Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!howland.erols.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail From: john@meertech.demon.co.uk Newsgroups: alt.answers,alt.genealogy,news.answers,soc.answers,soc.genealogy.computing,soc.genealogy.uk+ireland Subject: [FAQ] soc.genealogy.uk+ireland Frequently Asked Questions Supersedes: <22478@meertech.demon.co.uk> Followup-To: soc.genealogy.uk+ireland Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 18:34:20 BST Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 18:34:20 BST Message-ID: <26011@meertech.demon.co.uk> Reply-To: john@meertech.demon.co.uk Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about Genealogy. It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to soc.genealogy.uk+ireland newsgroup, or the GENUKI-L mailing list. X-Mail2News-User: john@meertech.demon.co.uk X-Mail2News-Path: punt-2.mail.demon.net!meertech.demon.co.uk X-Remailer: SmofList Digest v1.1a Lines: 483 Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.answers:28409 alt.genealogy:97120 news.answers:110264 soc.answers:8411 soc.genealogy.computing:28137 soc.genealogy.uk+ireland:90744 Archive-name: genealogy/uk+ireland Posting-Frequency: 21 days Last-Modified: 1996/11/17 Version: 2.3 URL: http://www.meertech.demon.co.uk/genuki/socguki.htm Frequently Asked Questions For soc.genealogy.uk+ireland ------------------------------------------------------- Summary ~~~~~~~ This regular posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and their answers about Genealogy or Family History based in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the off-shore islands. It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the soc.genealogy.uk+ireland newsgroup, or to subscribe to the associated mailing list (GENUKI-L). If you have any comments or changes, or any suggestions for new topics to be included, or you would like to write a note for inclusion in the archive, then please contact John Woodgate, (john@meertech.demon.co.uk) Contributions by: Alan Stanier, Brian Randell, Robin Chappie, Don Olds, Doni Wright, Miles Abernathy, Margaret Olson Changes For This Version (2.5 - 1997/04/21) Minor corrections to the text. Updated list of web browsers. Updated email address for surnames mailing list. Copyright and Disclaimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) 1996,1997 by John Woodgate. All rights reserved. This document may be freely redistributed in its entirety without modification provided that this copyright notice is not removed. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Permission is expressly granted for this document to be made available for file transfer from installations offering unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet. This document is provided AS IS without any express or implied warranty. The author may be contacted at 50 Great Meadow Road, Bradley Stoke, Bristol, BS12 8DA. Questions Discussed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ General Interest **************** 1. What are soc.genealogy.uk+ireland and GENUKI-L for? 2. Posting surname enquiries 3. Where can I get on-line information and guidance on genealogy? 4. What sources of general genealogical information are there? 5. How do I get the latest version of the FAQ? GENUKI-L Mailing List ********************* 1. What is GENUKI-L? 2. How do I subscribe to GENUKI-L? 3. How do I unsubscribe to GENUKI-L? 4. What is the full email address of GENUKI-L? 5. How do I get copies of past messages? 6. How do I conduct a search of the archived messages? 7. What do I do if I have problems with the Listserv? 8. I keep getting 'unknown address', what can I do? 9. How do I get a digest of the messages? 10. How do I get just an Index of the messages? 11. How do I stop getting messages for a while? 12. Other Options General Interest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. What are soc.genealogy.uk+ireland and GENUKI-L for? *************************************************** The purpose of this newsgroup and mailing list is: 1. The Usenet soc.genealogy.uk+ireland newsgroup and it's associated mailing list GENUKI-L are for genealogy and family history discussion among people researching ancestors, family members, or others who have a genealogical connection to any people in any part of the British Isles. 2. The newsgroup is one of a set of related newsgroups (each with it's own associated mailing list) that form the soc.genealogy.* hierarchy. Details of each of these other newsgroups are posted each month. 3. The group is open to anyone with an interest in genealogy in any of the populations in or from this area, including, but not limited to: people who live, lived, or may have lived there; emigrants; immigrants; colonists; residents of former colonies; and their descendants. 4. The scope of the group reflects the language, history, migrations, and the realities of researching public records and genealogical data archives, and includes questions of local customs and history, or of regional or national history which affected the lives of these people and which are difficult to research in the present. Posts may be in any language but those seeking replies from a wide spectrum of readers (or at all) would be well advised to post in English. 5. The focus of the group is on people: as individuals, as members of ethnic groups, and as part of migration patterns, but not as citizens of countries. Postings on topics unrelated to genealogy, especially relating to current political or religious topics are not welcome. All who have access to the Usenet soc.genealogy.uk+ireland newsgroup, or to the GENUKI-L mailing list, are welcome to join and take part. Since this newsgroup is not moderated, anything posted to the newsgroup will be seen by all the readers of the newsgroup and the mailing list, and vice versa. Remember, what you post, will be seen exactly as you post it. We therefore recommend "lurking" in the newsgroup or mailing list (i.e. reading messages, without posting anything) for a few days so as to get an idea of how people typically phrase their postings, and so learn how best to formulate any questions or comments, before you start posting messages to the newsgroup and mailing list yourself. Advertising or selling of a product or service is not in general regarded as acceptable. These