DGS Newsletter, Volume 21, Number 6, June-July 1997 Page: 103
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Rescuing Texas History, 2018 and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Dallas Genealogical Society.
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Internet Beginners Corner:
Free Internet Alternative Mailing ListsIf you have a computer but are
mystified with the intricate workings
of the Internet, don't have access to the
Internet in your budget, or can't
allocate enough time for Internet
searches, you might want to think
about an Internet alternative that still
let's you communicate with other
genealogists out there in
Computerland. This method is termed
using Mail Lists: called by some a
modernized version of the
Genealogical Helper! You don't have
to have Internet access to use Mail
Lists, and it costs nothing if you have
a computer modem and an E-mail
address. If you have a modem but
don't have E-mail, there is a free
program mentioned in the May 1997
VDGS Newsletter Bulletin Board called
Juno. Chrysalis offers unlimited E-
mail for a one-time lifetime fee of $10
a year; see the October 1996 DGS
Newsletter for details.
History
Mike Basham wrote an earlier
article this year about the
"Mother-of-all-Mailing Lists" called
Roots-L which has over 14,000
subscribers. For those who are
overwhelmed by the sheer volume of
Roots-L there are other alternatives in
regional mailing lists.
Formerly an unsung hero named
Larry Stephens at Indiana University
operated several hundred mailing lists
that were either regional, state or
surnamed based with a server called
MAISER. Unfortunately, "spamming"
by unscrupulous advertisers caused
that system to crash, and many people
were saddened and inconvenienced by
the loss. Larry has been working on
an alternative server (called ListServe)
and has some of the regional lists backup, but the surname lists may never be
back. There are, however, some
surname lists accessible through
RootsWeb which will not be covered
in this article.
How to Find Available Lists for
ListServe
Although you could previously find
the names of the available lists for the
old MAISER-based lists by E-mail,
you must now go to the Internet to get
the names of current possibilities. If
you don't have Internet access, you can
do this at the Dallas Public Library.
The home page URL of the List Owner
of the group of mailing lists discussed
here is:
http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/-stephen
1/genealog.htm. You can also check at
this URL:
http://www.eskimo.com/~chance/.
How to Use the ListServe System
Once you find the exact name of
the mailing list for which you wish to
subscribe, such as MI-WI-ROOTS-L
or ILLINOIS-ROOTS-L, write down
the exact listing. Spelling and case
(caps or no caps) are very important
here. There are no spaces. Then go to
your E-mail program and follow these
directions.
To subscribe to a list, send a
message to:
listserv@listserv.indiana.edu. Do not
put anything in the subject line. In the
body of the message put only this
simple message:
SUB NAME OF LIST Your name
for example:
SUB MI-WI-ROOTS-L Joe Blow
Be careful about your spelling, asmany errors are caused by spelling the
command wrong. Once you have
submitted your name to the mailing
list, you will receive a confirmation, to
which you must reply. This is to
prevent fraud and spamming.
Once you have received a
confirmation, you will receive a
Welcome message to the Mail List that
will give you additional directions.
For instance, the Welcome message
will instruct you on how to send
queries, to unsubscribe to a list, to get
Help, to receive the messages in Digest
(abbreviated) format, etc. Read those
directions carefully, follow them, and
you'll be up and running in no time.
You'll be making contact with a whole
new group of genealogists in your
research area for mutual sharing! And
best of all, once you find the lists that
interest you, you can do it for free
right from your own home computer!
(Continuedfrom page 101)
Bulletin Board
Sep. 20, 1997 will emphasize the
Robinson River community and will
be held at the Hebron Lutheran
Church in Madison County, Virginia.
John Blankenbaker will be the featured
speaker. For additional information
contact: johblank@pipeline.com or
check the Internet at
http://www.wp.com/germanna.
(Beyond Germanna (9) #3, May
1997)DGS Newsletter Volume 21, Number 6, June/July 1997 103
103
Volume 21, Number 6, June/July 1997
DGS Newsletter
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Dallas Genealogical Society. DGS Newsletter, Volume 21, Number 6, June-July 1997, periodical, June 1997; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1261241/m1/11/: accessed May 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.