I suggest amending the welcome message as indicated below: Welcome to the QUAKER-BRITISH-ISLES mailing list! You are currently subscribed in "mail mode", which means that you will receive every posting made to QUAKER-BRITISH-ISLES as a separate e-mail. The directions on how to change to digest mode are given below, after a bit more information about the list: QUAKER-BRITISH-ISLES is the official mailing list for the Quaker Family History Society. Please visit our website at www.qfhs.co.uk for more information on this. - If we say this is the society's official mailing list we need to make it clear whether or not non members are welcome to subscribe. I assume we want to say that they are. The purpose of this mailing list is to act as a forum for discussion of anything that relates to Quaker family history and genealogy in the British Isles. - that is, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Subscribers from outside the British Isles are as welcome as island residents. Postings to the list must relate, however, to Quakers or Quaker families who originated here, or who later came to live in the British Isles. You do not need to be a Quaker to subscribe. - Possibly add something to the effect that postings about Quaker beliefs are only appropriate insofar as they relate to the beliefs of our Quaker ancestors. This is not the place for discussion of present day Quaker beliefs. Those interested in this should start by visiting the website of Britain Yearly meeting www.quaker.org.uk - I am not sure how best to word this There is another, longer-established, Rootsweb mailing list which may be of interest, namely QUAKER-ROOTS. This is largely dominated, however, by people interested in North American Quaker family history, which is only occasionally of interest to anyone with predominantly British or Irish ancestry. For anyone new to Quaker family history, the best starting place is My Ancestors Were Quakers: How Can I Find out More About Them?, by Edward Milligan and Malcolm Thomas. This book is unfortunately out of print at the present time, though copies may be still available through Amazon, and second-hand copies are currently available through www.bookfinder.com. - No. It is now back in print again. Revised 3rd edition (2005) available from the Society of Genealogists at www.sog.org.uk/ and soon to be available from the QFHS bookstall. Apart from the QFHS website itself, the most useful web link is likely to be the official website for Britain Yearly Meeting, which is at www.quaker.org.uk - click on the Library tab, when you get there. For Irish Quakerism, visit www.quakers-in-ireland.org. -- Chris Pitt Lewis