SCOTT Surname List - FAQs and Rules
SCOTT 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 SCOTT. Messages posted to this list should
pertain to the SCOTT surname and persons, living and deceased,
possessing the SCOTT 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 SCOTT 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 SCOTT 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 SCOTT standard and SCOTT
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 SCOTT
moving from Scotland to New Brunswick, Canada, to Kentucky around 1820
to 1840 would look like:
SCOTT, 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 SCOTT
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 SCOTT
who lived in the Borders region of Scotland and moved to New Brunswick,
Canada may be a good candidate for the SCOTT, 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 SCOTT information. Anything
that is not relevant to the SCOTT surname, heritage of persons
possessing the SCOTT surname, or history and culture surrounding
persons possessing the SCOTT 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 SCOTT 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
SCOTT 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 SCOTT 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 SCOTT list, you can
ask for SCOTT, Scott, ScOtT, Scott-L, and SCOTT-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 SCOTT 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 SCOTT-L-request@rootsweb.com
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 SCOTT-D digest list. This list
contains the same messages as the SCOTT-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 SCOTT 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/s/scott.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].