FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION: Can I publicize or mention my book or service in the SCRoots Forum? ANSWER: Publications by organizations such as government archives, historical societies, non-profit genealogical societies, etc., may be described and announced in the email forum. Such organizations have a mission to help preserve and protect our historical records. Discussion or announcements about publications by such groups are usually not annoying. Blatant commercial advertisements are generally considered to be annoying "SPAM" and are not welcome in the SCRoots Forum. But, there are a few ways that subscribers can mention their business or publications in the Forum without being annoying. WAY #1. It is okay to include a SHORT text-only "signature" in your messages. In the signature you can mention your business, services, publications, contact information, etc. NO GRAPHICS or attachments are allowed. The basic message must be on-topic and appropriate for the Forum. And the signature lines must be brief or they will be annoying. WAY #2. The SCRoots web site (http://scroots.org) provides databases and other links where services and web sites can be listed. Commercial service announcements are allowed in the database, but not in the guest book or query boards. WAY #3. Authors and publishers of publications useful for Carolina genealogical or historical research may post a message in the forum announcing the publication PROVIDED that they comply with the following. A. Describe the publication and explain how it may be useful in the study of Carolina genealogy or history. Please make it more conversational and less commercial. B. In exchange for this special privilege, you must offer free lookups, or some other special benefit, for Forum members. This doesn't have to be an open-ended offer that lasts forever. Consider this the Email equivalent of a book signing where the author spends a day in a bookstore signing books. Digest subscribers get about one digest per day. To give Digest readers a chance, lookups offers should be announced at least 24-48 hours in advance of the event. C. You must give a direct email address where follow-up requests can be sent. It is okay to post lookup offers, requests, and responses in the forum. Public sharing of research is an appropriate use of the forum. But, we don't want "order-taking" messages in the forum. All order-taking should be by direct email or other means, not in the forum. Forum messages should not be annoying and should be on-topic. If you can't do it without being annoying, then don't do it here. Steve Coker, Manager The SC Genealogy Forum steve@scroots.org