GENEALOGY NEWSGROUPS
About the Gateway Mailing lists
These mailing lists were formed in order to allow an alternate method of accessing the successful Usenet newsgroups and that is their sole reason for existing. It is the rules of Usenet, not the rules of mailing list ownership which are overriding. RootsWeb does, however, attempt to keep undesirable "spam" which comes from Usenet out of the mailing lists. It can do very little to keep it out of the newsgroup.Mailing lists provide archives, and they have an identifiable person or people who can help understand how the system works. Mailing lists need managers, because email sometimes has problems, like messages which "bounce" because an address has become invalid. The pages for the different newsgroups have a Mailing List section which identifies the list managers and gives subscription information.
ROOTS-L, the list mirror of soc.roots, the predecessor to the soc.genealogy hierarchy of groups, was run on a BITNET system using LISTSERV, a powerful mailing list software. LISTSERV allows subscribers to change within one mailing list from MAIL to DIGEST or INDEX and to perform archive retrievals and send much information.
RootsWeb mailing lists are managed on a UNIX system using software called SMARTLIST, less expensive (free) and with fewer options, but the source code is available and RootsWeb has customized many parts of it. Smartlist lists can send individual email, or they can send digests of several messages sent as a group but they cannot do both. In order to provide a choice, it is required that the lists be different. Thus we have GEN-HISPANIC-L (the "mail" form) and another list, GEN-HISPANIC-D (digests). The same messages appear in both. The gateway lists were started before a standardized set of names was decided upon, and the -L lists were set up as the "default" modes, whatever those were, and -M lists were created for mail, and -D for digests, and -I for indexes. This all goes against the current standard, but we muddle along.
SocGen Information General Ethno-Geographic Surnames Other Top
General Interest Newsgroups
soc.genealogy.misc General genealogical discussions.
soc.genealogy.computing Genealogical computing & net resources.
soc.genealogy.marketplace Genealogy services and products.
soc.genealogy.medieval Genealogy in the period from roughly AD500 to AD1600.
soc.genealogy.methods Genealogical methods and resources. (Moderated)Ethno-Geographic Newsgroups
soc.genealogy.african Genealogy of Africa and the African Diaspora. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.australia+nz Australia, New Zealand, and their territories.
soc.genealogy.benelux Genealogy in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg
soc.genealogy.britain Genealogy in Great Britain and the islands.
soc.genealogy.french Francophone genealogy.
soc.genealogy.german Family history including a German background.
soc.genealogy.hispanic Genealogy relating to Hispanics.
soc.genealogy.ireland Genealogy in Ireland (both North and South).
soc.genealogy.italian Italian genealogy and family heraldry.
soc.genealogy.jewish Jewish genealogy. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.nordic Genealogy in Denmark, Faeroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
soc.genealogy.slavic Genealogy of Slavic peoples.
soc.genealogy.west-indies Genealogy of the West Indies.Surnames - seven connected soc.genealogy.surnames.* newsgroups
soc.genealogy.surnames.global Surnames queries central database. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.surnames.britain Surnames queries - Great Britain. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.surnames.canada Surnames queries - Canada. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.surnames.german Surnames queries - German speaking countries. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.surnames.ireland Surnames queries - Ireland & Northern Ireland. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.surnames.misc Surnames - regions not covered elsewhere. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.surnames.usa Surnames queries - USA. (Moderated)Alt.genealogy
alt.genealogy General Genealogy - all topicsOther genealogy newsgroups (not ready yet)
fr.rec.genealogie Francophone Genealogy - all topics - in French
SocGen Information General Ethno-Geographic Surnames Other Top
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