FAQ: soc.genealogy.surnames.canada introduction version 1.0 January 28, 1998 updated with this version: URL for list of place codes Welcome to soc.genealogy.surnames.canada, a forum for queries about Canadian ancestors. The purpose of the newsgroup soc.genealogy.surnames.canada and its linked mailing list SURNAMES-CANADA is to help genealogists contact others researching the same families in Canada. Queries from genealogists living in any part of the world are welcome. Queries in English or French will probably have the best chance of results, but may be written in any language. Contents -------- 1. Posting 2. Place codes 3. SURNAMES-CANADA mailing list 4. Archives 5. To contact a human 1. Posting ---------- All articles in soc.genealogy.surnames.canada/SURNAMES-CANADA are archived and searchable through the World Wide Web. To make browsing the newsgroup and searching the message archives easier, articles posted to the group use subject lines that contain surname, place, and dates in the standard format used for all the soc.genealogy.surnames.* family of newsgroups. The subject lines serve as an index to the archives. See FAQ: introduction to soc.genealogy.surnames.* and FAQ: format for soc.genealogy.surnames.* for more details (posted monthly and available at http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/). For example: Subject: MILLER George / SMITH Anna; YKS,ENG > Halifax, NS,CAN; 1820-1880 Subject: BEAUREGARD Denis / PICARD Marie; FRA > Montreal, QC,CAN; 1680-1750 The body of the message can contain any additional text you desire, and should give additional details about the family you're researching. You can post to the group through your news software, or by mailing your query to soc-genealogy-surnames-canada@rootsweb.com. This is a moderated newsgroup. All articles posted to the group are reviewed by the automoderator, a computer program, for correct subject format. 2. Place codes -------------- The automoderator will post queries to soc.genealogy.surnames.canada / SURNAMES-CANADA if they contain any of the following place codes: AB,CAN - Alberta NT,CAN - Northwest Territories BC,CAN - British Columbia NU,CAN - Nunavut CAN - Canada ON,CAN - Ontario MB,CAN - Manitoba PE,CAN - Prince Edward Island NB,CAN - New Brunswick QC,CAN - Quebec NF,CAN - Newfoundland SK,CAN - Saskatchewan NS,CAN - Nova Scotia YT,CAN - Yukon Territory Posts that include other place codes in addition to those listed above will be crossposted to soc.genealogy.surnames.canada and to other relevant regional surnames groups. Messages that do not use these place codes will be posted to the relevant other groups in the soc.genealogy.surnames.* family. The complete list of place codes is available on the web at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/abbreviations.cgi 3. SURNAMES-CANADA mailing list ------------------------------- All queries can be read through the Usenet newsgroup soc.genealogy.surnames.canada using your favorite news reader software (or by pointing your web browser to news:soc.genealogy.surnames.canada). You can read the same queries by subscribing to the gatewayed mailing list SURNAMES-CANADA. The main list is digest mode: subscribers receive digests of about 20 messages each. The list is also available in index mode (SURNAMES-CANADA-I), where subscribers receive a daily list of posts with directions for ordering the complete text of interesting messages; and in mail mode (SURNAMES-CANADA-M), where subscribers receive each article as a separate message in e-mail. (Mail mode may be limited to subscribers and sponsors of Rootsweb.) To subscribe to the mailing list send e-mail to SURNAMES-CANADA-request@rootsweb.com containing just the line: subscribe Be sure not to include any additional text or signature; the Smartlist software is picky about anything but the commands it knows. To subscribe in index mode, send your subscribe command to SURNAMES-CANADA-I-request@rootsweb.com; for mail mode use the address SURNAMES-CANADA-M-request@rootsweb.com. To post to the list, you can send your queries by e-mail to the automoderator at soc-genealogy-surnames-canada@rootsweb.com. Sending your messages to the list address SURNAMES-CANADA@rootsweb.com will also work. 4. Archives ----------- All articles in soc.genealogy.surnames.canada are archived in the central surnames archives at: http://searches.rootsweb.com/sgsurnames.html To search just queries about a Manitoba family, for example, select Field: SUBJECT, and enter MB,CAN as well as a surname in the "Term" box. 5. To contact a human --------------------- The human moderators of the group can be reached at surnames-admin@rootsweb.com. FAQ by Bill Mills