should be placed in soc.genealogy.marketplace. There are also two lists which give details of all the known genealogy related mailing lists. The first list, which is maintained by John Fuller and Chris Gaunt is available via ftp from ftp.cac.psu.edu as the file /pub/genealogy/text/guides/gresinet.txt and on the Web at the URL. http://www.umich.edu/~cgaunt/gen_int1.html There is also a list maintained by Vicki Lindsay available on the Web at the URL: http://www.eskimo.com/~chance 2. Posting surname enquiries ************************* The topic of posting or not posting surname enquiries to the group can generate a lot of heated discussion. The preferred option is to post surname enquiries to the newsgroup soc.genealogy.surnames that has been set up specifically for this purpose. This is an archived and moderated newsgroup (with an associated mailing list gennam-l). The chief role of the moderator is to ensure that each surname enquiry has an informative subject line in a standard style which is aimed at facilitating either manual or automated searches of the postings and the archives. This is so that users can readily identify messages of likely interest that they can then retrieve and read at their leisure. In contrast, soc.genealogy.uk+ireland is not moderated so there is no practical way to ensure that such surname searches (let alone all the many and varied more general postings) sent to it have well chosen subject lines - thus the posting of large numbers of surname searches to soc.genealogy.uk+ireland would greatly diminish the utility and practicability of the newsgroup for the discussion of more general issues and problems related to UK & Irish genealogy. If you must post surname queries to this group, then following these suggestions will help to reduce the irritation caused to others. + soc.genealogy.uk+ireland is archived by Apple Computer. It doesn't have the same search tools as soc.genealogy.surnames, but they are sufficient to allow a search for a surname or location. So there is no need for repeated posts. + Think about what you post before you post it. Simple enquiries of the form "I am looking for anybody called so and so" are better done by searching the GENUKI-L archives. This search can be repeated as often as you like without upsetting anybody. + Use the soc.genealogy.surnames format for ALL surname enquiries, and in fact, post the enquiry to the soc.genealogy.surnames group as well. This is the only way to increase the UK/Ireland content of the archive. + You can also post the surname enquiry via email by sending the message to soc-genealogy-surnames@rootsweb.com. 3. Where can I get on-line information and guidance on Genealogy? ************************************************************** There are three main online resources on the Internet which relate specifically to the United Kingdom & Ireland. One of these is the GENUKI-L archive machine. To access this machine send the following message To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: INDEX ROOTS-L This will return a list of files available on the GENUKI-L archive machine. The archive keeps a record of all the messages posted to the newsgroup and mailing list, and much data of relevance to the newsgroup and mailing list readership. The second such source is in fact the World Wide Web (access to which requires the use of a Web 'browser' program such as Internet Explorer or Netscape). A special Web server has been set up in support of soc.genealogy.uk+ireland and GENUKI-L, which already contains genealogical information about (i) the British Isles as a whole, (ii) the constituent parts, namely England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man, (iii) most of the constituent counties, and even (iv) some individual towns and parishes. You can reach the uk+ireland homepage at the URL: http://midas.ac.uk/genuki/ This server also contains quite a lot of tutorial advice, as well as factual information, on UK & Irish Genealogy, so readers with the means of accessing the World Wide Web will find that it is often better to look here for the answer to your question 'before' deciding whether it is appropriate to send it to the entire readership of soc.genealogy.uk+ireland and GENUKI-L. The third site is the LISTSERV at meertech.demon.co.uk which contains a number of FAQs and tutorials relating to genealogy in the UK and Ireland. To obtain a list of what is there, send a message to To: LISTSERV@meertech.demon.co.uk Subject: INDEX 4. What sources of general genealogical information are there? *********************************************************** There is a very large amount of online genealogical information at listserv@mail.eworld.com. To obtain a list of files available on this machine send the following message: INDEX GENUKI-L to listserv@mail.eworld.com. This machine contains much general information, and information of relevance to the readership, though much of its content is specific to the U.S. But there are also many other sources, some very specialized, others quite general. Some of these sources of information are available by FTP, others use Gopher or the Web. There is a Web homepage which contains many useful pointers to resources on the Internet. This page has the URL http://www.genhomepage.com/ However, for the foreseeable future, it is likely that much of the information you will need will be found only in books, or on microfilm or microfiche in various libraries, archives, record offices and government archives. Do not expect to be able to restrict your research just to data that is available to you on-line. The pre-eminent source of genealogical information is the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons or LDS). There are no on-line access facilities to this immense library, but there are branches of this library in the Family History Centres (FHC) found in many towns and cities throughout the world where microfilm copies of most of the library's holdings can be viewed You would be well advised to seek out your nearest branch of this library, and pay it an early visit. 