I am on a few lists and really enjoy them. I have never really made any connections to my families. But still keep looking. BUT ONE THING FRUSTRATES ME that is that people post things and exspect me to know what state they are talking about when they give the name of a city or county. Sorry but I don't. Dee

Dee & others, Good Idea! All too often I see postings to lists or internet query boards with too little information in the subject line to tell if it is worth my time to read the post. Make the subject line work for you! The more information you one has in the subject line, the better the chance of the right person reading the post. Not all subscribers have the time or energy to read all messages in search for that elusive match. Many, open only those which appear promising. MAXIMIZE the chances of YOUR MESSAGE BEING READ BY YOUR INTENDED AUDIENCE, that is YOUR MATCH! HOW? Use the SUBJECT LINE to give very SPECIFIC DETAILS about the individual/family your are looking for. Subscribers to most other genealogy lists do precisely that. Furthermore, to facilitate reading, they tend to follow some sort of 'not so rigid format'. Examples: ?WOODS John, b1840, Miami, Florida, USA ?WOOD/Woods Timothy, m1790, SMITH E., in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil WOODS, Ray, Elaine, Susan, res. 1870, in Camden, NJ WOODS Joshua & Jessie, m. 1891, Portage IN Notice the pattern? 1) SURNAME always in capital letter (even within the text of the email), then 2) First and Second names of individuals. Commas to separate individuals. 3) Date with a letter indicating whether it is birth, marriage, death, residing. Worthwhile, even if it is very broad. If someone is looking for WOODS in 1600s, they don't really mind if your 1800 date is off by a few years. 4) Location, State, Country. In full, to reach those yet unfamiliar with the area and its abbreviations. 5) If you have a question preceed the Subject with a queston mark, if you have informaion about the subject, omit the question mark. Subscribers AVOID using subject lines that may not carry sufficient meaning to others, such as: WOODS family My family My WOODS My Ancestors Searching Aim for QUALITY AUDIENCE: YOUR MATCH. Hope this helps someone. Ernie & Connie Originally posted on WOODS-L by: Jorge Woods, in Canberra, Australia. At 03:15 PM 1/14/01, you wrote: >I am on a few lists and really enjoy them. > I have never really made any connections to my families. >But still keep looking. BUT ONE THING FRUSTRATES >ME that is that people post things and exspect me >to know what state they are talking about when they >give the name of a city or county. Sorry but I don't. >Dee > > >==== WOODS Mailing List ==== >No part of these messages nor the archives file containing them may be >published >or redistributed in any form by a "FOR PROFIT" or commercial >organization. All >publication requires the permission of each message author.

Thanks, Dee - That is my pet peeve also and the Woods list is not the only one where people do not mention of the state. Most of the time the messages are useless without the state mentioned and it really frustrates me. Valerie J. Adams vjadams@worldnet.att.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Dee McRee <dpmcree@ptinet.net> To: <WOODS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2001 3:15 PM Subject: [WOODS-L] give the state > I am on a few lists and really enjoy them. > I have never really made any connections to my families. > But still keep looking. BUT ONE THING FRUSTRATES > ME that is that people post things and exspect me > to know what state they are talking about when they > give the name of a city or county. Sorry but I don't. > Dee > > > ==== WOODS Mailing List ==== > No part of these messages nor the archives file containing them may be published > or redistributed in any form by a "FOR PROFIT" or commercial organization. All > publication requires the permission of each message author. > >