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.
(UP)
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.
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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 receive many submissions every day to be processed and
thus it takes a while to see them appear on the net.
They will be posted on the 2nd weekend of every the month
unless otherwise advised. 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 the posting date at the head of the list indicates the
list has been updated 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 - about 10 percent of
postings
2. naming a place that does not exist at the particular
location
3. abbreviating place names
4. formatting errors such as including commas, full stops
and slashes [/] where not requested.
5. sending more than one surname on the same submission
6. including given names
7. including place names against a whole country posting
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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.
(UP)
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.
(UP)
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. Java must be enabled (turned on) in your browser
software. Note: Java was removed from Windows IE by Microsoft
in some versions of IE (early IE v.6.x versions) and Windows
XP, but is now included again with the latest versions.
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. County or State
bb. Specific place
c. Start date
d. End date
e. Your email:
f. Your name
g. whether the entry is new or an update
(UP)
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.
(UP)
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