This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/DhB.2ACE/1013 Message Board Post: Hello, My name is Anji Goode-Neighbor and I just took over as volunteer board admin for the Brown Co., Texas board. I am currently in the process of editing Subject, Classification and Surnames fields entries on the the past posts. To that end, I'd like to take this opportunity to expound on the Message Board Rules (link at bottom of this screen): Subject field: This field should be complete, concise, and specific in describing the content of the body of the message you are posting. The subject should not be general such as "genealogy," "searching," or "looking" because nearly everyone posting a query on the board is searching for genealogical information. When deciding on a subject for your message try putting yourself in the place of someone searching the board and ask yourself if your subject would help them understand the content of your query. Examples of good subject lines might include: "Looking for the parents of John SURNAME born 1812 in Frederick County, Virginia" or "Will of James SURNAME probated 1850 York County, Pennsylvania," or "Obituary of Mary SURNAME (nee MAIDEN), died May 1900, New Haven, Connecticut." Surname box entries: Enter only surnames (last names) that are included in the message you have posted in this box. Do NOT include surnames just because you are researching them unless they are included in the message body. List surnames one at a time separated by a comma. Example: Smith, Cousins, James, List, Van Allen, Jones, de la Croix, Wood, Woods. Whether you list the names in upper, lower, or mixed case is not important. Surnames which have variants such as Wood and Woods should be listed separately and not shown as: Wood(s) or as Wood/Woods. The search engine will not pick them up correctly when shown in this manner. The purpose of the Surname box entries is to enable board searchers to use the advanced search option and search ONLY on the names you have listed in the box indicating they are surnames. It eliminates from searches words appearing elsewhere in a post (but not listed in the Surname box) such as the poster's name (Sally Someone may have posted numerous messages on the board and signed them with her full name in the message body), a common word (such as Cousins above), or given name (such as James above). Do not enter anything other than surnames in the Surname box. Do not enter given names or locations, and do not use descriptive words such as "and" "many more" "Jr." or "etc." and do not use punctuation unless it is a part of a surname (other than the commas which form the separation between each Surname entry). Classification: If you are posting a query or replying to a query, select the default classification of Query from the drop down menu. If you are posting data/documents select the data type that most closely matches the type of information you are posting: Bible, Will, Deed, Biography, etc. A question about a document such as a Deed is classified as a Query not a Deed. Only data/documents are classified as one of the data classifications. A Query requesting a lookup is still a Query. Lookup can be used for messages that contain more than one type of data (death data from the SSDI as well as burial data from a cemetery transcription) or for negative results ("didn't find anything on Joseph NOBODY on 1880 census). The purpose of proper classification of messages is to enable board visitors to view and/or search messages by data type. Perhaps you are only interested in seeing what obituaries were posted for Brown County, simply click on the drop down menu for "View Message Type:" and select Obituary. Using the above guidelines helps ALL users and preserves the integrity of the boards. Thank you. Anji