BALWEARIE Surname List - FAQs and Rules
BALWEARIE LIST
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND RULES

Last Updated or Revised on April 21, 2008



Table of Contents


PURPOSE OF THIS LIST:
This list is a method of communication among and between people world-wide who are researching the genealogy, heritage, and culture of persons with the surname BALWEARIE. Messages posted to this list should pertain to the BALWEARIE surname and persons, living and deceased, possessing the BALWEARIE surname. There is no charge for subscribing to this list. However, the sponsors of this list (Rootsweb and the Clan Scott Society) welcome donations of any size. At the present time, the list is open to anyone who wishes to subscribe.

SPONSORS OF THE LIST:
The BALWEARIE list is sponsored jointly by the good folks at Rootsweb and the Clan Scott Society. The list is open to all people interested in the BALWEARIE surname; you do not need to be a member of the Clan Scott Society to subscribe.However, you are encouraged to learn about the Clan Scott Society and join if you would like to support the organization that makes this list possible. To find out about the Clan Scott Society, visit www.ClanScottSociety.org or send an email to [email protected] requesting information. Include your postal address if you'd like literature and an application to be mailed to you.

WHO TO CONTACT:
If you experience trouble using this list or have a concern about the administration of this list or have a concern about posting to this list, please contact the Listowner at [email protected].

FORM OF THIS LIST:
This is an email distribution list. All email sent to a single email address ([email protected]) are automatically redistributed to hundreds of subscribers world wide. There are two versions of distribution available: Standard and Digest. Standard redistributes each message as it is received; Digest collects several messages and redistributes them as a single email, typically once a day. (See below for information on subscribing and unsubscribing.)

WRITING MESSAGES TO THE LIST:
To send a message to the list, simply address it to [email protected]. This will distribute the message to both BALWEARIE standard and BALWEARIE digest lists. However, there are certain rules to follow when sending your message. Using this format will help ensure your message is read by an interested recipient and lessen the likelihood that the message will be discarded, unread, as junk email. The Subject line of your message should follow this format:

1.  The subject line should have a full name (if appropriate) locale abbreviation, a direction of migration, another locale abbreviation, and the approximate dates. For instance, George BALWEARIE moving from Scotland to New Brunswick, Canada, to Kentucky around 1820 to 1840 would look like:

BALWEARIE, George SCT>NB CAN>KY abt. 1820-1840

If you don't know the complete name, migration route, or dates, it is permissible to leave them out of the subject line and put an explanation in the message body. However, the more complete the subject line, the more likely someone with a similar interest will read your email.

2. Keep you message to the point. A short message is more likely to be read than a lengthy one. Be sure to include all known vital statistics and indicate if they are certain -from primary documents like church records and birth certificates - or less accurate sources like census records. Include names of spouse(s), children, locale, etc. All the clues that might give the recipient an idea of whether there might be a connect. But don't forget that a short message can always be followed up with a longer, more detailed message if there is the likelihood of a connection and short messages are more likely to be read! Some email servers limit the size of messages, so keep your message to about a typewritten page or two at the very most. (This message violates this rule. Oops!)

3. Always include your name and how to reach you in the body of your message. Sometimes email headers get messed up and your return email address isn't obvious.

SENDING MESSAGES:
Please DO NOT send your message to more than one list or individual recipient UNLESS there is a CLEAR connection that legitimatizes such distribution. For example, a message concerning a family named BALWEARIE with daughters marrying into Johnstone, Douglas, and Kerr families should be written to be relevant to each list and not a single message distributed to several lists. On the other hand, a family named BALWEARIE who lived in the Borders region of Scotland and moved to New Brunswick, Canada may be a good candidate for the BALWEARIE, BORDERS, and NEW BRUNSWICK lists. ([email protected], [email protected]) Please use good judgment. Sending the same message to multiple, unwilling recipients is considered "spamming" and is in poor taste.  Also, the list distribution system may not deliver messages to all addresses in the To and CC lines believing the message is spam.  In some cases, the message will not be distributed at all.

Remember, too, that if you address your message to [email protected] and cc: to all your relations, the whole world-wide mailing list now has Aunt Mary's email address and who knows what they will do with it. Also, when someone hits the "Reply" button to your message, it may default to sending the reply to everyone you sent your message to. Aunt Mary will start receiving some email she didn't want and will cut you out of her Will! Most email software has a way to send a blind copy to a recipient so anyone else the message was sent to has no knowledge of who the original message was addressed to and the "Reply" button can't send a message to everyone who got the original message. (AOL subscribers can put parenthesis around an outbound email address to make it a "blind" address.)

