Dear All: Some of you have posted really nice and comprehensive descriptions of your brick walls on the roll call. There is also an very interesting method to utilize the combined benefits of the message boards and the mailing lists that could be of use to everyone. We can use of the archiving capability of the message board and the address of the URL of that message to keep your information available and easy to reach for viewers. The process is: A: Most genealogy software programs will allow you to segment a specific portion of the family tree. So create the descendants tree or ancestry tree in your program or from your ancestry files and then copy that to the clipboard. B: Open the message board at www.rootsweb.com for the specific surname and or Clan. C: Create a new post and copy the material of the ancestor from above into that post. D: Go to Tools or other options on your email program and open the sig lines feature option E: Create the Sig Line block in your email program Insert the name of the brick wall or person at the top of the chart along with the highlights of location and time etc. This is effectively your subject lines so make it eye catching and complete. Then copy the message URL into the next line just below the subject line. E: You now have a 2 line sig line! It lets a viewer go to the same reference point by merely clicking on the URL. If they reply, then you will get that reply automatically. It also gathers all the information on that ancestor in one location so you have a stream of replies for all to see and comment on. That URL becomes a universal locator for you to add to all your outgoing messages and other messages. Especially if you have a lot of documentation etc it will help to confirm to other viewers that this is the right tree. F: Then when you post to the [email protected] "insert" and select the appropriate sig line in that message instead of merely the long line of surnames that nobody really looks at. It will then be a sig line of interest to people in that mailing list with a really easy way to check to see if it fits their family lines. This allows you to post your SPECIFIC brick wall on every post to that specific surname list! That way the more help you give others by posting , the more visibility your brick wall receives and thence the more chances you have of getting help in return :-) G: It will also benefit the new search engines that are coming on stream here at Rootsweb. That search engine will then find your messages that relate to that specific ancestor you are researching. You are now using the message boards as an online archiving and retrieval system. Most people will not go to the threaded archives etc but a simple click on the url below an interesting subject line will likely get their attention. It has the added benefits of: A: always visible forever. B: easier to find than the archives list. C: keeps the threads across many months and years D: there will be an auto reply to you whenever a reply is given. E: New search engine will find related messages. Let's use the combined benefits of the message boards and the mailing lists to our mutual advantage. Please feel free to pass this email to anyone of interest. Best Regards John A Hansen List Admin [email protected] BTW: Example below for one of my brick walls :-) Isaac Brownell > Mass > 1772 ( My ALDEN Line) http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=rw&p=surnames.brownell&m=324