FAQ: subject format for soc.genealogy.surnames.* version: 1.0 January 28, 1998 updated: URL for list of place codes This FAQ describes in detail the subject line format for surname queries posted to soc.genealogy.surnames.* / SURNAMES-*. The soc.genealogy.surnames.* newsgroups and the linked mailing lists GENNAM-L (and soon to be created SURNAMES-*) use strictly-formatted subject lines to allow for easy searching of the current and archived messages. This FAQ describes the subject line format. It explains the capitalization and punctuation conventions used to make it easy to distinguish surnames from first names and place names. Commonly asked questions about the format follow the description. For a general introduction to the group, see FAQ: introduction to soc.genealogy.surnames.* Other relevant FAQs include: FAQ: commonly used place name abbreviations FAQ: soc.genealogy.surnames.german introduction FAQ: queries, good and bad FORMATTED SUBJECT LINES General surname queries are by far the most common articles posted to the group. "FAQ: posting to soc.genealogy.surnames / GENNAM-L" gives the following examples of subject lines: Subject: MILLS / HODGES; NY,USA; 1800-1915 Subject: MILLS Samuel D/HODGES; Williamsburg, Kings Co, NY,USA; 1796-1863 Subject: ZAHM / PICARD / STEIS; LOT,FRA; 1680-1840 Subject: ZAHM/PICARD/STEIS; LOT,FRA; 1680-1840 Subject: ZAHM; LOT,FRA > IN,USA > IL,USA > KS,USA; 1650- Subject: ZAHM; LOT,FRA>IN,USA>IL,USA>KS,USA; 1650- Subject: CLOVER John/CLARK Mary; Lincoln, LIN,ENG > IL,USA; -1860 The subject line for a general surname query is divided into three fields, separated by semicolons: 1. who (one or more surnames, optional first names) 2. where (one or more places, using standard abbreviations) 3. when (range of dates, showing period of interest) 1. WHO FIELD The who field contains one or more surnames in all capital letters separated by slashes. Umlauts, eszett (German sz ligature), accents, and other special characters should not be used in the subject line. Umlauts are shown as vowel + E, eszett as SS. (The body of the message should show umlauts, etc., any way the writer prefers.) The apostrophe can be used in names such as O'CONNELL and L'ENFANT, but should not be used in place of an accent. The prefixes MC and MAC should be written in all capital letters. Surnames should always be written in the singular form; no s or 's should be added to make a name plural. The word Family or Surname should be left out -- all queries in the group are about families with surnames. Hyphenated surnames are allowed. First names may be included, and should be written in lower case with an initial capital letter only. The surname should come first, followed by the first names. Commas separate first names of different individuals. Initials, with or without a period, may also be used. Spaces can be added to improve readability. Examples of "who" fields: invalid valid McDONALD; MCDONALD; John & George Smith SMITH John, George; SMITH JOHN; SMITH John; SMITH and JONES; SMITH / JONES; SMITH John, JONES Jane; SMITH John / JONES Jane; SMITHs of Rhode Island SMITH; (RI,USA goes in the where field) SMITH John married Jane Jones; SMITH John / JONES Jane; (use m. for married in when field) LOU(C)KS; LOUCKS / LOUKS; 2. WHERE FIELD Places are indicated in the where field using standardized abbreviations; the same set of abbreviations is used for the Roots Surname List. A brief description of the abbreviations list and a few examples are included in "FAQ: commonly used place name abbreviations." A list of abbreviations for German states, cross-referenced for the changing borders of the 19th and 20th centuries, is included in "FAQ: German surname queries"; it also includes abbreviations for Austrian states and Swiss cantons. The abbreviations should be written exactly as shown in the file, with no added spaces. Only abbreviations from the list should be used - please don't use abbreviations not included on the list or invent your own abbreviations. The complete list is available on the web at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~surnames/abbreviations.cgi Migrations can be indicated using a greater-than sign '>' to separate places; chronological order of places should be shown left to right. A slash '/', meaning "and" or "or", can be used to separate places without indicating migration. Each of the place fields separated by '>' or '/' needs to end with a standard abbreviation from the list. City, county, or other place names can be used with the abbreviations to better specify localities; additional place names should be written in lower case with initial capital only (Toronto, ON,CAN). Commas or spaces may be used with place names, except that the standard abbreviations must be written without spaces. A plus sign '+' can be used to separate different places in the same country, state, or province. The most specific applicable abbreviation should be used (use ENG for England rather than UK or GBR, MA,USA for Massachusetts instead of Massachusetts, USA, etc.). Watch out for False Abbreviation Syndrome. Some abbreviations are easy to mistake for others. 