Dottie: I've been struggling with how to respond to your message all day ... here goes. List Admins are not here to hold your hand, solve or help you with your personal genealogy research. If they can make some suggestions for research that's great but it's not a specific duty of a List Admin. List members may be more helpful in answering queries in many cases as they may be researching similar lines. In surname lists it would be unrealistic to assume that any List Admin would have experience or knowledge for all lines in that surname or geographic areas of research. List Admin duties are mostly administative (just as the name suggests). They keep lists on track, put out any fires, i.e., members arguing, take care of the spam that hopefully gets stopped by the filters, weed out legitimate emails that get caught in spam filters, help people with their list subscription. They keep informed of general problems with list emails, chat with other admin's about specific ISP problems, etc. Sandra goes way beyond what is expected of an List Admin. On some lists even those that are pretty active you only hear from the List Admin when there's a problem and people don't necessarily even know the name of the Admin. As long as Sandra follows List Admin rules, there's no cause of complaint that could be brought (or even should be brought) against her to RW. RW supports List Admin's and rarely removes one against their will unless something really bad has happened. As long as she keeps an active email for RW's to contact her, doesn't let a list get out of control, does not have massive causes of complaint against her Rootsweb will let her manage this list her way. It's very quiet on most lists right now always is before a major holiday. Let Sandra have her brief hiatus and when she's ready to step back in full-time and full speed ahead in the new year, that's up to her. But there is no reason for a new list admin. She certainly has my support as a list member and fellow list admin. Kathi Jones-Hudson, National Coordinator Tombstone Transcription Project http://www.usgwtombstones.org/

As list admin of the PA-census-lookup list, I have "known" Sandra for years. She administers this list extremely well. She, like myself, is a genealogy nut and we love to offer the benefit of our years of experience to anyone who is researching their family history. Please remember that everyone, even your list admin, also has a life and sometimes the time needed to supply those extras to the list is just not there - especially now, with the holidays coming. And sometimes people fall ill. Your list admin is here to make sure the list runs smoothly and to take care of any problems. Anything provided above that level is a generous benefit - and sadly most people only realize its importance when it is no longer being offered. Sandra will return to active status when she is able - in the meantime, try helping each other! When doing your research, first and foremost, check the list archives! You will find a wealth of information that has already been looked up and posted; why then should a volunteer do it all over again? Check the archives. If you don't know how, go to Rootsweb, to the area for Newslists, check on threaded archives (or search archives) and type in the name of your list. I love the threaded archives feature - just to browse and look at all the information that is there - and it goes back for years!! Google the name - amazing what you can find. Go to USGenWeb's Archives and search, there's a wealth of information there as well, as does Rootsweb itself. If you have lots of deep roots in Old Chester County, invest in Accessible Archives (abt $55 yr) - all of the old newspapers/periodicals are transcribed there, and it also covers NJ and Del now (I believe). I know I found tons of information there myself. There are other lists dedicated to the Chester County area; go to Rootsweb and find them and sign up. There is one that covers Chester & Delaware Counties (which once were one county). You can visit my list as well.....we have lots of volunteers, and the censuses go back to 1790. Think outside the box. Consider alternate spellings of last names. Hey, no one said this would be easy, but you know, compared to 20 yrs ago - when all info was gathered on foot - what is available online now is phenomenal. Note: the list archives - that is the reason why all list admins say to post all information to the list, do not reply to people privately! All posts are archived; therefore all of that information is saved, and just waiting for someone to look at it. If your family is from Old Chester County, you likely have thousands of unknown relatives - imagine all of them posting looking for the same information, having to look it up each time! -----Original Message----- From: Kathi Jones-Hudson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 8:07 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [PaOldC] re; list inactive Dottie: I've been struggling with how to respond to your message all day ... here goes. List Admins are not here to hold your hand, solve or help you with your personal genealogy research. If they can make some suggestions for research that's great but it's not a specific duty of a List Admin. List members may be more helpful in answering queries in many cases as they may be researching similar lines. In surname lists it would be unrealistic to assume that any List Admin would have experience or knowledge for all lines in that surname or geographic areas of research. List Admin duties are mostly administative (just as the name suggests). They keep lists on track, put out any fires, i.e., members arguing, take care of the spam that hopefully gets stopped by the filters, weed out legitimate emails that get caught in spam filters, help people with their list subscription. They keep informed of general problems with list emails, chat with other admin's about specific ISP problems, etc. Sandra goes way beyond what is expected of an List Admin. On some lists even those that are pretty active you only hear from the List Admin when there's a problem and people don't necessarily even know the name of the Admin. As long as Sandra follows List Admin rules, there's no cause of complaint that could be brought (or even should be brought) against her to RW. RW supports List Admin's and rarely removes one against their will unless something really bad has happened. As long as she keeps an active email for RW's to contact her, doesn't let a list get out of control, does not have massive causes of complaint against her Rootsweb will let her manage this list her way. It's very quiet on most lists right now always is before a major holiday. Let Sandra have her brief hiatus and when she's ready to step back in full-time and full speed ahead in the new year, that's up to her. But there is no reason for a new list admin. She certainly has my support as a list member and fellow list admin. Kathi Jones-Hudson, National Coordinator Tombstone Transcription Project http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message