RootsWeb's CEO, Robert Tillman, offers the following observations and tips on doing genealogical research:

• Join a mailing list at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~maillist/. A mailing list is simply the e-mail party line. Every e-mail that a list subscriber sends to the list is distributed to all other list subscribers. There are more than 17,000 genealogy-related mailing lists on RootsWeb divided by surname, U.S. county and state, country, ethnic group, and topic. Subscribing to a mailing list is one of the best ways of connecting to people who share your interests. If you do not find a mailing list covering your topic of interest, start one at http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/adoptrequest.html
• Post a message to a GenConnect message board at http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/. A message board is a computerized version of the old-fashioned bulletin board. There are more than 140,000 message boards on RootsWeb related to surnames, locations, and topics. By posting a message to the appropriate message board, you create a record through which other researchers can find you. If you do not find a message board covering your topic of interest, start one at http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/adoptrequest.html.
• Post your family surnames on the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL) at http://rsl.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rslsql.cgi.The RSL is a registry of more than 788,000 surname entries that have been submitted by more than 165,000 online genealogists. Associated with each surname are dates, locations, and information about how to contact the person who submitted the surname. The RSL is one of the primary tools on RootsWeb that online genealogists use to contact each other.
• Upload your family tree (GEDCOM file) to the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project at http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/. The RootsWeb WorldConnect Project is a database of family trees submitted by thousands of RootsWeb researchers currently containing more than 14 million ancestor names. With your family tree posted here, other researchers with common ancestors can find you.
• Add Post-ems to the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) at http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi and to the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project at http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi A Post-em is the electronic equivalent of a yellow sticky note. It allows you to attach your email address, a link to another Web address or other information to the record of any individual in these two databases. Search for your ancestors and leave your calling card attached to their names.
• Build your own genealogy Web site on RootsWeb. Request free unlimited Web space on RootsWeb at http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi. RootsWeb hosts more than 11,000 Web sites, most related to genealogy. Building a basic Web site is not as difficult as you might imagine. Millions of people have done it. You can get help from other RootsWeb Webmasters on the mailing lists and message boards devoted to this subject on RootsWeb.
• Add a link to your Web site to RootsLink at http://resources.rootsweb.com/~rootslink/search.html. RootsLink is RootsWeb's Web address registry, where users can add and categorize a genealogy link from anywhere on the Web. Currently, there more than 4,000 links on RootsLink.
• Link your Web site to the relevant surname, county, state, and/or country resource cluster at http://resources.rootsweb.com/utilities/addsite.html. Thereafter, a link to your Web site will appear at the top of whatever surname, county and/or state resource cluster(s) you have chosen. Users specifically interested in the information on your Web site will see this link whenever they use the RootsWeb surname resources at http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/ or the RootsWeb U.S. county and state resources at http://resources.rootsweb.com/USA/. This feature is ONLY available for Web sites located at RootsWeb.
• Volunteer. RootsWeb hosts many of the largest volunteer genealogy projects on the Web. Volunteers locate, transcribe, and publish genealogical data and help new users. Through this work they meet other genealogists with similar interests. Information on volunteer opportunities can be found at:

• Search all of RootsWeb. (See the 12/26/99 issue of RootsWeb Review at ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/19991229.txt for an example, usable as a research template, of searching all major RootsWeb databases. See the 1/5/00 issue of RootsWeb Review at ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/20000105.txt for a detailed explanation of how to search the RootsWeb Mailing List Archives.) Contact others with common interests who have taken the steps suggested above to make themselves easy to find.
• Finally, keep in mind that a large part of the fun of genealogy is the relationships you develop with people along the way. Be kind, courteous, helpful, slow to take offense, quick to forgive, and you will be rewarded.

Links of a more general nature…     (GOSE Related Links Below)

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