'AUS' is Australia; 'AUT' is Austria. 'AK,USA' is Alaska, 'AL,USA' is Alabama, and 'AR,USA' is Arkansas. 'NE,USA' is Nebraska; there is no abbreviation for New England (for New England, use a list of states such as "MA,USA/RI,USA/CT,USA"). Examples of "where" fields: invalid valid IRE; IRL; GER; DEU; VA > OH > IL,USA; VA,USA > OH,USA > IL,USA; New Orleans, USA; New Orleans, LA,USA; W. Virginia; WV,USA; Penn/Ohio; PA,USA / OH,USA; Lincs; LIN,ENG; Lincolnshire, UK; LIN,ENG; Lincoln, ENG; Lincoln, LIN,ENG; TORONTO, ON,CAN; Toronto, ON,CAN Australia & New Zealand; AUS / NZL; France to South Africa; FRA > ZAF; Charleroi > Bruxelles, BEL; Charleroi + Bruxelles, BEL; or Charleroi, BEL > Bruxelles, BEL; Ontario, CA; ON,CAN or Ontario, CA,USA 3. WHEN FIELD The when field should show the dates you're interested in the surnames and places listed. It should typically be shown as a range of years, such as "1700-1850", or "-1900" (meaning before 1900), or "1750-" (meaning after 1750). Months and days should not be included. In reading posts, remember that the dates show a period of interest, and should be assumed to be approximate. The abbreviation "c." with or without the period, can be used with a single date or date range to indicate circa or about, as in "c. 1800". To indicate specific events, a "b.", "d.", or "m." can be used to mean born, married, or died, for example, "Subject: SMITH John/DOE Jane; Osawatomie, KS,USA; m. 1883". Examples of "when" fields: invalid valid 1800 > 1900 1800-1900 since 1850 1850- before 1850 -1850 bef 1840 - aft 1890 1830-1900 born 4/12/1861 b. 1861 married 10/17/23 m. 1923 died Oct 1789 d. 1789 1800's 1800-1900 19th century 1800-1900 c1867-c1873 c. 1867-1873 FOLLOW-UP ARTICLES In posting a response to a query from the group, use "Re:" followed by the original subject line, for example: Subject: Re: CLOVER John/CLARK Mary; Lincoln, LIN,ENG > IL,USA; -1860 If the response is about a different surname than listed in the subject line, or about the same surname at a different place or time, you should write a new subject line that describes your message. MESSAGE CONTENT The automoderator does not check for message content. Avoid Duplicate Messages The listserv that maintains the mailing list for GENNAM-L and the archives will reject articles with no text or articles that have identical text, even if the subject lines are different. To make sure your articles are saved in the archives, write a new message for every post. If you want to post the same message with different subject lines, combining the names into one subject line or splitting the message into several separate articles is probably more useful. Avoid Lists of Surnames in Your Signature For the benefit of readers who search the archives, please do not include a list of the surnames you're researching as part of your queries in soc.genealogy.surnames / GENNAM-L. People searching for one of your names in the complete text of messages will get hits on all of your messages containing the list. At best, this will slow down the search. At worst, they may stop reading your messages before finding the one that talks about your interest in the SMITH family, and never contact you. WHY IS THE AUTOMODERATOR SO PICKY ABOUT SUBJECT LINES? In the discussion leading up to the creation of soc.genealogy.surnames and GENNAM-L in 1994, the consensus was that surname queries are most useful when they give names, places, and dates in the subject line. This information lets readers decide which messages might be of interest simply by browsing the subjects; they can then retrieve or download only the messages likely to be relevant to their own research. The proponents of the newsgroup realized that by using a standard format, the subject lines could serve as an index to the group's archives, which could then be searched by name, place, or date. The format also lets readers use the search and killfile features of news reader software to automatically display just those messages about a given list of names or places. An added benefit of the standard subject lines is that it allows a robot moderator to review messages for posting. The team of human moderators that had been moderating the group realized that the job was ever more time-consuming, and turned the job over to the automoderator in December, 1996. The strict format allows the automoderator to recognize which messages contain names, places, and dates, and return other messages to