The COLEMAN-L Mailing List Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) by Leigh Compton Copyright (c) 1997, Leigh Compton Portions Copyright (c) 1996, Marc Nozell This is the The COLEMAN-L Mailing List Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and should answer most of your questions about the "COLEMAN-L" mailing list. If you have additional questions that are not addressed, then please send me mail at elsi@augustmail.com. 1. What is the purpose of COLEMAN-L? 2. Subscriptions to the list 2.1 How much does it cost to join the list? 2.2 How do I subscribe? 2.3 How do I unsubscribe? 2.4 Can I subscribe in a Digest mode? 2.5 What is the difference between Digest mode and the normal? Is there any difference between the COLEMAN-L and COLEMAN-D lists? 2.6 I'm currently subscribed, how do I convert to digest mode? 3. Who is the list owner? What does she get paid for this position? 4. How do I send a query? 5. Using the COLEMAN-L mailing list 5.1 How do I post to the list? 5.2 Where can I read the old COLEMAN-L messages? 5.3 How do I send a query? 5.4 When should I reply to the entire mailing list and when should I reply to just the individual? 5.5 What can/should I send to the list? 5.6 How do I get the more recent version of the FAQ? 5.7 How do I search the email archives? 6. Surfing the web 6.1 Where is the offical COLEMAN-L web page? 7. Are there other mailing lists I can join? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What is the purpose of COLEMAN-L? This is a mailing list for researchers of the surname COLEMAN anywhere, anytime, any spelling variation. 2. Subscriptions to the list This section covers how to join and leave the list and some background information. 2.1 How much does it cost to join the list? Like most mailing lists on the internet, joining and participating in COLEMAN-L is free. However, I would like to suggest, but no means require, that you consider joining the RootsWeb Genealogy Data Cooperative which runs the machines that host the COLEMAN-L mailing list. You will find the Supporter and Sponsor levels are very reasonable and provide some added benefits. For more information, see the web page: http://www.rootsweb.com 2.2 How do I subscribe? This mailing list is managed by the SmartList software which is different than other mailing lists managed by Majordomo or LISTSERV. To subscribe, send mail to COLEMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com and put just the one word SUBSCRIBE in the body of message. Every mail client is different, but your message should look something like this: --------------------------------------------- To: COLEMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com Subject: SUBSCRIBE ---------------------------------------------- Be sure not to put anything after that one word. If your mailer automatically includes a ``signature'', be sure to turn it off before you send the message. If you find you can't handle the number of messages sent by the list, you may want to consider switching to the Digest version of the list. 2.3 How do I unsubscribe? This mailing list is managed by the SmartList software which is different than other mailing lists managed by Majordomo or LISTSERV. To unsubscribe, send mail to COLEMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com and put just the one word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of message. Every mail client is different, but your message should look something like this: ---------------------------------------------- To: COLEMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com Subject: UNSUBSCRIBE ---------------------------------------------- Be sure not to put anything after that one word. If your mailer automatically includes a ``signature'', be sure to turn it off before you send the message. 2.4 Can I subscribe in a Digest mode? If you are currently subscribed to the non-digest version of the list, first unsubscribe then subscribe to the digest version. (See 2.3 for instructions on how to unsubscribe.) To subscribe in digest mode, send mail to COLEMAN-D-request@rootsweb.com and put just the one word SUBSCRIBE in the body of message. Every mail client is different, but your message should look something like this: ---------------------------------------------- To: COLEMAN-D-request@rootsweb.com Subject: SUBSCRIBE ---------------------------------------------- Be sure not to put anything after that one word. If your mailer automatically includes a ``signature'', be sure to turn it off before you send the message. 2.5 What is the difference between Digest mode and normal? Is there any difference between the COLEMAN-L and COLEMAN-D lists? While they are technically different mailing lists, both COLEMAN-L and COLEMAN-D are the same in terms of the messages they contain. The only difference is the way they are distributed to you. If you subscribe to COLEMAN-L, for every message someone sends to the group, you get a message. However, if you subscribe to COLEMAN-D, a number of messages are bundled up and put into one digest message before it is sent to you. Some people prefer this way because it cuts down on the number of messages they get in their inbox. It really just comes down to a matter of personal preference -- just pick one. 2.6 I'm currently subscribed, how do I convert to digest mode? If you are currently subscribed to the non-digest version of the list, first unsubscribe from COLEMAN-L and then subscribe to the digest version (COLEMAN-D). 