Hi: This info about letting Rootsweb message boards, mail lists, etc. know of your changed address was in this week RootsWeb Review. I am pasting it below. My suggestion: If you have a very common name - change it a bit so it is easier to search for, i.e. Larry A. Wolf can sign his name as L. Anthony Wolf. So, if Larry changes his address - he should post messages on message boards commenting on his new address. The readers of his old messages who are trying to reach him can do a google.com search for the words L. Anthony Wolf. Note that google.com does not search mail lists only message boards so be sure and put the new address on a couple of boards. The reason that google.com cannot find messages on mail lists is also the reason our rootsweb mail lists are safe from spam. Spammers cannot find our addresses in the mail archives but they can at the message boards - so do not give your address in the body of a board message. I was doing that to make it easier for the people to reply - twas not a good thing to do although it is safe to put your address under your signature at a mail list. If you are new at this and don't know what the difference is between a message board and mail list - go to rootsweb.com and scan down the left side of the page to Mail Lists and Message Boards. Note below that the message board address change needs to be done just once - it is global to all the rootsweb lists. Regards Nan 71532.734@compuserve.com ================================== RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine Vol. 7, No. 11, 17 March 2004, Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist Editor-RWR@rootsweb.com 1. NEWS AND NOTES. 1a. Updating E-mail Addresses: Make It Easier for Cousins to Find You Chances are, at one time or other, you have posted messages on RootsWeb mailing lists, message boards; uploaded a GEDCOM to WorldConnect, or submitted surnames you are researching to the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL). Naturally, you're hoping that someone will come along and find your query or data and will contact you with additional information, break down your brick walls, or inform you that she is your long-lost cousin Winifred Wunderbar from Dubuque. (You know the cousin who inherited the family Bible that your 4th-great-grandparents brought over from Germany with them in 1807 that has all the family history meticulously recorded in it -- hey, we all dream!) However, maybe some, or all, of those important queries and that carefully researched data of yours were posted under an e-mail address from which you are no longer able to receive mail. Cousin Winifred may be tearing her hair out attempting to find you and, unless you have left a breadcrumb trail or she is psychic, you are going to miss out on all the information she wants to share with you. Take time today to check the RootsWeb resources you have used over the years and update your e-mail address or post new, updated information that will enable your cousins to find you. WORLDCONNECT. To update your address on a WorldConnect GEDCOM, start here: http://wc.rootsweb.com/ or click on the FAMILY TREES tab at the top of any RootsWeb page. Click on START HERE and type in your user name and password for the account you wish to update. If you don't remember either or both, go to Password Central to obtain the information: http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ or click on the PASSWORDS tab on any RootsWeb page. After accessing the WorldConnect SET-UP page, find the box where your e- mail address is displayed and change it. Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on: UPLOAD/UPDATE to submit the change. You do not need to upload a new GEDCOM to change your e-mail address. If you have more than one account at WorldConnect, you must make the e-mail changes on each one. By following these instructions your existing GEDCOMs will be reprocessed to display the change in options you have selected--the updated e-mail address. MESSAGE BOARDS. Updating your e-mail address is easy and can be accomplished globally on all message boards at once -- if you are a registered board user. LOGIN on the boards, click on MY PROFILE, and make the changes to your e-mail and post e-mail addresses. If you are not a registered user, register now by clicking on LOGIN, and on NEW TO ROOTSWEB -- SIGN UP NOW. Register, using your OLD e-mail address. LOGIN under your new account and update MY PROFILE as outlined above. MAILING LISTS. You cannot update your e-mail address on old mailing list posts but you can post a new message with your new e-mail address (provided you are currently subscribed to the lists) on the lists where you had previously posted under the old address. Be sure to include any new information you have learned since you last posted a query on the list and make note that your e-mail address has changed since then. RSL. Instructions for updating your e-mail address can be found on the RSL Edit page located here: http://rsl.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rsledit.cgi Click on: Edit existing researcher data, including e-mail address . WEBSITES. Also, if you have a website housed at RootsWeb and your e-mail address has changed since you set up your account you should inform RootsWeb in case staff needs to contact you about your site. Drop a note to: accounts@rootsweb.com (providing your old and new e-mail addresses). So, if like most of us your e-mail address has changed at some point and you have not updated your contact address scattered across various RootsWeb resources, do it today. Don't leave Cousin Winifred wondering how she can reach you with the goldmine of information she has on your Wunderbar family history.