5. How do I get the latest version of the FAQ? ******************************************* You can obtain the latest version of the FAQ from various sources: + via Anonymous FTP from o ftp.herald.co.uk in the file /pub/genuki/socguki.txt o rtfm.mit.edu in the file /pub/usenet/news.answers/genealogy/uk+ireland. o ftp.uu.net in the file /usenet/news.answers/genealogy/uk+ireland + via the WWW at the following URLs o http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/genuki/socguki.html o http://www.meertech.demon.co.uk/genuki/socguki.html + Via email from o mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu by sending the following message To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu Subject: send usenet/news.answers/genealogy/genuki o listserv@meertech.demon.co.uk by sending the following message To: LISTSERV@meertech.demon.co.uk Subject: get socguki GENUKI-L ~~~~~~~~ 1. What is GENUKI-L ? ****************** GENUKI-L is an Email based discussion list where those who have an interest in Genealogy may communicate via Email messages in hopes of finding more family history information. This discussion list is gatewayed to the Usenet newsgroup soc.genealogy.uk+ireland. The intention being that all messages sent directly to GENUKI-L also appear in soc.genealogy.uk+ireland, and vice versa. The choice of which to follow depends mainly on what facilities are available to you, and, if you have the choice, which medium you prefer to use. The mailing list and archive is hosted by Apple Computer who can be contacted at the URL http://www.apple.com. To participate in this discussion list, you have to explicitly join it (i.e. "subscribe"). Once you have done this, you will automatically be sent copies of all the messages that are submitted to the list. 2. How do I subscribe to GENUKI-L ? ******************************** To subscribe to the GENUKI-L mailing list send the following message as the body of the message to listserv@mail.eworld.com with no subject line: To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: SUBSCRIBE GENUKI-L Do NOT include any other text such as a sig file. If you do, the listserv software will attempt to read it as a series of commands and probably send you a message or messages saying it cannot understand you. If your mail program will not let you send a blank subject line, then use something like "no subject". Do not use anything which might be considered to be a command. 3. How do I unsubscribe to GENUKI-L ? ********************************** You may leave the GENUKI-L mailing list at any time by sending the following message to listserv@mail.eworld.com : To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: SIGNOFF GENUKI-L 4. What is the full email address of GENUKI-L ? ******************************************** To send a message to all the people who read the GENUKI-L mailing list, send the message to: GENUKI-L@mail.eworld.com To send a message to the list processor, send the message to: listserv@mail.eworld.com Try not to get them round the wrong way or everybody will see your mistake when you post a listserv command to the entire mailing list! 5. How do I get copies of past messages? ************************************* If you think you have missed an important GENUKI-L message, you can get a copy of all the message digests stored in the archive. You can do this by sending an email message to listserv@mail.eworld.com with the following line as the body of the message: To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: GET GENUKI-L LOGyymmw where yy is the last two digits of the year mm is the number of the month w is the week letter (e.g. the first week is a, the second is b and so on) 6. How do I conduct a search of the archived messages? *************************************************** With the current version of Listserv software, it is not possible to get to conduct a search of the archived messages. It is due in a later revision. 7. What do I do if I have trouble with the Apple Listserv? ******************************************************* Send email to genuki-l-request@mail.eworld.com. This is the (human) administrator of the list, who will be able to help you. 8. I keep getting 'unknown address', what can I do? ************************************************ From time to time, you may find that when you try to send a reply directly just to the originator of a message that you received via GENUKI-L, the message gets returned by your name server with the reason 'unknown address'. There is a good chance that the Apple Computer machine will know the address. To send your message via this machine (NOT VIA GENUKI-L@mail.eworld.com ), you will have to modify the address you are using. For example, if the 'bad' address was: user_name@unknown.address.net To send this message via mail.eworld.com, change the '@' to a '%' and add the @mail.eworld.com to the end: user_name%unknown.address.net@mail.eworld.com This means that you want to use the nameserver at Apple Computer instead of your local nameserver. 9. How do I get a digest of the messages? ************************************** To receive a digest (a single message containing all the messages posted during the current period), send the following message to listserv@mail.eworld.com To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: SET GENUKI-L DIGEST 10. Can I get just an Index of the messages? **************************************** To receive an index of the digest (a single message containing all the messages posted during the current period), send the following message to listserv@mail.eworld.com To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: SET GENUKI-L INDEX 11. How do I stop getting messages for a while? ******************************************* If you are going away for a while and don't want your mailbox to fill up with messages during your absence, send the following message to listserv@mail.eworld.com To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: SET GENUKI-L NOMAIL When you return, just send the message To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: SET GENUKI-L MAIL Messages will be delivered as before. It will not reset you back to individual messages unless that is what you were receiving before. 12. Other Options ************* More information of listserv commands can be found in the Listserv help file which you can retrieve by sending the message To: LISTSERV@mail.eworld.com Subject: HELP ------------------------------------------------------------------------- soc.genealogy.uk+ireland / V2.5 - 1997/04/21 / john@meertech.demon.co.uk