the sender with an explanation of what information needs to be added. WHY SO STRICT ABOUT THE SEMICOLONS? One little semicolon isn't going to affect a search, is it? It turns out that it's impossible to tell a place name from a person's name just by looking at it. Most English-speakers would recognize that "SMITH, Boston, Massachusetts" refers to the Smith family in Boston, Massachusetts. But Boston is a well-known city, and the name is rarely, if ever, used as a person's first name. Now consider "SMITH, Charlotte, North Carolina" -- does that mean someone named Charlotte Smith somewhere in North Carolina, or does it mean the Smith family in the city of Charlotte? Charlotte, North Carolina is by no means a unique example. A few minutes with a geographic name server (telnet to martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000) shows there are 10 other states in the USA with cities named Charlotte. There is a Katherine, Arizona, plus 3 towns in the USA named Kathryn, and 4 Catherines. There are Bill, Wyoming; Tom, Georgia; and Tom, Oklahoma, and more formally a William, West Virginia (and one in the Virgin Islands) and 20 towns named Thomas. There are Robert, Louisiana; Elaine, Arkansas; Peggy, Texas; Polly, Kentucky; and Polly, New Mexico. In addition there are 2 Lindas, 5 Margarets, 5 Daniels, 7 Georges (including George, Washington), 27 Howards, 3 Marys, 2 Pennys, 3 Maggies, 2 Ellens, and 13 Bruces. Dallas is a well-known Texas city, but it's also a first name, and there are 16 other towns named Dallas in the US. The USA is scarcely alone in having places that might be confused with people. The first few pages of the index to the National Geographic Atlas of the World show Ada, Serbia; Ada, Ghana; Adam, Oman; Alejandra, Argentina; Alexander, Manitoba; Alexandra, New Zealand; Alexandra, South Africa; Alexandra, Prince Edward Island; Alfonso, Philippines; Alfred, Ontario; Alice, Queensland; Alicia, Philippines; Allen, Argentina; Allen, Philippines; Amelia, Italy; Andreas, Isle Of Man; Antony, France; Arnold, Nottinghamshire; Arthur, Ontario; Ashley, New South Wales; Ashley, Staffordshire; and Ashley, New Zealand. As you can see, the semicolon is needed to be able to tell people from places. WHY USE PLACE NAME ABBREVIATIONS? Wouldn't it be easier to read "North Carolina > Tennessee > Kentucky" than "NC,USA > TN,USA > KY,USA"? That might be easier to read for a human leisurely browsing the messages in the group. But it's far easier to search the archives for "KY,USA" than for "Kent or Ky or Kentucky or KY,USA". The abbreviations shorten place names so you can include more places in the migration trail in a single subject line. They give a consistent form for places that are known by several different names (Croatia = Kroatien = Hrvatska; Angus = Forfarshire, Scotland), and they help guard against spelling errors (how many s's in Massachusetts?). They help distinguish places with similar names ("CHE" for Switzerland doesn't match "Switzerland Co, IN,USA" and "DE,USA" doesn't match any of the 6 Delaware Counties in the US). As much as possible, the abbreviations have been borrowed from familiar lists, such as US and Canadian postal abbreviations for states and provinces, and the Chapman codes used by genealogists in the UK. Why do we need to add USA to all the state abbreviations? Everyone knows that NY is New York. Two reasons. This is an international newsgroup, and readers outside the USA may not recognize which country belongs to the various state codes; USA makes it immediately clear without having to look up the specific state abbreviation. In automated searching of the archives, "NY" would hit on "NYK,ENG" for North Yorkshire; "NY,USA" avoids that false match. "WA" for Washington is worse; it would match: BWA - Botswana RWA - Rwanda WA,AUS - Western Australia WA,USA - Washington WAL,DEU - Waldeck / Waldeck und Pyrmont WAR,ENG - Warwickshire WAT,IRL - Waterford Similarly, ENG, SCT, CAN, AUS, DEU, etc are required with county, province, and state abbreviations to identify the country without knowing all the individual codes, and to distinguish "SOM,ENG" and "KEN,ENG" for Somerset and Kent from "SOM" and "KEN" for Somalia and Kenya. WHY CAN'T CITIES AND FIRST NAMES BE WRITTEN IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS? Genealogists have long used all capital letters to make surnames stand out. Writing given names in mixed case (initial capital with the rest of the name lower case) lets you tell "DAVID James" from "JAMES David". Writing city names in mixed case helps the automoderator to recognize what is supposed to be an abbreviation to look up in the list and what is meant as added optional information. It lets searches for the HAMILTON family ignore Hamilton, Ontario and any of many Hamilton Counties.