To all: Those of you who signed up (or tried to) for the new Irish Placenames List were probably as surprised as the two list owners were (I can't repeat what they said). This series of Irish mailing lists has been under the aegis of e-groups, a very casual and easy group to deal with. E-groups were purchased by Yahoo (look up the name in the dictionary, if you don't already know) last summer, but Yahoo had made no effort to exercise its management principles (or non-principles - think Yahoo, Nazi memorabilia, French courts) until, coincidentally, the very day that the IPS list was introduced. The words Anschluss and Blitzkrieg come to mind. Even the list owners were not advised of the change of policy in advance. Now, everyone is scrambling. New subscribers are asked a lot of information which was completely absent from the original e-groups procedure. Registration, passwords, ID number, ugh !! I am as unhappy as the list owners.....I had posted the announcement of the list opening on about 30 genealogy lists. For the time being, the lists are all functioning normally. However, I have a suspicion that there might be a change in the list "portal" (if that's what you'd call it) sometime soon. Now that I've got this mass mailing down to a science, I'll keep you informed of any changes. Meanwhile, if you don't mind the hassle of the Yahoo registration procedure, or if you're already a Yahoo "member"; the list still goes on and, by the way, is thriving !!!! Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts