If I am going to be a writer and try to get your attention so that you will help me, I must be courteous to you; I must be thoughtful enough to present materials in such a manner as to get and keep your attention; I must write my material in a way that makes it fast, easy, and pleasant to read. With these thoughts in mind, consider that the following are NOT RULES, but they are SUGGESTED GUIDELINES for use by genealogy re-searchers.

• 1. Are you shouting at the reader.
• 2-6. Typing names so they are easy to read.
• 7-8. Where and How to Reply.
• 9-10. Flaming.
• 11. You want to reply, but, Are You Ready?

1) Generally, type everything in lower case (small) letters. Typing everything in all CAPS is considered SHOUTING at the reader.

2) ALWAYS type SURNAMES in upper case (CAPITAL) letters.

3) When listing SURNAMES only, enter a comma and two spaces between the names. This makes for faster, easier reading: CARTER, DYER, KIRBY, LEE, WILSON (PLEASE, do not space between letters of the name, and do not use special characters within a name)

4) DO NOT use the asterisk * or the slash / as a separator of SURNAMES. Use this same rule for applying other special characters in your writings. This is hard on the eyes, and some of us won't read it. Therefore, you and I might miss a perfect opportunity to find a connection to one of the names we are both researching.

5) Generally, type names as follows:

SURNAME, First Second Third "Nickname" Title (Although it won't always work out this way, try to make it a standard way of writing names.) Example: CARTER, Everet Joseph Grayson "Joe" Rev

6) When listing SURNAMES with locations, try to make the listings as columns if possible. At least enter some spaces to make for easier, faster reading:

• CARTER > NC, SC, MS, AR
• LEE > NC, SC, TN, AR
• JONES > FL, AL, TN, GA
• OWENS > NC, GA, LA
• KIRBY > AR
• WOOD > TN, AR

Realize that the progression of states is not meant to be alphabetical, but represents the general movement (migration) of the family the individual is researching and therefore the locations being searched.

7) When you reply (respond) to someone's message or request, if your message is personal or if you think it does not belong on the discussion list, click on the REPLY or RESPOND button -this will automatically send your message to the address of the originator.

8) If you wish your reply/response to be read by all on the discussion list, type in the e-mail address of the list you wish it to be seen by.

9) Please, do not flame someone (put them down rather rudely) for something they have done. The individual may be new and did not realize what was correct and proper. Or, an individual can be in a hurry and just do things wrong. (Personally, I do not wish to reduce myself to the low level of flaming someone. I have been flamed and know how bad it made me feel, even though I had not intended to hurt or upset anyone.) Consider the fact that in most instances the act is not on purpose, but accidental. If you must reply, be courteous, polite, and positive and send them a private note.

10) Above all, DO NOT flame someone publicly on one of the lists. It is bad manners on the part of the person doing the flaming, and shows disrespect toward all other members of the list. (They do not want to hear the flamer's whining about what someone has supposedly done to them. That is why there are always so many ill-natured replies afterwards. And, those replies are just as disrespectful as the original flame.)

11) Do you really want to flame someone? Go look in the mirror. That person you are looking at knows exactly how you feel and what you are thinking. Therefore, that person knows exactly how to take what you are saying. Furthermore, if that person in the mirror smiles at you, you are going to have to smile back. And, if you smile at the person in the mirror and that person in the mirror does not smile back at you, you are not ready to write to anyone yet.

• Now, let's work together and find some genealogy answers.
• Thank you.