Dear Listers: This is a timely article that ties in with our recent CIG meeting about using Rootsweb's recources. I hope you find it of use. Happy Trails, Lauren ......................... 1. NEWS AND NOTES 1a. MESSAGE BOARDS. Utilizing Surname-specific Searches When is Germany not a country? This may sound like a riddle worthy of asking the sphinx, but the answer is simple -- Germany is not a country when it is a surname. Does your family tree include surnames (last names) that also have other meanings such as GREEN, COFFEE, IRELAND, FIELD, ROBIN, COUSINS, JOSEPH, or LIST? Researching surnames that are also colors, foods, birds, countries, places, first names, or common words can make it difficult to search the Internet looking only for instances where the word is used as a surname. In many cases you have to wade through thousands of irrelevant (to you) listings in order to find those few references to the surname for which you are searching. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could eliminate the chaff from your searches for your WHEAT ancestors, and find only instances where your ROSE, BUSH, BIRD, or FINCH names are listed as surnames and not references in a nature guide? It can be done. However, two factors must be present to enable you to do a surname-specific search of a database. First, the database itself must have been created with a surname field and it must have correctly formatted entries in that field. Secondly, that search engine must be designed to look for the surname field. The RootsWeb/Ancestry message boards: http://boards.rootsweb.com/ permit surname-specific advanced searches. The database includes a special surname box that allows you, when posting a message, to enter surnames in the box (in other words to tell it that STONE is a surname, not a rock or some concreted earthy or mineral matter). In addition, this message board search engine permits advanced searches for only what is in that surname box. The message boards also provide a general every-word search capability, which will pick up surnames found in the posted messages (text) as well as every other word found therein. This is adequate for finding surnames that are unlikely to appear in any capacity other than as surnames. However, even in those cases, it is often useful to be able to narrow down your search to only the surname references. When you are hunting for your FRENCH, COURT, BLACK, or HOLLAND ancestors, for example, using the advanced option to search the surname field specifically is essential. Making surname-specific searches work effectively requires some effort when posting on the message boards as well as the correct entry of the surnames on the searching end. Remember the purpose of the surname box when you are posting on the message boards and make use of it, but enter ONLY properly formatted entries in the box. List only surnames that are actually mentioned in the message text -- not every surname you are researching -- and never, never add any extraneous words in the surname box such as "and many more," "etc.," "or," "and," or any word or symbol that is NOT a surname or part of a surname. Do not use symbols such as /, +, or &. Never include first names, locations (places), or dates in the surname box. List each surname (case is not important when you're posting), one after the other, separated only by a comma. Do not use any extraneous symbols that are not a valid part of the surname itself. Use a hyphen only when you are listing a properly hyphenated surname such as MORALES-RUIZ and not when separating two distinct surnames. Do not use a hyphen to indicate that Peter SMITH married Suzie JONES -- SMITH-JONES. Show these surnames as: SMITH, JONES. Names such as ÖSTBERG or RODRÍGUEZ can be shown as they would be in their native languages. The message board search engine will correctly include them in the search results. When listing surname variant spellings, show each separately as: FIELD, FIELDS and not as FIELD(S) or FIELD/FIELDS. Neither of the latter two variants will show up in the search results unless the person performing the search entered FIELD(S) or FIELD/FIELDS exactly -- and that is not likely to happen. As peculiar as it may seem, a search for either FIELD or FIELDS will not find FIELD(S) or FIELD/FIELDS. Keep in mind when you are posting on these message boards that the surname box function is to provide the search engine with surnames and only surnames -- exactly as listed by the person requesting the search. An example of a correctly formatted surname box entry is: Field, Fields, Cousins, Cuzins, Östberg, Bird, Byrd, Van Allen, McDonald, Black, Germany. Tip. When you are on the searching end, the greatest number of matches can be obtained by entering the surnames using all lower-case letters such as "finch" or "germany" or "cousins" (without the quote marks) since these message board searches are case sensitive with the exception of all lower case searches. What this means is if you use all lower-case to search for peacock, it will find all the peacock, Peacock, and PEACOCK entries. So don't leave your GATES swinging on the garden gate, your FIELDs chasing flies in left field or your BIRDs perched on a limb -- make proper use of the message board specific-surname box entries when posting and surname field only searches when searching. For best results put the full power and capabilities of the RootsWeb/Ancestry message boards to work in your research. Previously published in RootsWeb Review: Vol. 6, No. 39, 24 September 2003.