This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: BRADFORD, DUNNING, FEIRN, LASHER, LYTLE, RADLE, SWEETING, WAITE Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/2FC.2ACI/1788 Message Board Post: Like most real-time readers of queries, I am a "List" subscriber, which means that each day, I see only the Subject Lines of many messages and rarely click to open the full text of a posted query unless the Subject line contains something of interest to me. Consequently, unless a query author includes enough information in their Subject line, their posting will go un-noticed by the vast majority of those with whom they dearly hope to correspond. Here's a suggestion that will help us all (senders and potential receivers). Include the following information in the Subject line each time you post a message: LAST NAME (all caps), First Name (capitalize first letter only), Location (including a county & state if known), Date (a specific date, birth-death range or "circa" date) and Topic (like Birth Record, Obituary, Immigrated, Marriage Look-up, etc.). To assist researchers later as they search through older posted messages it also helps if you repeat your surname(s) (including spelling variations) and the location(s) a precisely as possible in the Text section of your message, so that researcher's search terms point them to your messages. Finally, there is always the problem of "orphaned messages" left by people who have since changed their email address. There is no way to follow-up with them; even if you post an online response, RootsWeb sends a notice to their now-defunct email address. If you have changed your address since posting to RootsWeb, go to their “Address Change Help Page” at http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/addresses/ to notify RootsWeb and have all your queries automatically updated to your new email address. Many online genealogists us use a free “throw-away” email address from Yahoo.com, HotMail.com, or MyFamily.com to provide a contact for online postings. When spam ultimately (and inevitably) renders this email address unmanageable, just get a new one and re-notify RootsWeb of the change. Conserve your “real” email address for family and trusted friends.