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From: "John Nichols" <>
Subject: Re: ? Correct Format for Surname Groups
Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 09:45:13 -0700


> Could some kind person instruct me in the correct format for data
> entry in subject line and body of the newsgroups:
>
> soc.genealogy.surnames.<britain/ireland/misc>
>
> Perhaps there is a special information file for downloading?
>
> S A Crowley <>



Funny you should ask that. I got an automated response the other
day outlining how to format the subject header for the surname
newsgroups. Here it is:



This is an automated response to your submission for
soc.genealogy.surnames. If you find this message confusing, please
feel free to reply and ask the human moderator for help!

Your post (``BOONE/CRAFT Wythe Country, Virginia'') couldn't be
approved because the Subject line isn't formatted properly according
to the group's guidelines. Specifically, the problems with your
submission include:

* Not enough fields in the subject line. The subject line must be
separated with semicolons into *exactly* three fields (no more, no
less). Put names into the first field, places in the second, and
dates in the third. See below for more information.

All posts to soc.genealogy.surnames need to have Subject lines in
the following format:

names; places; dates

The reason for this rule is that it makes it much easier to skim
through soc.genealogy.surnames for posts of interest to you, and it
makes it possible to search an archive of the group's posts and be
pretty sure that you've found everything of interest. Here are some
examples of correctly-formatted submissions:

Subject: HARRISON William; MA,USA; 1900-1950
Subject: ANDERSON/ANDERSEN; SWE > MN,USA; c. 1875
Subject: VON HALLBERG; IL,USA / WI,USA; 1850-

Here are a few tips about common mistakes people make.

* In the `names' field of your subject line, separate
different surnames with slashes, and separate different
given names with commas. Make sure that surnames
precede given names, and that they are written all in
capital letters. Examples:

Wrong Right
----------- ----------
William Holden HOLDEN William
Green, Robert GREEN Robert
E.B. WHITE WHITE E.B.
WICK(E)S WICKS/WICKES
James and Mary Chesterton CHESTERTON James, Mary
Tom Jones + Jenny Waters JONES Tom / WATERS Jenny
MICKS or MIX, Thomas MICKS/MIX Thomas

* Surnames must be written all in capital letters.

* Given names should be mixed case -- e.g. `Thomas' rather than
`THOMAS' or `thomas'.

* For the `places' field of your Subject line, there is a list
of acceptable place-name abbreviations at
<URL:http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/abbrev-list.html>;.
Place names (countries, U.S. states, Irish counties, etc.)
must be abbreviated in the Subject line of your message
*exactly* as they appear in this list! Even a change as
small as adding a space or removing a comma can cause
problems.

Wrong Right
----------- ----------
Texas TX,USA
W.Virginia WV,USA
NY NY,USA
Pa.,USA PA,USA
Ia USA IA,USA
GA > VA > AL GA,USA > VA,USA > AL,USA
Penna/Oh. PA,USA/OH,USA
U.S.A. USA
Co. Cork, IRE COR,IRL
Lincs LIN,ENG
Kent U.K. KEN,ENG

You can include the names of towns or counties before the
place-name abbreviation if you wish: for example,
`Pittsburgh, PA,USA' or `Liverpool, LAN,ENG'. Make sure
that the name of the town or city is not written in
uppercase, so that it can clearly be distinguished from the
abbreviated portion!

* For the ``dates'' field of your subject line, there are only a
few acceptable formats:

- one year (e.g. ``1920'')
- a span of years (e.g. ``1820-1875'')
- anything from one year onward (e.g. ``1900-'')
- anything up until a certain year (e.g. ``-1750'')

You can also include a few abbreviations in front of the
date(s), to clarify what they mean:

c. 1900 circa 1900
m. 1950-1960 married sometime between 1950 and 1960
d. 1821 died 1821
b. c. 1915 born around 1915

Don't include months or days: just the year of interest.
Also, don't use terms like ``1820s'' or ``1950's'' -- use
``1820-1830'' or ``c. 1950'' instead, whichever is closer to
your meaning.

I hope that these rules don't sound too complicated. A great deal
of effort has gone into making them as simple as possible while
permitting posters to be expressive. If you are confused about what
is or isn't allowed, or don't understand why your message was
rejected, please feel free to write to me at and I
will try to help.

Some messages get rejected for apparently trivial reasons. I'm very
sorry about that, but it can't be helped. Due to the
ever-increasing volume of soc.genealogy.surnames, we have been
forced to turn the group over to a completely automatic moderation
program, and it is important for the program to err on the side of
caution when deciding what is and isn't acceptable. That means that
errors can't easily be fixed automatically.

You can find more information on the soc.genealogy.surnames posting
guidelines here:

<URL:http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/>;



--
http://dm.net/~bejay/sfpa.htm

bejay, manager of the genealogy hierarchy
bejay, staff contact for the writers hierarchy

"John Nichols" <>

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