3. Who is the list owner? What does she get paid for this position? Leigh Compton is the list owner for COLEMAN-L and COLEMAN-D. Send her mail if you have completely read this FAQ and still have problems. Her preferred email address is: elsi@augustmail.com. Do I get paid for this? Ha! Like most other mailing list owners, I support COLEMAN-L and associated web page on my own time with my own money. I do it because I'm working on tracing my ancestors, it is a way to make the internet a better and more useful place, and I enjoy doing it (usually ;-) 4. How do I send a query? Send mail to COLEMAN-L@rootsweb.com, make sure you have a reasonable subject line (e.g. "David COLEMAN, Orange Co, NY") and provide enough information that someone can be of help. Be sure to include your return email address and your real name. Some mailers don't properly display a return email address, so this is very important. Also including your real name is just a nice thing to do. No one likes chatting with someone known only as "SAMJ46198@AOL.COM" or "71234.987@compuserve.com" 5. Using the COLEMAN-L mailing list 5.1 How do I post to the list? Mail sent to COLEMAN-L@rootsweb.com is delivered to all the subscribers on the COLEMAN-L and COLEMAN-D lists. 5.2 Where can I read the old COLEMAN-L messages? Use a web browser to open the location: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lcompton/coleman/index.html And follow the links to the archives. The mailing list owner tries to update the archives towards the beginning of each month. If you don't see last month's archives, pester the list owner. 5.3 How do I send a query? Send mail to COLEMAN-L@rootsweb.com, make sure you have a reasonable subject line (e.g. "Claudius COLEMAN, 1860, NY") and provide enough information that someone can be of help. Be sure to include your return email address and your real name. Some mailers don't properly display a return email address, so this is very important. Also including your real name is just a nice thing to do. No one likes chatting with someone known only as "SAMJ46198@AOL.COM" or "71234.987@compuserve.com" 5.4 When should I reply to the entire mailing list and when should I reply to just the individual? There are no hard and fast rules, but generally speaking, if you think your reply would be of help to someone else on the list, then post it to the entire list. Otherwise, just send it to the original person. If you pose a question and get quite a lot of feedback, you may want to send a message to the list with a summary of the information. 5.5 What can/should I send to the list? Anything that is related to genealogy *and* the COLEMAN surname is fair game. NOTE: Short one-time commercial messages advertising services or products are allowed if they are of particular interest to the group. But please, no email spamming. * Don't post large messages. * Don't post binary files (ie: MS Word files, zip files, etc) or any type of attachments * Don't post flames (please use person-to-person mail for personal attacks :-) * Don't post copy-written material unless you own the copyright or the copyright allows for redistribution. 5.6 How do I get the more recent version of the FAQ? There are two ways to get the latest copy. * Via the Web Visit the URL: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lcompton/coleman/index.html This FAQ is also available in other formats. - Simple ASCII text -- http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lcompton/coleman/COLEMAN-L.txt * Via email Send a mail message to COLEMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com that has a subject line of archive and in the body of the message are just the words "get COLEMAN-L.FAQ". Every mail client is different, but your message should look something like this: ---------------------------------------------- To: COLEMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com Subject: archive get COLEMAN-L.FAQ ---------------------------------------------- Remember that case is important. In a few minutes you will get a copy of the FAQ and confirmation of the request. 5.7 How do I search the email archives? All the email messages that have been posted to COLEMAN-L since its transition to rootsweb.com (August 1996) are available for review by email. It is also possible to automatically request a copy of the latest and greatest version of the COLEMAN-L.FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Every mail client is different, but your message should look something like this: ---------------------------------------------- To: COLEMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com Subject: archive ls latest/* egrep ^Subject: latest/* egrep http latest/* get latest/1 ---------------------------------------------- Okay, so what does that all mean? The "ls" command will return a directory listing of all the old messages in the latest/ subdirectory where is where all the old email message are kept. The file names are pretty uninteresting, they are simply numbers that correspond to the the order that they arrived. The first egrep line means "search all the files in the latest directory for the lines that start with the string Subject:" You can then request ("get latest/123") those files that look interesting. The second egrep line searches all the old messages for the string "http" so it should list all the files that contain references to web sites. The get command means send you the file 1 in the subdirectory latest/. It happens to be a posting of mine about moving the list to RootsWeb from Maiser. 6. Surfing the Web 6.1 Where is the offical COLEMAN-L web page? The URL for the web page is: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lcompton/coleman/ 7. Are there other mailing lists I can join? There are a number of mailing lists on the internet and a fair number of them are genealogy related. The best place to find other genealogy related lists is Vicki Lindsay's web page: http://www.eskimo.com/~chance/ The original genealogy mailing list, ROOTS-L, is also run on rootsweb.com. Take a look at the rootsweb web page for more information: http://www.rootsweb.com/