TIP #3: How to find a genealogical mailing list, how to subscribe, and how to be an active participant. Subscribing to a Genealogy Mailing List
What is a Mailing list? - A mailing list is an automated mail server that resends messages received from a list member to all of the members of the list. As a member of the list you will receive these messages. The mailing list is set up by a "list owner" who is responsible for its operation. Most mailing lists are not monitored, meaning that all messages sent to the list are resent to all members without review or approval by the list owner.
Mailing lists usually give you the choice of either receiving messages one at a time or you may choose the digest mode where several messages are combined and delivered as a single message (often once a day).
Finding a list - The two most popular types of mailing lists for genealogy research are those where the list covers a specific surname and those where the list addresses a geographic area, such as a county. A listing of available mailing lists prepared by John Fuller & Chris Gaunt is available at http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail.html. You can also find mailing lists at Cyndi's List. The following steps will show you how to subscribe to a mailing list:
- Go on-line with your Web browser and right click on http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail.html.
- Select "Open in a new window". When the site appears, you can alternate between viewing that site and viewing this page by holding down your Alt key and pressing Tab. [Alt+Tab]
- Or, if you prefer, print this page to use while you visit the Mailing list site.
- Now continue with either the "Surname list" or the "Geographic area list" section below.
Surname list -
- Let's suppose that you have identified an ancestor with the surname of TUTTLE and that you would like to subscribe to a mailing list that specializes in information about Tuttles.
- Scroll down to the first group of "bulleted" items. Click on Surnames.
- Click on the alphabetical range that contains the first few letters of the Surname.
- Scroll down to TUTTLE and click on it.
- Instructions for Subscribing to the Tuttle Mailing List will now appear including the mailing address.
- At this point you may want to back-up a couple of steps and choose a surname that you are personally interested in instead of the Tuttle surname. Use your browser's "Back" button twice to get back to the alphabetical ranges.
- Click on the range that contains your name of interest and then click on the Surname that you want. If you do not find the name that you are looking for, then a list has not been established yet for that surname. Look also for alternative spellings of your name of interest. Your name may be covered by a list with a somewhat different spelling.
- Continue with "For all lists" instructions below.
Geographic area list -
- Scroll down to the first group of "bulleted" items. Click on "Countries other than USA" or "USA."
- Click on the country or state of interest.
- Choose the area of interest by clicking on the name. Some countries have sub divisions and states have County lists
- Click on the name of the list desired.
- Continue with "For all lists" instructions below.
For all lists -
- You may choose the address for either "mail mode" of "digest mode". If the e-mail address is highlighted by your browser, you can just click on it to bring up a new message screen.
- Note that you only need to place the word "Subscribe" (without the quotes) in the body of the message. No Subject is needed. Do not place anything else in the body of the message and turn off your "Signature" lines if you have them set up to automatically add your name or other message at the end of each message. Your message will be read by machine and any other text in the message may cause errors.
- Send the message and close the Mailing List page.
- You will soon (within a few minutes to a few hours depending upon the list) receive a Welcome message from the automated mail server. This message may ask you to verify your address as correct. Just follow the instructions.
- You will note in the Welcome message that an e-mail address is given to use when posting messages to the list. This address will be different from the address that you used to subscribe.
- The Welcome message will contain instructions on how to Unsubscribe from the Mailing List. It is very important that you save this message, because at sometime in the future you will want to stop the messages (perhaps when you are going on vacation) and you need to know how to do it. The Unsubscribe message goes to the same address that was used to Subscribe. Do not send the Unsubscribe message to the address used to post messages to the list.
- You will soon begin to receive messages from the Mailing List. Some lists are relatively inactive with only a few messages a week, and others will have a dozen or more each day.
List procedures and some tips on list etiquette -
- Start out by being a "lurker". For a few days, just read the messages and watch for the responses. Try to get an idea of how the system works and what kind of messages are appropriate.
- After a while, you may see a message that you want to respond to. You first need to decide if your response should be sent to the entire list or just to the person that originated the message.
- Will your response be of interest to everyone on the list? If so, send it to the list. Be careful with the "Reply" button on your e-mail program. Check the address after you hit "Reply" to be sure that your reply is going to the address that you want.
- You may also want to send a message to the list, perhaps asking for information about one of your ancestors. Place the ancestor's name, location, and approximate time frame in the Subject line so that list members can easily recognize your request without having to read through your entire message. Many members are on multiple lists and they will not take the time to read through everything.
- Make your message brief and to the point. Include more details than were possible in the subject line. What do you want to know? It also helps for you to say that you are willing to share and exchange information.
- Be sure that your message is directly related to the Subject being addressed by the list. Don't send jokes or similar items to the mailing list. Be sure that the mailing lists are not included if you sometimes send things to all of the addresses on your list.
- Do not become involved in "flame wars" where some list member makes a controversial statement and others are jumping in to support or disagree. Politics and "North vs. South" are common topics that lead to "flame wars." Let the List Owner handle any problems with members who post inappropriate messages.
General tips
David L. Hanna, February 2000, revised June 2006
- Start out by subscribing to no more than 3 or 4 lists until you get an idea of the volume of mail that they will create. Then add lists if you want.
- Use mail filtering rules to sort your incoming mail and direct the mail from each list into a dedicated folder. This will keep your In Box from filling up with Mailing List messages until you can read them.