Frequently asked questions
Please check that your problem is not addressed on this
page before contacting the manager.
• The display has printed
my name in a peculiar way.
• The email on the list doesn't work.
• How can I increase my chances of getting a result?
• How do I get the report?
• How long will my entry remain on the list?
• I cannot get the forms to work.
• I cannot see any changes to the page.
• I have been getting a lot of junk mail since being listed.
• I made several submissions but some failed to appear.
• I posted a submission but it has not appeared!
• I tried to make a submission but the forms were closed.
• I would like to indicate an affiliation to a group in my
entry.
• When I attempt to link, the system opens MS Outlook that
I don't use!
• When will my submission be posted?
• Why don't you accept given names?
Why don't you accept given names?
The lists are essentially surname lists and indicate interest in a particular
name at a specific location in a time frame. This is usually adequate for
all but the most common names.
By being more specific you may miss useful links. For example if I had posted
that I was looking for Hugh CUNNINGHAM, I would never have located Richard
CUNNINGHAM who happened to be the correct person I was seeking.
Some of these lists used to offer the option of given names but some people
clogged up the system by posting every single family member as a separate entry.
For the same reason only one posting of a surname is accepted from each subscriber
for a country, county or state. Therefore you cannot change an entry by just
re-posting the same surname, as the program will reject the new posting as
a duplicate. You must use the update.
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How do I get the report?
Your submission is posted to these pages and readers noting a match email you
direct.
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How long will my entry remain
on the list?
For a year and then you will need to resubmit. You can ensure continuity by
posting an update a month before expiry. If you update your entry at any time,
the clock is set back to zero.
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The email on the list doesn't
work.
Can you give me the correct email address? Sorry I have no other information—unfortunately
a large number of folk post faulty email addresses. If the address given has
no obvious faults in its structure then my email software will not identify
it as faulty.
Please advise me of faulty addresses via the Bounce button which
you will find on the menu above.
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When will my submission be processed?
We attempt to post all submission received in the previous seven days on Saturday
mornings unless otherwise advised in the CLOSURE section on this site. Remember
we operate on Australian Central Time and therefore the site is well ahead
of European and American time zones.
(UP)
I posted a submission but it
has not appeared.
If more than a week has passed since you made a submission then its failure
to appear could be any of the following:
• the email did not arrive.
• the submission contained faults such as:
1. faulty email address
2. naming a place that does not exist at the particular location
3. sending more than one surname on the same submission
4. including given names
•
we are closed for submissions (see the CLOSURE section on
this site)—sometimes people cache our site and use
forms during closed periods—we do not reject these
submissions, but they may take a longer time to appear on
the lists. See also I cannot see any changes
to the page.
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The display has printed my name in
a peculiar way. Why is this?
All submissions are posted to a database that automatically 'cleans' up the entry
to conform to the site's layout. Some folk have not realised that the submitter's
name is in title case. That is the first letter of each word only is a capital.
Thus if you submit the name O'Casey, it will appear as O'casey. If you supply
your initials without spaces as in KJ Smythe, it will appear as Kj Smythe.
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I cannot see any changes to the page
and yet you say it has been updated.
You may have cache facility turned on in your browser program - TURN IT OFF as
you are missing all the updates on the web on every page. The cache facility
saves the web pages on your computer and so when you access a page it is just
going to the saved page and not the actual site. Why have a cache - well it speeds
things up! If you want to keep this facility then when you next go to the page
use the refresh or update button at the top of your browser. Alternatively you
can subscribe to a minding facility on the web that will automatically email
you every time it detects a change in nominated sites.
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I tried to make a submission but
the forms were closed.
I receive many submissions a day that take time to process. To refresh lists
on the weekend takes an additional hour or more. Doing these 7 days a week can
become quite stressful and so whenever my spouse has leave I take off too. I
also operate a business that requires field trips away from the office. That
means the lists are closed for receipt of submissions because if they kept on
flowing in, the backlog would become beyond a manageable size.
During close down periods I also try to improve the site and the supporting database
software to make the list more effective and correct. Close down periods are:
all of January; all of April; all of July; all of October; latter half of December.
(UP)
I made several submissions but some
failed to appear.
The material is vetted automatically by a database into which every submission
is posted. Often if the instructions are not followed correctly the entry is
rejected by the database. If, for example, you place commas between the places,
the database treats them as extra fields and cannot place them and so rejects
the whole entry.
Many people fail to accurately give their email usually by leaving off part of
the domain name after the @ - these entries fail too.
Many the entries never reach me because people click the reject button at the
foot of the form when answering the question...
6. This is a new submission and I have not posted this name in this county previously...
Clicking 'NO' rejects the whole entry. These people should be using the update
form that I do vet closely.
You may be asking why doesn't he check these first and the answer is simple—I
just do not have time to check a multitude of submissions every day.
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I have been getting a lot of junk
mail since being listed.
Spam robots are used to extract emails on lists such as this one to send out
junk mail and so in July 2004 this list was changed from a full view to database
search. The downside is that you cannot see all the names by scrolling down the
pages.
If you do receive junk mail, always complain to their ISP and not the sender,
as you will probably just encourage more junk mail!
We remind submitters that we do not give out email addresses to third parties.
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How can I increase my chances of
getting a result?
Firstly you need to ensure you follow all the requirements of the list to get
your submission posted!
If you observe the following points you may improve your chances of getting a
result but of course this is very much dependent on someone with a similar interest
seeing your posting...
As a rule of thumb, the more common the name, the more specific should be the
date range and place. You stand little chance of a result by posting a name like
JONES against any date for the whole country. Indeed it is advisable to avoid
the whole country section unless you have a quite rare name or are pursuing a
one-name study.
Make sure you include any unusual variants of your name, but by the same token
avoid the common well-known variants. We find that a string of common variants
against a name often puts enquirers off because they 'know' their name was never
spelt differently!
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I would like to indicate an affiliation
to a group in my entry.
A number of people like to indicate they are members of a particular FH society
or interest group.
It is suggested that those people could place the initials after their name in
brackets as per the following examples...
BLOGG, All County, all dates-, Phyllis (GOONS) (9 May 2004)
BLACK, All County, all dates-, Mary (SFHG) (6 Apr 2004)
Using such a system will enable fellow researchers to search out all like-minded
submitters by using the browser search facility as explained on every page. The
appropriate abbreviations to use for each society should be the ones used by
that society.
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I cannot get the forms to work.
If you are having trouble with the forms then check the following:
1. Javascript must be enabled (turned on) in your browser software.
2. You must be using an up to date version of browser software.
If this still fails to resolve the problem then supply the manager
with the following:
1. Your Operating system
2. Browser, and version
3. Type in exactly the text you were typing to cause the problem and the
specific result of their action.
It can be hard to diagnose a computer from a distance, but sometimes my technical
advisers can pick up the problem. If all else fails then submit the data via
normal email and we will insert manually:
a. Name
b. State
c . Specific place
d. Start date
e. End date
f. Your email:
g. Your name
h. whether the entry is new or an update
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When I attempt to link, the system opens MS Outlook that
I don't use!
Even though you do not use Outlook, it has been set as the default email program
for Windows. One solution is to go into the Windows Control Panel: Internet Options
and Choose the Programs Tab at the top of the window, then make sure the preferred
email program is set as the default. However, if you only use web mail like Yahoo
then you will have to copy and paste the email address to your web mail page.
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