GUIDELINES FOR soc.genealogy.methods (GENMTD-L) Last modification: 10 August 1996. CONTENTS: Section 1: The group charter; Section 2: General procedures (includes contact information); Section 3: Writing a post that others will read. SECTION 1: THE GROUP CHARTER This moderated group is intended for helpful discussions of the (non- computing) research methods, resources, and problems that genealogists have in common, regardless of the different families or different cultural groups which they study. Those who develop specific questions or problems in their own research may solicit suggestions from the group on how to attempt to resolve a research problem. Examples of topics discussed in this group include: *Records and other resources: how to find and use records, indexes, and other resources; important record repositories; problems of interpretation (handwriting, customs, language changes); problems of determining date, authorship, or origin; problems of preservation; *Published sources: transcription problems; locating published sources; inter-library loan and other remote access services; genealogical publishers; journals; important genealogical libraries; *Family sources: traditional stories and/or published family histories; locating and evaluating them *Other sources: unusual or little-used record types: what they are and how to find out more; regional and national project registries; information on local historical and genealogical societies and their services; *Organization of research: establishing a research plan; maintaining records of your research; useful ways of viewing your data; devising strategies to get past a deadend; *Evidence: proof; probability; indirect proof; evaluation of conflicting sources; dealing with contemporaries with the same name; *Patterns and conditions of life in the past: laws, customs, trades, migration routes, folkways, beliefs, economic conditions may help interpret the evidence we find as well as provide an ancestral context; *Interdisciplinary discussions: those aspects of demographics, genetics, medicine, stylistic analysis, law etc.which are useful in interpreting sources or otherwise related to genealogical research. *Genealogical classes: on research methods and resources, in general and specific to certain times or localities. When classes cover subject matter of concern to other newsgroups (for example, localities or computing), posts will be cross-posted to the relevant group. *Brief, non-commercial announcements of general interest to genealogists. Postings from both experienced and inexperienced participants will be welcomed. The philosophy of moderation is to be light-handed and to offer extra help behind the scenes for new participants, who may be experiencing problems with e-mail addresses or net customs or the like. This assistance will be offered privately, in response to posts which, in the moderator's best judgement, are likely to be objected to by other participants (e.g.personal attacks, questions fully covered in FAQ file, items which were intended to be personal e-mail; incomplete questions; etc). SECTION 2: GENERAL PROCEDURES. There are two =alternate= ways to send articles to this discussion group. Either (1) use your normal newsposting software to post to soc.genealogy.methods or (2) use your normal mail software to send the item to the distribution address: GENMTD-L@rootsweb.com. Notice that these are alternate methods -- just use one of them! (If you have questions about news or mail software on your system, ask your user consultants or check your documentation. There are many different software environments and your best help will be where =you= are, not in this group.) Do =not= send items you intend to post directly to the moderators personal e-mail addresses. The moderators assume that any thing you send to them personally is a private communication and not intended for redistribution! Every post to this group is automatically routed to one of the moderators for review prior to posting. The moderators expect to take turns moderating, so when an absence is known in advance we can often arrange coverage. (Both moderators are very frequently online, so we do not expect the review process to cause inconvenient delays in the appearance of appropriate articles.) When a moderator feels an item should =not= be posted either in its present form or at all, the moderator will return it to the poster with an explanation of what the moderator believes the problem is and any other information which is appropriate (e.g. a FAQ file, an offer to help resolve the e-mail address, etc.). If you do not understand the explanation or feel the moderator has not evaluated your submission correctly, you are invited to discuss this with the moderator in e-mail. If you have a topic which is appropriate for more than one of the genealogy groups, you may decide to post in more than one. This is an okay thing to do when it makes sense to do so, but you may also hear some criticism from those who disagree with your choice. You will hear much less criticism if you have used cross-posting, rather than multiple posts, to distribute your item. To do this, you must have used newsposting software and the Newsgroups line in the item header should list all those groups to which the item is being sent. Cross-posting is preferred for two reasons: it results in less network and storage overhead and many newsreader programs are smart enough to display your item only once to each