.... Juanetta, as a matter of fact, if I may be allowed to vent here, a similar thing happened to me just last week. A lady wrote me asking if Talitha Cloud, wife of Isaac Cantrell, who lived in the 1700's was in my line. I wrote back: "No, but my daughter is named Talitha .... the name can be found in the 5th chapter of Mark". She then proceeded to write to the Cloud research list that she had written "someone" about Talitha and that the person had not answered her but had replied with some reference to the book of Mark. This caused a stir about who the unhelpful wretch was (... me!). Yet, I had answered her question -- perhaps my additional comments about my daughter, Talitha, and the origin of the name confused her .... but how ? .... and why did she not just write me back if she was confused rather than tattling to the entire research group ?? I must confess that my first reaction was to respond in a rather unkind manner, but I decided that she either did not read what I wrote carefully or may have a difficult time understanding written information. Who knows ?? At 09:15 AM 9/5/00 , I wrote: >Juanetta, I've not corresponded with you before, nor do I know >the specific incident you refer to, but be assured that I too >have felt the bite of the unkind person and know what you're >going through. May I please offer you a little comfort and >encouragement. Please don't let the few take from you the joy >of participating and helping others. .... and try not to think >too unkindly of them -- I've found that many of those that >write unkind things didn't mean them the way they sound (perhaps >they just didn't use the proper phrasing or didn't proofread >what they'd written before sending it), and many others don't >take the time to understand what you may have written or the >reason you wrote it and yet they make a hurtful reply. Tom Cloud <[email protected]>