Census questions won't be banned on my lists. They have relevance to genealogy research. I've been on lists where the Administrator takes themselves too seriously, banning this person, admonishing that person, cutting off discussions, and not allowing areas of genealogy research that don't fit their narrow views. I don't consider myself to be a "List Mother" who must constantly be on my "kids" to do everything exactly right. I am a "List Administrator" who will step in to keep my lists clean, on topic, and without extended needless discussions between individuals. It's an easy job. Why make it harder than it need be? Linda

On 3/1/2012 12:35 PM, Linda wrote: > Census questions won't be banned on my lists. They have relevance to > genealogy research. Linda: For your lists, fine. If I were subscribed to one of them, I would be quite happy with you making the decision. The whole thing revolves around the question, "Does being 'relevant to genealogy research' make a discussion on topic for every list?" On my lists, the answer is "NO". It is not relevance to genealogy research in general that is important, it is connecting to the list topic. My subscribers have made it very clear that they like my approach. I have never had to ban anyone for making a stink about it, either. A parallel to all this is DNA. Most of us would agree that a thread about "which company is the best one to do DNA testing" would be *off* topic on the HARTWELL surname list. I believe most of us would also agree that a discussion about whether two 17th Century men named HARTWELL were brothers, with the evidence all coming from DNA, would be *on* topic for that list. Yet a few short years ago, some admins stated here on LO that any attempt to discuss even DNA evidence and conclusions, not just methods, would be grounds for banning. At first, that may even have been the majority opinion. I have always allowed such conversations as long as the dots were connected to get to the list topic. For example, this question would be *ON* topic for the Windsor County, Vermont list: "What is enumeration district 14-20 in Ludlow? It's just a dot on the map." (The answer, also *ON* topic, is Civilian Conservation Corps Camp SP-6.) This example question, however, would *NOT* be on topic: "Why does my browser time out when I click on any link to the census images?" (The answer will be that the Windsor County list is not the place to get a solution.) My original question here on LO was about how other admins would handle, not the first kind of question, but the second. Will you announce in advance how things should work? Will you let nature run its course? Are there creative options? I thought it would prove a rather boring kind of discussion, centered primarily on whether posting a new list rule would be useful. Silly me. Darrell

I don't even know why people are discussing it, what is right for one list, is not right for another! Surname lists are different animals to county lists, and can be overwhelmed. Each List Admin should just do what they feel is 'right' for their list, without other Admins knocking what they do. For goodness sake, don't we have enough without talking about other list admins doing the 'wrong' thing Lin -----Original Message----- From: listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Linda Sent: 01 March 2012 18:35 To: LISTOWNERS@rootsweb.com Subject: [LO] Census questions Census questions won't be banned on my lists. They have relevance to genealogy research. I've been on lists where the Administrator takes themselves too seriously, banning this person, admonishing that person, cutting off discussions, and not allowing areas of genealogy research that don't fit their narrow views. I don't consider myself to be a "List Mother" who must constantly be on my "kids" to do everything exactly right. I am a "List Administrator" who will step in to keep my lists clean, on topic, and without extended needless discussions between individuals. It's an easy job. Why make it harder than it need be? Linda ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LISTOWNERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I will be only too glad to have any spontaneous discussion on my list. . Johan Dorey-Venter. Admin Dorey surname list. dorey@rootsweb.com