group participant. Moderators will not alter subject line or body of a post, except possibly for removing excessive quoted material or adding a brief comment at the beginning or end, if this appears helpful to the other participants. Posters should not expect moderators to proofread their articles. Examples of problems that concern the moderators are: *item which is unrelated to the stated scope of the newsgroup; *item which should have been personal e-mail; *item which substantially repeats another post; *item which is a flame or other personal attack; *an advertisement; *item which is incomplete or confusing; *item which will probably cause criticism of the poster. If you have not seen your post appear or received any explanation from a moderator via electronic mail after a reasonable time has passed, you may post a query to the moderator; please provide additional information on ways to contact you, as e-mail from the moderator may have failed to reach you using your previously supplied e-mail address. Alternatively you may contact a moderator directly. Moderators are: Brian Leverich leverich@rootsweb.com (For personal e-mail messages.) Alicia Towster, University of Southwestern Louisiana aet@usl.edu (For personal e-mail messages.) (318) 482-6404 Do not send items for public distribution to a moderator's personal address. Public complaints about the methods group may be sent to the group which discusses computing and online resources: GENCMP-L (soc.genealogy.computing). (Naturally, we encourage you to e-mail the moderators of soc.genealogy.methods first, if you are unhappy.) SECTION 3: WRITING A POST THAT OTHERS WILL READ No particular format or conventions are required. The following suggestions are designed make it easier for current (and future) participants to notice and read your article and to respond to you, if appropriate. The reminders about being brief are due to both computer and human limitations and the fact that some participants must pay to receive or store your articles. If you have questions about the form or content of your article which are not answered below, contact one of the moderators. (If your question is about how your posting software works, consult the support staff or manuals at your site.) *Subject line: Be brief and specific. Many newsgroup participants base their decision of whether or not to read an article on the Subject line. A good Subject line will also make it more likely that anyone searching the archives of previous articles sent to this group will notice your article and retrieve it. (As of 6/2/95, we do not expect searching logs to be available until the fall. Watch for related bulletins on this topic.) Some posting software does not allow long Subjects and will chop off anything after the first 30 characters or so, so put the most important words first. When you respond to an item you have just read, most posting software will automatically create a Subject line, consisting of Re: plus the current subject. If this is no longer appropriate, you should change the Subject line to something that more accurately describes your post. (If it =is= appropriate, though, leave it alone, and the References line, too, even though it looks like gibberish. Many newsreader programs depend on these lines to group items on a common "thread" together.) *Body - What You Say: Create a separate post for each topic. Be brief and specific. Consider if you have told your audience all the relevant facts. Restate your main point or question at the end. If you intend humor, include a ;-) ("smiley") or ("grin"). If you are asking a question that you suspect will not be of general interest, you may want to add: "Please respond by e-mail and I will summarize responses to the group, if there is any interest." Your article may be enhanced by providing specific examples, using data from a family you are familiar with. However, if the main point of your post is to find others researching the same family, then your post belongs in the soc.genealogy.surnames (GENNAM-L) group. *Body - What It Looks Like: Most of your potential audience will read your article on a display screen (or window) which shows about 24 lines of ordinary typewriter-style characters. Line lengths should not be longer than 70 characters -- this will allow your lines to be read easily in most software, as well as quoted in someone else's post without line-wrap or truncation. Balance text and white space. A screen filled with text is hard to read -- but so is a screen with lots of spaces and just a few words. If your article contains information in columns, use spaces and a monospaced (typewriter-like) font when you type it to ensure it will still have neatly aligned columns on your readers' screens. For emphasis, enclose a word or phrase in a symbol, like =this= or *this*. Using all capital letters is used in genealogy to indicate a SURNAME, but elsewhere is considered the on-line equivalent of SHOUTING. *Signature: Again, brevity is good. The important thing is to include contact information for yourself. Consider providing several ways to reach you: Internet readers will not be able to send e-mail to FIDOnet and vice versa, unless the FIDOnetter has obtained netmail access; snail mail addresses or phone numbers may be more permanent than e-mail accounts. (Remember that articles are archived, so some responses to your item may be in the indefinite future.) Moderators reserve the right to reject posts with obviously bogus addresses.