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About -- How To -- Guidelines/Policies -- Tips

Our Combs &c. Mailing List (free) is an integral part of our Combs-Coombs &c. Research Project. Over 250 Combs &c Subscribers, all members of our non-profit Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group, utilize our Mailing List to Post Records, Analyses of Records and Lineages, our Goal to fully document our Combs & Ancestors, our Motto: How Do We Know?

Our Combs &c. Mailing List is much more than a Query List. It is an extremely active Research List - not quite like any other - particularly since we actively encourage All Replies to go to the list, not private emails. We also actively encourage free discussion about our Combs-Associated Families -- whether In-Laws, Neighbors, Fellow Churchgoers, etc. (See Guidelines).

Records and Research posted to our Combs &c. Mailing List are stored in our Combs &c. List Archives (nearly 60,000 KB of back postings in over 9,600 files to our Combs &c. Mailing List), and ultimately published to our Combs &c. Web Site as Research Reports (over 6,400 files).

Reminder: Because it is impossible for our Volunteer Web Editors to keep pace with Postings, our Reports are almost always “Under Continuous Construction,” and Researchers are encouraged to post to our Mailing List for the most current information.

The Combs Mailing List is generously listserved by USGenNet, a nonprofit genealogical-historical web-hosting service. Combs &c. encourages all researchers to Support USGenNet (all contributions are tax deductible).

Sincerely,
Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group

How To

TO SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE:
Go to http://www.combs-families.org/mailman/listinfo/combs
TO POST:
EMAIL: COMBS@combs-families.org
If you experience problems, email the Combs Mailing List Administrator

Guidelines and Policies

Because ours is an extremely active Mailing List, and integral to our website, the Combs & Mailing List has somewhat different policies and guidelines than most surname Mailing Lists:

Reminder: If you are going on vacation, or will be gone from home for any reason, do not make an announcement to the list (who knows but what Combs Burglars are lurking on our list?).

  1. BE NICE at All Times. Rudeness is intolerable - even amongst family members.
  2. Respect the Right to Privacy of the Living. Please do not post records/lineages, addresses or phone numbers of the living (excepting, of course, Obituaries and Death Certificates; or if you have special permission). In those instances where you do not know if the individual is living, we ask that you not post Public Records past the year 1920. Exception: In the case of KY Records, Special Dispensation is hereby granted to apply the 75 year law (rather than the year, 1920).
  3. Please Post Transcripts of your own Combs &c. Records - - including family histories (both oral and written), old letters, bible records, deeds, wills, census records, tax lists, etc. Not only will this be of help to all Combs &c. Researchers, but all Combs &c. Postings are stored in our Combs &c. Archives where they can be permanently accessed by future Combs &c. Researchers (possibly including, someday, your own descendants), and from where they are gradually being added to our Combs &c. Research Web Site.
  4. Always Include your Sources when Posting ­ even if your source is another researcher. The main thrust of our project is to Document Our Combs, thus All Sources are Important (Our Combs &c. Research Motto is: “How Do You Know?”)
  5. We ask that you Post all your Combs &c. Records to the Combs &c. Research Mailing List (rather than private emails to selected list members). Not only does this make them available to all Combs &c. Researchers, but adds them to our permanent List Archives. Shared Research is our keyword, thus we also ask that all replies, unless of a personal nature, also be shared with the List (“Reply to All”).

    Before transcribing/posting records to our List, you may want to search our Mailing List Archives to see if the Records have already been posted by someone else in the past (PS: If you find “duplicate records” that aren't “quite” duplicates; i.e., some differences, then Please Post Your Records, too, as this is one way we can further ensure accuracy and high quality research).

  6. Post Your Lines to the Combs Mailing List in addition to your Combs & Combs-Associated Records. Remember: Your postings automatically become part of our List Archives, and if you don't post Your Lines and Your Records, other Researchers won't know you may want/need help!
  7. We also Actively Post Records about Combs-Associated Surnames, whether In-Laws, Neighbors, Fellow Churchgoers, etc. We Actively Encourage you to post the backgrounds &/or ancestry of your Associated Surnames since those are often the only 'clue' as to which Combs Line may be yours. Too many of our Combs Ancestors resided in “Burnt Counties” for us to ignore their In-Laws and Neighbors. Sometimes the only “documentation” we have is that one of our Combs families migrated with neighbors and/or in-laws.
  8. Because the Combs &c. Research Mailing List is so active, you should also include the State and County, a Given Name and/or Associated Surname in your Subject Heading to ensure that your posting doesn't “get lost.” Sample Subject Headings: “VA: Russell” or “Fielding” or “BERGEN” (no need to include Combs in your subject heading as it will already be there).
  9. Please do not “cross-post” (post to multiple Mailing Lists with one email). If your Posting is appropriate to more than one Mailing List, please email each List separately.
  10. If you are using an email program that is spitting out emails in a form of gibberish that others cannot read, you may need to Turn Off the HTML Option in your email program (Mailing Lists require Plain Text).
  11. All Combs &c. Postings should be either Combs-Related (including Combs-Associated Families) or Historical or Genealogical in Nature. If your intended posting does not fit in either category, please submit it to the Combs Mailing List Administrator for a determination (part of our ongoing effort to reduce the potential for SPAM)
  12. Please do not email File Attachments to the List. Some subscribers use services that do NOT permit File Attachments, and receiving same can cause them severe problems. Instead, email file attachments to the Combs Mailing List Administrator.
  13. Please do not include SURNAME/LOCALE SIGNATURE Files in your Postings. Surname/Locale Signature Files will “clog” the Search Engine when searching our List Archives.
  14. Liability. The Combs Mailing List assumes no legal responsibility or liability for individual list postings. These are the sole responsibility of the poster, who retains the copyright for each individual posting.*

    *Excluding gifts and the list compilation copyright (the collection of all List Postings, aka the List Archives), both of which are wholly and solely owned by the Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group, a nonprofit public benefit corporation.

  15. Commercial abuse. Our Group is dedicated to truly free, nonprofit Genealogy and History on the Internet, and commercial use of our research, including any and all list postings, is strictly prohibited.

The Combs &c. Mailing List is Generously Hosted by http://USGenNet.Org/, a nonprofit genealogical-historical web-hosting service, and we encourage all Combs Researchers to support USGenNet
Sincerely,

The Combs-Coombs &c Research Group
Dedicated to Truly Free Genealogy on the Internet
http://www.combs-families.org/combs/

Posting Tips

  1. Always post your line in the greatest possible detail: The more data you include in reference to dates and locations, the more likely that someone else is to “recognize” your Combs Line.
  2. The motto of the Combs &c. Research Mailing List is “How Do You Know?” What that means is that when you post to (email) the Combs &c. Research Mailing List, we also ask that you tell us “How You Know,” (the answer to which may be that you don't know if you were “handed” a genealogy by a relative, obtained it from an LDS submission, etc., in which case, just say so.)
  3. Confused? Leery about posting for fear you'll get it wrong? Not to worry. We have over 250 Researchers on our Combs &c. Research Mailing List. Our individual research experience ranges from one day to thousands, but what we all have in common is our second Combs Motto: “How Can We Help?” Never be afraid to ask; never worry about making errors. To err is human, and we'rear you'll get it wrong? Not to worry. We have over 250 Researchers on our Combs &c. Research Mailing List. Our individual research experience ranges from one day to thousands, but what we all have in common is our second Combs Motto: “How Can We Help?” Never be afraid to ask; never worry about making errors. To err is human, and we're about as human a group as you'll ever meet. <g>

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