from my mailbox

RootsWeb -- Our E-Zine: 
"The premier issue of RootsWeb Review was published on 17 June 1998.
 This weekly e-zine provides news about RootsWeb.com,
 its new databases, mailing lists, home pages, and websites. 
It also includes stories and research tips from its readers around the globe."



RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine
Vol. 6, No. 53, 31 December 2003, Circulation: 924,753+
(c) 1998-2003 RootsWeb.com, Inc.  RootsWeb.com Home Page

Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist

snipped
===============================================================

1. NEWS AND NOTES. 1a. Sharing Your Family History

Make a new year's resolution to share your family history information
with other genealogists. The RootsWeb spirit is all about sharing --
contributing what we know or have compiled so that others with similar
interests may benefit from our research, information, and expertise. Of
course, we always hope to learn from others' contributions in return.

So how can you contribute and share the genealogical data you have
collected? Consider the nature and amount of information you have
gathered, as well as the format in which you have recorded it.

If you have limited information and are really more interested in asking
a question (also known as a query), your best option is to post on the
free mailing lists and/or message boards. To learn about, find, and join
mailing lists go here:
    http://lists.rootsweb.com/

To locate message boards start at:
    http://boards.rootsweb.com/

If you have just a few records -- death notices, funeral cards,
obituaries, baptismal records, marriage notices, etc., and/or the data
you have collected is in free-flowing text in sentences and paragraphs,
the best place to share it is on the appropriate message boards. These
boards are not just for queries -- your bits and pieces of data might be
just what someone has been seeking for years.

On the other hand, if you have a larger collection (more than a few
records) of single-type genealogical data (i.e. birth records, death
records, cemetery records), and if your data is formatted in consistent,
labeled columns or fields (or you are willing to make it so), you may
wish to submit it to the User-Contributed Database section where your
data will be made searchable within a master database of similar type
records. For additional information see:
  http://userdb.rootsweb.com/submit/

Do you have your family history data in a genealogy application? If your
program (and most will) can convert it to a GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data
COMMunication) file format, the best place (and easiest way) to share it
is at WorldConnect.
  http://wc.rootsweb.com/
Click on the START HERE link to submit your family tree.

However, if your genealogical data doesn't fit into any of these
categories or if you would like to display it in a unique format,
consider creating your own free genealogy-related website at RootsWeb by
requesting what's called a "Freepages Account."
  http://accounts.rootsweb.com/

If a major goal for 2004 is to make contact with others who are
researching the same surnames (last names) in the same localities as
you, consider submitting your surnames to the RootsWeb Surname List
(RSL) -- in addition to making use of the other resources.
  http://rsl.rootsweb.com/

You can be part of the RootsWeb spirit of sharing and contributing
information whether you decide to post a query or data on a RootsWeb
mailing list or message board, submit data to the User-Contributed
Databases, upload a GEDCOM to WorldConnect, submit your surnames to the
RSL, or create your personal website on Freepages. And, you might want
to cover all bases by utilizing all these options or try a combination
of several of them to ring in the new year on the right note.

                      *     *     *
1b. EDITOR'S DESK. 2004 Survival Tips for Online Genies

1. Back up your genealogy files. Save backup copies of your genealogy
   files to an external hard drive, a Zip drive or a CD or DVD burner --
   not just to your hard drive. Uploading a GEDCOM to WorldConnect
   provides yet another way to prevent loss of your compiled genealogy.

2. Back up your personal files (letters, reports, e-mail correspondence
   and addresses, photos, and financial records).Save to an external
   hard drive, a Zip drive or a CD or DVD burner.

3. Print out all of your passwords and the names of all the mailing
   lists and message boards of interest. Save this information where you
   can find it in the event of a hard disk crash or other disaster. If
   you are a county coordinator, be sure you have that website account
   name and password saved somewhere other than on your hard drive.
   RootsWeb users can obtain their forgotten passwords, user IDs and
   information about the mailing lists to which they are subscribed by
   going to Password Central and requesting same. Click on the PASSWORDS
   tab at the top of a RootsWeb page, or go to:
     http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/

4. Locate all of your software product keys. In the event of a hard disk
   crash you will have to re-install all of your computer software and
   you will need these product keys -- the numbers, letters or codes you
   must enter when installing some software. Make a record of these
   numbers. They are probably on your installation disk cases or
   sleeves. Without them you will have to buy new copies of your
   software -- and that can get expensive fast.

5. Find all of your software installation disks. Keep them in a safe
   storage place.

Here's to safe computing in 2004. May your hard drive never fail or any
of your files become corrupted, and may you find all those "lost"
ancestors, family Bibles and documents, and precious photographs.

                      *     *     *
1c. TIPS FROM READERS. Soundexing to Success
    Thanks to: Arlene in California   [email protected]

This is a reminder of how helpful the Soundex can be. I recently paid
for access to U.S. census information and found many relatives, an even
an entire family at a time, by using Soundex to search for the name
CUMBERLEDGE. Some results were CUMBERLIEGE. CAMBERLEDGE, CUMBRLEDGE,
CUMBRAGE, CUMBRAG, CUMBRIDGE, CUMBERLEGE, and  CUMBERLED.

