Greetings: I am contemplating "banning" conversations about the 1940 Census on my surname and county lists. Not about what is seen *ON* the census (the contents), that would be silly! I'm talking about - How do I get access? - Is NARA better than Ancestry.com? - Why doesn't it open?? - How can I make it bigger on screen? - Why is it so slow?!??!@#$% I am going to post links to the NARA. I *may* pre-emptively post the E.D. information for each county. I waffle back and forth between just letting things go on one hand, and moderating each list for a short while on the other, with lots of options in between. The middle ground is probably something like announcing the temporary rule and then watching like a hawk to see which lists get out of hand. The simplest, but the most work, is using moderation. What do the rest of you think about this? Darrell

Hi Darrell What monumental calamity will occur if you allow posts on the 1940 census on their lists about their places and methods of finding their ancestors I must be missing something as I thought that was what the lists are for Are quantity of posts so great as to cause a problem with a few more? Once a question is asked, then answered they may help several subscribers at the same time and may not get asked again Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > Greetings: > > I am contemplating "banning" conversations about the 1940 Census on my > surname and county lists. Not about what is seen *ON* the census (the > contents), that would be silly! I'm talking about > > - How do I get access? > - Is NARA better than Ancestry.com? > - Why doesn't it open?? > - How can I make it bigger on screen? > - Why is it so slow?!??!@#$% > > I am going to post links to the NARA. I *may* pre-emptively post the > E.D. information for each county. I waffle back and forth between just > letting things go on one hand, and moderating each list for a short > while on the other, with lots of options in between. > > The middle ground is probably something like announcing the temporary > rule and then watching like a hawk to see which lists get out of hand. > The simplest, but the most work, is using moderation. > > What do the rest of you think about this? > > Darrell

Darrell A. Martin wrote: > Greetings: > > I am contemplating "banning" conversations about the 1940 Census on my > surname and county lists. Not about what is seen *ON* the census (the > contents), that would be silly! I'm talking about > > - How do I get access? > - Is NARA better than Ancestry.com? > - Why doesn't it open?? > - How can I make it bigger on screen? > - Why is it so slow?!??!@#$% No, I won't be banning it, nor moderating any of my lists wholesale. Yes, there could be questions like those you are using as an example. Yes, it will be slow. Yes, there will be those who in their excitement fluff things, don't read things properly, get impatient *but* it WILL run it's course. It will all settle down. For every person who asks a question about the 1940, there's likely a dozen more who won't ask but will appreciate the answers. Then again, I'm not the type of admin who'll jump at the first mention of a subject that's borderline, or even totally off topic, screaming "OFF TOPIC!! OFF TOPIC!!" and slamming the list onto mod to make sure. If a subject does go on too long, I will gently (and hopefully with humour) remind people there IS a topic which governs the list. It's usually enough. End of the day though, how any admin runs his or her list is up to them. If they know their membership, they'll know how to deal with it. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/

I hadn't even thought of it until you mentioned it. No it will not be off-topic. Joan Asche On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 5:25 PM, Darrell A. Martin <darrellm@sprynet.com> wrote: > Greetings: > > I am contemplating "banning" conversations about the 1940 Census on my > surname and county lists. Not about what is seen *ON* the census (the > contents), that would be silly! I'm talking about > >  - How do I get access? >  - Is NARA better than Ancestry.com? >  - Why doesn't it open?? >  - How can I make it bigger on screen? >  - Why is it so slow?!??!@#$% > > I am going to post links to the NARA. I *may* pre-emptively post the > E.D. information for each county. I waffle back and forth between just > letting things go on one hand, and moderating each list for a short > while on the other, with lots of options in between. > > The middle ground is probably something like announcing the temporary > rule and then watching like a hawk to see which lists get out of hand. > The simplest, but the most work, is using moderation. > > What do the rest of you think about this? > > Darrell

Ditto. I see no need to do a pre-emptive ban of a valid genealogy topic just in case a discussion *might* get out of hand. That can happen to any topic. If it does, I'll deal with it on a case-by-case basis, as with any other list issue. Nan On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 5:28 AM, JLA <jasche45133@gmail.com> wrote: > I hadn't even thought of it until you mentioned it. > > No it will not be off-topic. > > Joan Asche >