Hello everyone, Vanessa asked me to repost the ROOTWALKER list guidelines. Please take a moment to look them over. If you have any questions or comments about these guidelines please contact Vanessa or me by personal email rather than on-list. As you know, my email address is: [email protected] Vanessa's email is: [email protected] Thanks for being part of the ROOTWALKER family. God Bless America! Stan Magnesen ROOTWALKER site/list coordinator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are a few things I would like to request from you to help the ROOTWALKER mail list flow more smoothly. I will just list them here: 1. Please try to make the subject line of your email as descriptive as possible, with surname(s) and counties when applicable. This makes others more likely to read your posts, and you more likely to find the kinship connection you are looking for. 2. If someone causes a "stir" on list, whether it be a false virus posting or just rudeness or whatever, please let me handle it (usually off list) and please don't make it a topic of discussion on the list. I really do appreciate the support all our subscribers have shown us recently, but because of the volume of subscribers we have at times, we have to be careful not to discuss those kinds of things on list. It can cause more email than some people’s mailboxes can handle. 3. I will always listen to any suggestions, problems or comments about the way the list is run, off list, in a private email to me, but they should be polite, and phrased as suggestions or constructive criticism. Negative criticism should not be stated here, on list or off. Most of you are wonderful about this, and I really appreciate that too. 4. Feel free to post links to the list that you have checked out personally that relate directly to genealogy for free, but if it the web site is selling anything, send it to me personally, rather than posting it to the list. There is a gray area there in which some of those I would forward to the list and others I would not. Ultimately I have to be the one to decide on that. I wouldn't want the list to become an advertising ground for genealogy-related businesses. (I would much rather hear about your kin!) Taglines or signature lines related to businesses or things being sold must be removed from your emails before posting to list. 5. The last thing is just common sense, and that is not to lessen the enjoyment of others on list, including Stan and myself. That means that flames, spam, political and religious discussions, debates, chain letters, postings of virus warnings are not allowed. Likewise, if you find errors in what we have posted on the list or on the Web site, please notify us by personal email, in a positive way, rather than posting corrections to the list. We believe in the Golden Rule. 6. One rule of all Rootsweb mail lists is that we must not violate copyright laws. With this in mind, please contact the list owner or list coordinator before offering to do any lookups on list. Also, please do not forward someone else’s letter or information to the ROOTWALKER list without getting their permission in writing first, and forwarding that permission to the ROOTWALKER list owner or list coordinator. 7. Please keep to the topic of genealogy. This does not include recipes, poems, reminiscences, or humorous lists of “You know you’re a genealogist when…” etc. We like these topics too sometimes, but this is a large list, and these topics cause too much mail for many folks’ email boxes. 8. Please do share genealogical information ON list. If you are new to the list, or if it has been a while since you posted, feel free to introduce yourself and tell us about the kin you are searching for. Just be careful not to post your address, phone number, or information on living kin to the list. 9. Any subscribes or unsubscribes should be sent to one of the following addresses, instead of being posted to the list. Those addresses are: [email protected] (for list mode) [email protected] (for digest mode) All list mail should be sent to this address: [email protected] Please do not confuse them. If you have any trouble with this process, please email the list coordinator, Stan, personally and we will take care of it for you. If you need to contact the list coordinator, his email address is [email protected] 10. We have many list administrators, web coordinators, etc. on the ROOTWALKER list. If you fall into that category, please be courteous enough not to request that people from the ROOTWALKER family send Web submissions to you that could go on the ROOTWALKER Web site or volunteer their efforts for you when they could volunteer their efforts for the ROOTWALKER project. We are just asking for common courtesy, and we will do the same for you in return. If you wish to have your site/list announced or have your updates posted to the ROOTWALKER list, please send those emails to the ROOTWALKER list coordinator. I am proud of all the wonderful, giving people on this list, and I know that I can count on you. Thanks for being part of the ROOTWALKER family! Sincerely, : ) Vanessa Slea ROOTWALKER Site/List Owner