Kathy, Unfortunately, Mari is having some serious computer difficulties, so you're getting the ListSitter here. My name is Roxanne, and I'll try to explain what Ancestry told us ListHostesses at the time of the upgrades to the message boards. There are a couple of layers to this question - hopefully it will help you understand the reason for all of these hoops. I'm not denying it's not as convenient as before. 1) First of all, realize that the person who posted this message board question may not be subscribed to this mailing list. If you just put the answer to a message board question out to the mailing list, the person who was making the inquiry may not receive the answer. It would be nice to have the poster's e-mail address in the message to the mailing list, however 2) there really isn't any way for Rootsweb to stop spammers from subscribing to our mailing lists and compiling e-mail addresses from messages - assuming they're interested in receiving lots of e-mail to get those addresses. Not typically how spammers operate, but there's nothing stopping them. And 3) the mailing lists are archived. If we include e-mail addresses in the list messages, spammers can go to the archives and harvest e-mail addresses from that source. Finally, we listowners really don't have any more of "the ear" of Rootsweb and Ancestry than you (the users) do. I recommend going to Rootsweb's Message Boards Suggestion page: http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.rw.admin.boardsuggest/mb.ashx or contact the Rootsweb's HelpDesk: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/form1.html And let them know about your ideas. Roxanne ListSitter -----Original Message----- From: widane-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:widane-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of kql Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2007 5:05 PM To: widane@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [WIDANE] seine gattin To the listowner: I could answer this question, but because the new mailing list setup no longer puts senders' email addresses in the headers of mailing list posts that originated as posts to message boards, it has become impossible to respond to the original sender without having to go out onto the net and log in to a message board. I know that the system requiring logging in to a message board was implemented to prevent spam and other unwanted messaging. However, subscribers to Rootsweb mailing lists have already been vetted, so to speak, so there should be no concern that their posts will be spam. It's also an incredible waste of time to have to post from a web page vs. posting from one's email program, when that program is already open and onscreen. Because of the difficulty of this system as implemented, folks who post to message boards will be losing much of the help that was available in the past to answer their queries. Please pass my comments on to the powers that be. Kathy Lenerz -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.410 / Virus Database: 268.16.10/625 - Release Date: 1/13/2007