Hi Gareth, glad you asked! It has surely come to my attention that on some lists in Pennsylvania, USA and now in Wales there are individuals who prefer to respond "off-list". I find their actions displeasing. To put it bluntly, I think this is done because: 1. The listmembers fail to realize their private responses fail to go into the Rootsweb archives, thereby limiting available information to future researchers. 2. These "private responders" are concerned that their contributions, if made public, will be used in some manner for profit. 3. The "private responders" may feel more powerful having their contributions shared only with a select few. 4. There may be some listers who may be too humble and feel their information would be too burdensome for others to bother with - I find this to be especially true of the listers in the predominately old coal-mining regions of Pennsylvania. 5. Sometimes a new lister or one not too familiar with their mail program may hit the "reply" button rather than "reply all". Take care, Elida in drought-stricken South Carolina, USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gareth" <tirbach@clara.co.uk> To: <WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 12:39 PM Subject: Re: [WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE] Replying to queries > I strongly endorse Gerry's request. > I am on record as making periodic identical pleas on all the S/W Wales lists > I subscribe to, the making of off-list responses seems to be a growing > trend. > I'm not even sure I really understand why, perhaps someone could enlighten > me ? > On-list ? :-) > Please, we're not talking rigid rules or replies with 10 pages of 1881 > census extracts here, just the ordinary run of the mill list traffic. > And not the dreaded Reply /Reply All button debate either :-) > > Gareth > List Administrator for Dyfed, CGN & PEM. tirbach@clara.co.uk > Lookup Exchange http://home.clara.net/tirbach/lookup.html > Help Page http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gerry" <gerry@asterisk.co.uk> > To: <WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 12:37 PM > Subject: [WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE] Replying to queries > > > > Hi listers > > > > I know that reading through e-mails that don't concern one can be a trifle > > boring but can I ask that replies to queries are sent via the list and not > > direct to the enquirer. The reason being that those of us who try to > answer > > queries then do not waste our time duplicating the effort put in by > others. > > > > Gerry Lewis > > > > > > ==== WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE Mailing List ==== > > Gareth's Help Page > > http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html > > > > > > > > > > > ==== WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE Mailing List ==== > Dyfed FHS > http://www.westwales.co.uk/dfhs/dfhs.htm >

Thanks for that Elida. I suspect the reality is that there are a multitude of reasons for what we do as individuals, and as long as they are conscious and informed decisions, that's fine with me. I'm sure that no 5. is responsible for a good few anyway, I certainly manage to do so regularly but somehow my eyes have trained themselves to subconsciously check the 'To' box before I press send. I think it might help if in the next revamp of OE they changed the order of the Reply/Reply All buttons ! Gareth List Administrator for Dyfed, CGN & PEM. tirbach@clara.co.uk Lookup Exchange http://home.clara.net/tirbach/lookup.html Help Page http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elida" <elida@signature.cc> To: "Gareth" <tirbach@clara.co.uk>; <WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 2:32 AM Subject: Re: [WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE] Replying to queries > Hi Gareth, glad you asked! > > It has surely come to my attention that on some lists in Pennsylvania, USA > and now in Wales there are individuals who prefer to respond "off-list". I > find their actions displeasing. To put it bluntly, I think this is done > because: > > 1. The listmembers fail to realize their private responses fail to go into > the Rootsweb archives, thereby limiting available information to future > researchers. > > 2. These "private responders" are concerned that their contributions, if > made public, will be used in some manner for profit. > > 3. The "private responders" may feel more powerful having their > contributions shared only with a select few. > > 4. There may be some listers who may be too humble and feel their > information would be too burdensome for others to bother with - I find this > to be especially true of the listers in the predominately old coal-mining > regions of Pennsylvania. > > 5. Sometimes a new lister or one not too familiar with their mail program > may hit the "reply" button rather than "reply all". > > Take care, > Elida in drought-stricken South Carolina, USA > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gareth" <tirbach@clara.co.uk> > To: <WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 12:39 PM > Subject: Re: [WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE] Replying to queries > > > > I strongly endorse Gerry's request. > > I am on record as making periodic identical pleas on all the S/W Wales > lists > > I subscribe to, the making of off-list responses seems to be a growing > > trend. > > I'm not even sure I really understand why, perhaps someone could enlighten > > me ? > > On-list ? :-) > > Please, we're not talking rigid rules or replies with 10 pages of 1881 > > census extracts here, just the ordinary run of the mill list traffic. > > And not the dreaded Reply /Reply All button debate either :-) > > > > Gareth > > List Administrator for Dyfed, CGN & PEM. tirbach@clara.co.uk > > Lookup Exchange http://home.clara.net/tirbach/lookup.html > > Help Page http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Gerry" <gerry@asterisk.co.uk> > > To: <WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 12:37 PM > > Subject: [WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE] Replying to queries > > > > > > > Hi listers > > > > > > I know that reading through e-mails that don't concern one can be a > trifle > > > boring but can I ask that replies to queries are sent via the list and > not > > > direct to the enquirer. The reason being that those of us who try to > > answer > > > queries then do not waste our time duplicating the effort put in by > > others. > > > > > > Gerry Lewis > > > > > > > > > ==== WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE Mailing List ==== > > > Gareth's Help Page > > > http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ==== WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE Mailing List ==== > > Dyfed FHS > > http://www.westwales.co.uk/dfhs/dfhs.htm > > > > >