Hi, everybody: It's that time of year again, when the question comes up, "How do I put my mail on hold for the RootsWeb lists I'm subscribed to so I can visit the old family homestead on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks?" You, of course, will substitute your favorite relaxation spot in place of Schroon Lake.... Well, here is how. You will save your overworked list admin (poor, poor, pitiful me) a great deal of unnecessary putzing about if you follow the excellent directions in the following article, published in RootsWeb Review: 16 June 2004, Vol. 7, No. 24. In fact, these are excellent directions **ALL** the time. It will also save **YOU** some unnecessary putzing about; if you don't follow the directions, you won't accomplish what you want, your mailbox gets full, the RootsWeb list robots whine at both of us, your ISP grumbles at you ... you get the picture. So, here we go! ======================== Gone Fishing? "Summertime and the livin' is easy" is how the familiar song from "Porgy and Bess" goes. For RootsWeb users in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is nearly here and that often brings with it vacations (holidays), long weekend fishing trips, beach house visits or trips to the cabin in the mountains. All of which means time away from genealogical research, time away from your computer and your e-mail. What should you do when you are going to be away temporarily from your RootsWeb mailing lists? Depending upon the length of time you will be away, the capacity of your mailbox, and the activity level of the lists to which you subscribe; you may choose either to remain subscribed to the lists and catch up on your mail when you return or unsubscribe (especially from the busiest high- volume lists) and re-subscribe when you get home. RootsWeb list software does not have a temporary "NO-MAIL" setting. However, unsubscribing and re-subscribing is easy and will accomplish the purpose. If you choose to unsubscribe from all, or just some, RootsWeb mailing lists during your vacation, first check Password Central to verify to which lists you are subscribed. http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ Once you obtain a list of your subscribed lists, address a new e-mail message to the list "request" addresses for the lists from which you wish to unsub. The "request" address is used to send your command or instructions that can either unsubscribe or subscribe you from a list. The format for addressing a message to the request address is: --if you are subscribed in mail mode (receiving every individual message list members send to the list) or LISTNAME-L-request@rootsweb.com --if you are subscribed in digest mode (receiving list messages lumped together in digest format). LISTNAME-D-request@rootsweb.com Replace the generic word LISTNAME above with the actual name of the list. For instance, if you wish to unsubscribe from the SMITH surname list, and you are subscribed in mail mode send your request to SMITH-L-request@rootsweb.com, or to SMITH-D-request@rootsweb.com to unsubscribe from the digests. Be sure to put the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject and message body of your e-mail and don't include any other text. If you wish to unsubscribe from more than one list at the same time, you can show multiple "request" addresses in the SEND TO box of your e-mail with the addresses separated by a comma just as you would if you were sending an e-mail to several individuals at one time. Keep a record of the mailing list names for the lists from which you have unsubbed so that you can easily address a new e-mail to the same list request addresses when you return with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject and message body to get back on the lists you temporarily left. Note: Never send a REPLY e-mail to subscribe to, or unsubscribe from, a list -- always send a NEW e-mail. Upon your return from summer fun, you can browse the archives of your mailing lists to catch up on the messages you missed. Start here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ Type in the name of the list you wish to browse and then select the month and year to view an outline of the messages you wish to read. Next, click to view any or all individual messages. So, if the fish are biting this summer or the seashore looks inviting, leave the laptop at home and don't worry about the "the big one" getting away because you are not home to view responses to your genealogical research queries. You can catch up with mailing list messages when you return. ================================ Thank you for reading this! And thanks in advance for following the directions. It will help you at least as much as it helps me. Darrell list admin Darrell A. Martin - RootsWeb list admin e-Mail: darrellm@sprynet.com List rules: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm