List Rules

• I, as list owner, reserve the sole right to determine when people step out of line.  If you do have such concerns, a private e-mail to me is the correct approach.  I reserve the right to admonish, ban, moderate, or any other appropriate response to those that break the rules.
• I don't allow discussion of the rules on the mailing list. If you want to discuss rules e-mail me directly. If I think the subject should be debated on the list I will start and end the debate.
• Please do not post VIRUS warnings here.  This mailing list is strictly for genealogical matters relating to the county of Middlesex in England. I know it seems like a common courtesy but many of these warnings are hoaxes and everyone should be running virus scanning software especially if connected to the InterNet. This mailing list comes from RootsWeb which is set up to prevent propagation of viruses by e-mail so there is no risk from using this list.
• Under no circumstances post comments about other people's postings - by all means reply with information or helpful suggestions.  
• Do not abuse any other list member either on or off this list.
• Please don't post public thank yous on this list.  There are over 750 subscribers which means each of them gets your e-mail unnecessarily. RootsWeb, who hosts this mailing list, can well do without the extra workload of sending 750 extra e-mails.  I know it is nice to say thank you so please do this off-list just to those who have helped.
• Please do not post any copyright material on this list.
• Please do not post names and addresses of living persons; this is unacceptable (except your own). Please pass such information directly to the requester.
• Please don't make recommendations for professional researcher's here - send these directly to the requester. These lists are public and the archives are available for an indefinite period of time; readers might not realize that your recommendation is really just for a given point in time not for ever! In some countries litigation might even result if they failed to live up to expectations! RootsWeb, who publish these lists, might be open to such litigation as well as you, the author!
• Please don't use this mailing list for topics which are not of a genealogical nature. I don't believe that war rationing is of a genealogical nature. Please either use a more appropriate forum or just exchange private e-mails. This mailing list that this is a genealogical list not a vehicle for sending greeting messages - this includes Christmas, new year, and new millennium. If you do wish to send out such greetings then please send them privately. Of course, if you happen to include your greetings in an otherwise acceptable posting then that is fine.
• Please do not post information about other mailing lists here without my express permission. If you have just started a new mailing list then there are more appropriate mailing lists such as GENBRIT for publicizing such information. If your posting is in direct response to a request on the list then that is normally acceptable provided the original request can be reasonably construed to relate to Middlesex.
  • Surname Lists cannot be publicized here unless the owner can satisfy me that they have a particular relevance to Middlesex.
  • Occupation Lists relevant to Middlesex will be permitted at my discretion 
  • County Lists (or other area lists) will normally be permitted if adjacent to Middlesex
  • Other lists at my discretion provided the owner can show relevance to Middlesex.
  If we don't have some sensible rules then we would get overloaded with postings of little interest to others. If you are a list owner then I can't see anything wrong with ending your normal postings with something like

  Brenda Bova
  FISKE surname list owner ([email protected])

Guidelines for postings

• All surnames should be in upper case - this includes those on the subject line; it makes the posting easier to read.
• I would advise that you choose an appropriate subject line because many people won't even read the posting unless the subject line makes them think this posting is interest to them
• Please respond directly to this list when answering people's questions and try not to send personal e-mails (by all means copy the person as well).
  Other people may also be looking for your answers or in some other way benefit from them. There is also another side, all the postings to this
  list are archived for posterity and it is essential that answers are archived as well as the questions.
• Don't be discouraged if you don't get an answer - there are always more people asking than receiving on genealogical lists - keep a watching brief;
  someone may well join the list later who is researching in a similar area. This means that it is a good idea if new subscribers post their interests.
  I suggest that you identify yourself clearly, indicate where you are from, and exactly what your are researching and what you would like to know e.g.

  My name is Brian Fisk. I live in Winchester in the UK. My family lived in Sunbury, Middlesex from the middle of the last century until today. I would
  like to collect any information anyone has on FISKs in Middle sex as a whole and the Sunbury area in particular. I am also interested in the PERRY,
  COOK, LEECH, DERBRIDGE, HENKEL, MIDDLETON, and FINCH surnames from the same area.
  

There are more guidelines and advice on the following URL -

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bpefisk/fh/basic-info.html which I have recently updated.  You are all advised to read it especially if you are new to the list.

Other Notes

I have found a way that any user can determine whether you are still subscribed to the Middlesex list for themselves - the following URL provides a means of such an enquiry http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com

Other useful RootsWeb sites are:

• For helpful information on RootsWeb's mailing lists, please visit the HelpDesk's FAQ's at https://support.rootsweb.com/
• For additional information about ALL available mailing lists, visit https://sites.rootsweb.com/~maillist
• If you'd like to adopt and be the admin for any of our adoptable mailing lists, visit http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/adoptable (for surname lists) or http://resources.rootsweb.com/USA/adoptable (for US county lists)