This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/5538/mAB.2ACE/2272.1 Message Board Post: No one gets appointed "representative" for a name. If you want to work on a name, you work on it. If someone else wants to work on the same name, they can if they want -- you can't stop them any more than they can stop you. It's not a title or position someone bestows upon you, and there's no one out there making such appointments. You'll find that the person who comes to *unofficially* "represent" a surname is the person who has done the most work on the name, but you have to have done a LOT of work on a surname before you achieve that kind of status. And, today, it almost invariably means having a web site dedicated to the name. If you have a family web site, just put the FULL address in a message and post it here and on the appropriate surname boards, here at RootsWeb.com/Ancestry.com and at GenForum.com. If there is some web site that you want to have linked to yours, then contact the webmaster (email address usually at the bottom of the home page) and make a request that your link be put on their page.