it and will NOT find messages in the Rootsweb mail list archives. One has to go straight to the Hinds-L archives to search them. Google is not allowed in rootsweb archives. That means one has to go to the archives of each mail list and search them individually. Messages to the Hinds message board also go into the Hinds-L archives but not vice versa. > It's unfortunate that many of the surname message boards on Rootsweb _don't_ gateway automatically to the associated surname email list (if there is one). I'm really glad the HINDS message board and list do this. It's a bit confusing though. Obviously, a lot of info that appears in an email list doesn't appear in the board; and if someone posts to the board but is _not_ a member of the list, any answer posted on the email list won't reach them unless the person answering goes to the trouble of entering the querent's email address. "Reply-all" won't automatically enter that person's email address, just the list address (I just tried). So if you ever reply to something that was gatewayed from the message boards -- double-check to make sure that the person you're replying to gets your message! Then there's also the issue that when a message board _doesn't_ gateway to an associated email list, sometimes the content of the message board will be completely different than the content of the list for the same surname. For example, one of my surnames is Presley: there's a Presley message board, a Presley mailing list, but the two are completely separate, and a message posted in one won't appear in the other unless the writer goes to the effort of posting it in both places. Some other surnames of interest to me have message boards but no lists, or lists but no message boards. I learned this by trial and error, having wrongly assumed that all surname boards/lists were set up like the HINDS board/list were. I wish there was more consistency; or at the last that this info was included in the Rootsweb help files. So I am going to right to the Rootsweb people to ask about this. Meanwhile, I guess I just want to tell people to be doubly thorough when you are using surname boards and lists at Rootsweb to check _all_ of them! And if you're providing information, to provide to all of them! Let me add that I've been thoroughly impressed by your handling of this list, Nan, and also of how members use it. In particular, I'm impressed by how people frequently post information that they come across about people with the surname Hinds even if it's not relevant to their own family history, just in case it might be related to _other_ researchers present and future. That's great service to others. That practice has been an example to me, & you can count on me to follow it both here & in any other community of family researchers I'm part of. Great big kudos to all of you. -- Mel --------------- Melissa S. Green < serkku@henkimaa.nu > ---------------- My HINDS line: Joseph Hinds (1705-1772) > John Henry Hinds (1745-1811) > Asa Hinds (1786-1850) > Susannah (Hinds) Renneker (1833-1918)