MESSAGE CONTENT:
This list is intended for free exchange of BALWEARIE information. Anything that is not relevant to the BALWEARIE surname, heritage of persons possessing the BALWEARIE surname, or history and culture surrounding persons possessing the BALWEARIE surname is not appropriate to this list. Examples of messages not appropriate to this list are: jokes, recipes, announcement of events (not related to the BALWEARIE surname), warnings about viruses, warnings about Internet legislation, etc., anything off-colour or lewd, personal attacks, racist or ethnic slurs, political statements (not historical references relevant to heritage, culture, history, etc.), DNA discussions or topics not directly focused on the BALWEARIE surname, and commercial advertisements. One exception to advertisements is that the Clan Scott Society, as a sponsor of the list, may from time to time post messages describing the Clan Scott Society and invite inquiries.
PLEASE, no email with attached files sent to the list. These will be rejected automatically by the Rootsweb server.

PLEASE, send your messages in plain text. No HTML code or "enhanced text," please. (Most people only get a long email of gibberish when you send HTML-enhanced code.) Messages with enhanced text may be rejected by the Rootsweb server.

RECEIVING MESSAGES:
Due to Internet traffic or routine Rootsweb maintenance, it may take several hours for your email message to be distributed. However, it rarely takes more than a few minutes and it is extremely rare for a properly formatted email message to the list to get lost. If your message does not appear to have been redistributed, please wait several hours or a day before contacting the List Administrator or resending it.

REPLYING TO MESSAGES:
Please do not reply to the BALWEARIE list address ([email protected] or [email protected]) unless the reply in some way clarifies or amplifies the original sender's message and would be of general interest to the MAJORITY of subscribers of the list. Please RESPOND DIRECTLY to the original sender's email address directly in all other cases. (One exception: If you have made a connection with another subscriber's family research, we'd like to know of your success!)

LOCATING AN EMAIL MESSAGE IN THE ARCHIVES:

The email archiving/search mechanism has recently been unveiled and is constantly being enhanced and improved. If you want to give it a whirl, take a look at:

https://lists.rootsweb.com/hyperkitty/cgi-bin/search?aop

It does assume you know the name of the list you want to search. But it's not too fussy about how you type it: for the BALWEARIE list, you can ask for BALWEARIE, Balwearie, BaLwEaRiE, Balwearie-L, and BALWEARIE-D, and still succeed. It includes messages through about a week ago. New messages will be added every week or two. (It took literally hours to do the indexing, and we'll have to turn the search off whenever we re-index, so this will only be done every few weeks unless we find a solution.) We haven't turned on the threaded archives for all lists yet.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION/REMOVAL FROM THE LIST:
With the intent of maintaining harmony and focus to the list, sponsors of the BALWEARIE list reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. The intent of the list is for free and open discourse. However, if improper conduct is detected and the culprit refuses to cease and desist, that person may be removed from the list's distribution and prevented from posting further messages to the list. This is extreme action and will not be used except with extreme provocation.

SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING TO THE LIST:
If you'd like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this mailing list, simply send an email message to [email protected] with the message SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE - depending on your intent - and nothing else (no signature). Anything on the subject line will do.  Be sure to include the request part of the email address.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the BALWEARIE-D digest list. This list contains the same messages as the BALWEARIE-L list, but are gathered and sent in one combined message on a daily basis -- assuming at least one message was sent to the list. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list, send a message to [email protected] with only the word SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the message body. Messages to BALWEARIE digest subscribers should be directed to [email protected] - this insures subscribers to both versions of the list receive your message.

You may subscribe to this list only once per email address.  For instance, if you wish to subscribe to both regular and digest versions, you must use two different email addresses.  However, most people find subscribing to both regular and digest versions is unnecessary.

Allow a day for the subscribe or unsubscribe request to take effect. Please wait to receive a confirmation message before you post your message to the list. (Be sure to use the [email protected] address.) There are often several messages in the pipeline before yours.

Additional information and access to archived messages may be found at:

https://mailinglists.rootsweb.com/listindexes/legacy/surname/b/balwearie.html

If you have any difficulty subscribing/unsubscribing or sending messages to the list, please feel free to contact the Listowner for assistance at [email protected].

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