Hello to Two-Bob's: I subscribe to the Rootsweb Rainwater Maillist because of the rapid turnover in messages. I did not subscribe to Robert Albert's Rainwater Newsletter although he was kind enough to have sent me an early copy. My basic reason for this inaction was that the data I saw in the "free" issue was Robert's lineage, and the information, while good, concerned what I have learned to refer to as the "Southern Rainwater" Line. I am from the "Northern Rainwater" line. After looking at the volume of data that I had collected from the "Northern line" (mostly from the Webber Genealogy), I decided that collecting ALL Rainwater data was perhaps more than I was prepared to do. I do know and have met several "Cuz's" that do exactly that and have difficulty separating or keeping their data straight. When I first started Genealogy I chose my Mother's Rainwater line as a beginning because she was still alive and had been orphaned at age 12 and knew little of her family. I queried some Cousins that I had not seen in 25 years or more, one of these sending me a copied Webber Genealogy , some pictures, and some bible records. I managed to fill in some first hand information from my Mother and finally provided her with a booklet of data for her 87th Birthday...she died several weeks later. When I started I used 3 x 5 cards for storing data and after realizing that over three generations I had 26 or so Sarah's...I finally understood the immense task I had undertaken..........Never knew that one family could have so many children in so few generations.............. Anyway, I belong to several other Rootsweb maillists and each of them continue to have a quarterly publication.....I don't subscribe for the same reasons above....most subscribers and the mailist owner are from southeast USA with families spread over the southern states and most activity is in that area.......However, let me say this. Most maillist subscribers are quarterly subscribers for several reasons including the fact that the maillist owner and quarterly newletter owner keep things fresh including pictures of current researchers, items about current surname families, provides list of subscribers and which branch of the family they are researching (index).........and most all mailist subscribers (like myself) continue to provide any data they see on any branch of the family whatsoever......another factor is that we are not above teasing each other (once in awhile), not above inserting a story or poem (once in awhile), not above posting a prayer in the event that one member has a personal tragedy (once in a while).......we're cousins first and researchers second.....but 95% is genealogy and we don't take lightly to politics if they should creep in (once in a while).........bottom line is we try to be more human than some lists (not inferring anything).....and all take personal responsibility for control of the maillist rather than have "big brother" dictate terms of usage..(again not inferring anything).......we have fun doing genealogy even if we tell a fella member "Prove your words!" (once in a while)...... Enough "soapbox"......I enjoy the mailist and try to help others. I would be sorry if Robert decided to not publish his newsletter as others may find it very useful. I know that it must be a stressful effort and the first thing genealogy should be is FUN.........Please reconsider and look for ways to have fun..........one suggestion might be to include even the "wacky wags" in your pub with a note as to the originator/e-mail address and let your subscribers tell him/her to "prove it!".........I read your frustration about unproved data and the fact that you feel the need to "Prove" everything before you publish it.............Ask your subscribers who would like to take on a special chore to document all the William's and other all the Jame's in an effort to sort them out....we could all submit our Wm's and Jame's for these separate data base's........I know for a fact that I searched for the wife of James, who was Father of William that came to Kentucky, for many years and found only "Widdow" Rainwater mentioned in records...and in seeing Catherine Regan mentioned two different places..I plugged that information into my FTM program........Now I think the fact is that there were several Jame's Rainwater during that period and who knows which is which...........??? Good luck and best wishes for a continued Newsletter. Hal, a Kentucky descendant living in Northern California! "Just a Raggety Ann living in a Barbie world!"