Hi KYBELLers, Thanks for your emails, however, this matter was dealt with by me late last week. I had a number of people express an interest in fulfilling the role of list administrator if I orphaned the list. The person to whom I allocated the list on this occasion is Lorraine Newsome, and I will let Lorraine speak about herself to the list. My general way with dealing with these matters if a list is orphaned 1) allocate to a volunteer from the list if there is an interest [Here I had three or four, I forget how many and I am not in front of my mail archive to check] 2) if the administrator for the corresponding message board is a volunteer, they usually get preference [not an issue in this case] 3) if there is a project involvement or burning passion demonstrated by volunteer [here Lorraine was given the gig as she is a county coordinator with one of the projects, similarly for a surname a one-name interest] 4) sharing the load [I don't like monopolies over large areas, eg. having many lists in a geographic area or simply having many many lists will count against you] 5) first in, best dressed (if I cannot find any other criteria for differentiation). [fwiw Lorraine fulfilled this criteria, not that it came to this point] Unfortunately it cannot be something that is voted upon, especially after the fact, as I don't have the time or resources to allocate to such a process. [Remember there is approaching 30k lists and I chase many list admins separated from their lists.] Naturally, early in the process if support is expressed for a person, it can sway a decision as it falls under point 3). As the list has been adopted, this matter is at end from my perspective, though I do thank you for your expressions of enthusiasm and expressions of support for one of your subscribers. Charlotte is obviously well regarded by the subscribers to the list, and I find that encouraging to think what a great supportive list this is. Obviously Charlotte should feel quite chuffed (and I hope my Australian idiom is understandable). I do hope that you are able to support Lorraine in her role. Again, thanks for the interest. Regards, Andrew -- Andrew Billinghurst <billingh@rootsweb.com> Genealogy mailing lists: http://lists.rootsweb.com/ Ancestry.com--Your #1 Source for Family History Online http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=702&sourceid=1241