Greetings List . . . Dori's suggestion makes perfect sense to me and I support it wholeheartedly. It could give the best of both worlds if done right: -- Provide a *key word* for the disinterested to use to filter out these requests and not deal with them at all. -- Let the interested folks selectively follow names of interest. -- Allow those kind souls out there doing the lookups to pick them out easier. If members on this List are willing to be guinea pigs, I'd like to run a 30-day trial here, also, and then get your feedback on the pros and cons of this method. Expanding on Dori's idea, I'd like to use these key points during our trial period of better Lookup Management on Lists. 1. 1st words in Subject Line: Census Lookup. 2. Next following: (County)/(Date)/(Surname). In that order only. 3. 1st words in Subject Line of Reply to be: Reply Census Lookup. 4. Next following to repeat: (County)/(Date)/(Surname). If this works and significantly improves the flow of messages on the list, I will expand it to many of my other lists to reduce unnecessary reading. Your thoughts and ideas are always welcome here. Unless there are major objections (which should be sent to be privately and not aired on the List), we will begin this trial on Monday, April 15th. ~~ Kathleen List Administrator _______________________ ~~~ Kathleen's Korner ~~~ Kathleen@KathleensKorner.net -- ----- Original Message ----- From: <Dorydu@aol.com> > For census lookups here in the US. some rather loose rules have been laid out, which, if followed, seem to eliminate reading many, many inquiries that are of no concern. ("census lookup" with nothing else is automatically deleted !!!!!) > > It has been suggested that we use the following format for lookup requests: (County)(year)(Surname) ---- on the PA list it would look like this: Berks/1866/Smith. > > On the N. Ireland list it might look like this: Tyrone/1850/Dougherty.