Hi Folks, I'm not really sure what prompted the action, but last week Rootsweb presented me with 3 NEW mail lists to manage, The SLOAN-L, SLOANE-L and SLONE-L list, which included another 21 GenConnect Boards. I guess somewhere along the line I stoodup when I should have shutup! It took several days of automated responses before I was finally able to chat with a warm blooded person and explain that we really didn't need 3 different lists because of variations on spelling. She agreed to delete the SLOAN-L list in favor of our already established SLOAN-SLONE-L list. However, the SLONE and SLOANE list would stay because they were valid "different" spellings. So, I agreed to maintain all three lists, figuring this is the best way to ensure that all the messages get to the right audience. So, my first piece of advise is that EVERYONE should subscribe to the SLOAN-SLONE-L list. This list has 258 subscribers on the main list and the digest combined. This is the BIG audience. Right now the SLOANE-L list has 4 members and the SLONE-L list has 3. So, The 3 new members [you know who you are :-)] need to go to SLOAN-SLONE-Request@rootsweb.com and subscribe. I hope everyone understands my point of view on this issue. I know each group takes pride in their own spelling, but if you've done any research at all, you know that the spelling is totally arbitrary prior to 1900 with the start of birth certificates and Social Security cards. GOOD NEWS!! Along with Rootsweb re-vamping of the system, they created a page I call the SLOAN-SLONE RESOURCE PAGE. Go to: http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/s/l/SLOAN/ There are some really great search engines for Sloans (substitute Slone, Sloane if necessary) on this page. There are two search engines for the Sloan-Slone mailing list archives. The first one can't seem to find anything, the 2nd one works fine. It's probably easier for you to experiment then it is for me to explain how they work. Check it out! Frank Mitchell Lists owner -- Apartado 11521, Zona 6 Panama, Republic of Panama Phone 011-507-261-9757 home: fmitchel@panama.phoenix.net Visit "The Sloan Connection" at http://www.panama.phoenix.net/~fmitchel/welcome.html