If You Are NEW At Posting Queries ..... There are several web sites that have their own ideas about how to post a query and demand that you follow their guidelines. This site doesn't demand anything ...... but we do have a few ideas that might help. Consider the following:

• Be Sure to include the County Name. Part of the basic idea of the USGenWeb project is to have each county in the U.S. represented by its own web site. At many of those sites (including this one), if the county name is not specifically mentioned, the query will be posted in the "general area queries" instead of the "county queries".

  Suffice it to say, the "county queries" get more attention than the "general area queries"


 
• Place SURNAMES that you are seeking IN ALL CAPS. If someone is browsing through a list of queries, something is going to have to catch their eye if your query is to be answered.

  Since you don't usually have control over other highlight features available (i.e. bold, underline, color, Font Size, etc.) use ALL CAPS for the SURNAME to make it stand out.


 
• Submit a reasonable number of surnames per query. If you submit too many surnames in a single query, you may not be taken seriously. Ideally, one surname per query is not a bad idea ..... two, three, maybe four, is OK ...... above that ...... consider breaking the list into several different queries.
   
• Provide sufficient information. A query that simply indicates a surname without dates, places, etc. (especially for common names ... i.e. Smith, Jones, etc.) doesn't really identify the person you are seeking very well.

  Consider something like "Seeking information on Robert T. Smith, born about 1890, place unknown, wife’s name unknown, had children named Sally, Billy, and Tom. Resided in Dallas about 1925" instead of "need info on Bob Smith".
   

• Think before you hit the submit button. Read and re-read the query before submitting it. Ask yourself 1) Did I leave any pertinent information out? 2) Is my email address correct? 3) Does this look OK? Once you hit the submit button, it may not be a trivial matter to get it changed ....... depending on where it gets posted.

  Queries often go into an archive file (at a remote site) as well as showing up on a particular web page. Sending a change to your query (maybe even only a few minutes later) will not change the archive file.

  Why is that important? Because the archive file is where some of the massive research databases get their data.

  Hope these ideas help. Happy hunting!.

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