This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.westvirginia.counties.pendleton/36.38.39.42.2.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Since RootsWeb/Ancestry has made it difficult for Board Admins to contact post authors directly, I have to resort to this method to contact all the authors in this thread... The surnames field entries on ALL of the new posts in the thread were edited for one of these reasons: a.) the field was left blank when surnames were mentioned in the post; b.) surnames were entered in the field when none were mentioned in the post; or c.) punctuation other than commas was used. The Board FAQ (link located at the bottom of this and every message board page) states: "Once you have typed your message, enter all of the surnames mentioned in your post in the "Surnames" field. Please include **only** surnames that are mentioned in your post- not all surnames you might be researching." I'm sure we all appreciate an index because it makes our research easier. The surnames field entries create a globally searchable surnames index for every message on every board. That means users can search every one of the current 19.95 million messages on RootsWeb/Ancestry for a specific surname via the Advanced Search feature (just think by next week, the count will be over 20 million). A regular search cannot differentiate between the usages of a word: an occupation "Farmer", a location such as "Pendleton", a given name such as "Dolly" or just another word such as "States". Therefore, a regular search for "Dolly" will have posts about "Dolly Madison" and Dolly as a surname. A few minutes ago, the regular search for Dolly yielded over 22,000 entries. An Advanced Search with Dolly in the "Surname field" box (and no other criteria) yielded 190 results. Pretty significant differences, isn't it? Although the FAQ doesn't mention it, using only commas is very important because the search engine recognizes that as the separation between 2 surnames. Is "Van Allen Baker" two surnames or three? The search engine does not recognize "Tingler/Dingler" as being two surnames. It cannot guess your intent if you type "Johns(t)on" in the surnames field. The search engine works best when surnames are entered in the following manner: one, two, three Climbing off my soapbox now, Willow Volunteer Admin Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.