Julie Preston <juliepreston@ameritech.net> wrote (paraphrased): .... people like me, who've participated on the Dyfed list since its inception and also volunteer for lookups via the South/West Wales Lookup Exchange, do not wish to have to subscribe to the new county lists in order to field queries posted there, as that means we'll be monitoring 4 lists in order to help new researchers. ......*many* people subscribed to the Dyfed list have overlapping research interests. Many families moved from one county to the next. People on the Dyfed list have a wealth of resources and are willing to answer queries posted by new researchers but may not be interested in monitoring 4 different lists in order to help new people. At the moment, the Dyfed list offers a great deal of historical background on this area and any new researcher cannot help but to learn quite a lot by subscribing to it. If you subscribe only to the new county list, you'll be missing out on a great deal of helpful responses to your queries. ============= Hi PEM Listers, I, too, recommend that you subscribe to the Dyfed List, for the reasons that Julie outlined so eloquently. Even if experienced researchers such as Julie find time to "listen in" to the proceedings of this Pembrokeshire List, it is surely unreasonable to expect them to devote their time to lengthy contributions which are going to reach such a small audience. Many of the contributions from experienced researchers provide pointers from which *all* of us can benefit. It is a waste of valuable resources to restrict them to the few, when the opportunity is there to share their expertise more widely on the Dyfed List. My own policy will be to passively monitor the PEM list (and the other new single-county lists), but to continue whenever possible to participate actively on the Dyfed list (and the other pre-existing Welsh regional lists). Best wishes, John ---------------------------------- John Ball, South Wales, UK E-mail: wfha@clara.co.uk John's Welsh Family History Archive: http://home.clara.net/wfha/wales/index.htm --- This message is certified virus-free by AVG Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.193 / Virus Database: 93 - Release Date: 19/09/00