Cousins,
Some of you have posted to me this week, asking about my policy on
posting to our surname lists, because of discussions about policy on
other lists.
Each listowner has her/his own "guidelines" for what she/he
considers appropriate. I consider these surname lists "ours" rather
than "mine". What/whether you post will determine whether the list
will be helpful for you. If you wait for someone else to post your
line, you may not benefit from the list at all. If you post your
queries and your lines, you may find new cousins. It's that simple.
I do not have our lists set to "reply to the list", because that can
be very embarrassing if you forget and send a very personal message
to a cousin as a reply, but I would like for all of you to send a
copy of your replies that relate to genealogy to the list, because
many times they have a bit of data that will help another cousin.
Excitement about finding a new cousin is also appropriate for the
list - we all need the kind of boost that gives. Family stories
about ancestors are wonderful for the list, and may help someone
find a cousin who has heard a similar story. Biographical
information, wills, census records or any other data having to do
with the list surname may help a cousin, even though it does not
help you. Information about reunions, books for sale about the
surname, newsletters - all might help us, and belong on our list.
AOL users - if you "reply" to a post from a cousin on the list, your
reply might go to the list, whether you intended for it to or not,
because of the way AOL has their settings - be aware of this and
check where your post is going, to save yourself embarrassment.
There are two things I DO NOT EVER consider appropriate for the list
- attachments and criticism of other cousins. Please be kind.
Carol Carwile Head <cch(a)netdoor.com>
http://www2.netdoor.com/~cch
Listowner for the GEN-MAT and GEN-MAT-15 lists (new/used
genealogical materials), IMMI-GRAND (immigrant grandparents
research), RAN-CLAY
(east-central Alabama counties), and Agnew, Bailey, Barker, Bell,
Bowen, Bozeman, Cannon, Carwile, Cloud, Creel, Crowder, Couts,
DeVaughn, Ferguson, Forde, Gannon, Garrett, Grogan, Head,
Humphreys, Jordan,
King, Knotts, Lipscomb, Lynch, Page, Poole, Pursley, Roland, Sapp
and Thompson surname lists, now at RootsWeb.