[Editor's Note: Did you know that ...
--Mc and Mac are not considered prefixes in the Soundex.
--Double letters are treated as one letter.
--Your surname may have different letters that are side-by-side but have
the same number on the Soundex coding guide. For example, in the surname
JACKSON, 2 is the number for C, K and S. In such cases, these letters
are treated as one letter. That's why JACKSON is Soundexed as J250 and
not J222.

For more tips on getting the most from the Soundex, please see
RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees on the subject:
  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson9.htm  

big snip

8. Humor/Humour: Throwing Some Light on the Subject
----------------------------------------------------
  Thanks to:   John Wolfe [email protected]

Last summer when my grandson, Billy, and I entered our vacation cabin,
we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting
pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in.

Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use, Grandpa. The
mosquitoes are coming after us -- with flashlights."


snip
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Do not send any subscription requests or e-mail address
changes to the editor. Please use these special e-mail addresses:
   [email protected]
               -- this adds you to the RWR Mailing List.
   [email protected]
               -- this removes you from the RWR Mailing List.
                       *     *     *
Permission to reprint articles from RootsWeb Review is granted unless
specifically stated otherwise, provided: (1) the reprint is used for
non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) the following notice
appears at the end of the article: Previously published in RootsWeb
Review: Vol. 6, No. 53, 31 December 2003.
                     *     *     *     *

RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine
Vol. 7, No. 1, 7 January 2004, much snipped

===============================================================
For more information and an index to the more than 27,700 RootsWeb-
hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining)
options go to:
RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists

===============================================================

1. NEWS AND NOTES. 1a. Empty Mailbox?

If you subscribe to one or more RootsWeb mailing lists and have reason
to suspect that you may not be receiving all of your RootsWeb list
mail, how can you find out?

Well, before doing anything else, check the HelpDesk notices in the
yellow box for announcements about any technical problems with RootsWeb
mail involving glitches with RootsWeb list servers or with your ISP.
  RootsWeb's HelpDesk Index

If you don't find the answer to your problem on the HelpDesk page obtain
a list of all your subscribed to mailing lists from Password Central by
going to this URL:  Password Central at RootsWeb or by clicking
on the Passwords Tab found at the top on any RootsWeb page.

If Password Central doesn't include all lists to which you should be
subscribed, re-subscribe to any lists that are missing from your
subscribed lists by sending a new e-mail to: [email protected]LISTNAME-L-
[email protected] (replacing the word LISTNAME with the actual list
name). 
Put only the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject and message body of
your e-mail. 
Send your request to: [email protected]
[email protected] if
you prefer to subscribe in digest mode.

If the list from Password Central indicates that you are subscribed to
all of your lists and you are still concerned about non-receipt of mail,
your next step is to:

--Check the threaded mailing list archives for the list
  RootsWeb Mailing List Archives

to be sure messages have been posted that you have not received. Type in
the mailing list name (without any  -L or -D) and click to view an
outline of messages to look for those you might have missed.

If the threaded archives indicates that messages have been posted to the
list that you have not received:

--Contact the list administrator at: [email protected]
(replace the word LISTNAME with the actual name of the list -- using no
-L or -D) to check whether the administrator has received any bounced
mail notices for your address and, if so, to learn the reason for them.

Whether or not the administrator has received bounces, consider the
possibility that spam filtering either by your ISP or personal filters
may be the cause of you not receiving list mail. In some instances, spam
filters result in your ISP (or your installed application) simply
discarding the messages with no notice to you. In other cases, the
administrator will have received bounces indicating that the list mail
is considered spam.

If you determine that spam filters are the problem, check your setups
-- if you've installed a spam filter. Or check with your ISP tech
support representative, if your ISP has installed the filters. If the
problem is with your ISP then its tech support should be able to assist
you in resolving the conflict once you explain that you want to receive
RootsWeb list mail, and that it is not spam.

Not all spam filters function well with the delivery of mailing list
messages. Filters that require the sender of a message to register at a
website to allow mail to be delivered are generally not compatible with
mailing lists. Some filters require mailing list addresses to be added
to a Safe List or a special "approved" mailing list section.

As for what NOT to do when you suspect non-receipt of mailing list mail:

--Do not send repeated messages to the list asking if the list is
working or if anyone has received your message.

--Do not send "TESTING" messages to a list. For one thing, they often do
not get through to the mailing list even when everything is working
properly on the list and, if you personally are not receiving list mail
for any of the above listed reasons, you will not see the message come
through to the list anyway.

Follow this list of DOs and DON'Ts and you should soon be back on
track receiving all of your mailing list messages from your favorite
RootsWeb mailing lists. And, if you find that your favorite list has
been inactive of late, liven it up by starting a discussion on a
relevant list topic to get things moving again.

3. New Mailing Lists at RootsWeb
 RootsWeb: Requesting a Mailing List or adopting an old - as ADMIN

-----------------------------------------------------------------
For more information and an index to the more than 27,700 RootsWeb-
hosted genealogy Mailing Lists and for easy subscribing (joining)
options go to: RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists