Genealogy Forum NEWS
May, 1998

Forum & AOL Tips


Message Board Report
submitted by GFATerry@aol.com,
Message Board Manager

Each week, a message board topic is featured in the Message Board Center (Link Inactive 10/26/05) as "Message Board of the Week." Be sure to visit the center once a week to see what genealogy subject is being featured.

Check out our exciting new topic in the History area, " The Titanic - Survivors & Victims (Link Inactive 10/26/05)."

We have also provided easy links to groups of topics. Click on any link below to see all the message boards pertaining to that topic.

Remember, most message postings stay up for over 2 years. If you ever have trouble finding an old posting, let me know. I hope you are enjoying the Genealogy Forum Message Boards!

EDITOR NOTE 10/26/2005: The web-based message boards are found at http://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/index.html, but new postings must be done (temporarily) via email, due to spam problems. This has been done for YOUR protection.


Staying Connected Through AOL
-AOL's Tip of the Day
B E G I N N E R

Ever wondered who else is online? From the guy right next door to someone 3000 miles away, they're all your virtual neighbors on America Online, and the AOL Member Directory is the way to let the virtual community know who you are. Heck. You wanna know who's going to be putting up the pink flamingos in the neighborhood, same as we do, right? We thought so.

An entry in the Member Directory is called your profile... it's a little like all the information they put under your picture in the high school year book. Except better. More complete. More interesting. Full of the excitement that makes you...well, you.

To create a profile, choose MEMBER DIRECTORY from the MEMBERS menu. Then click on the MY PROFILE button. On the next screen, type in any information that you feel is appropriate. Just be sure it follows the Rules of the Road at keyword: TOS.

For instance, if you want your old college roommate to be able to find you online, enter your name, city, alma mater, and a quote he or she might recognize. You can enter other search clues in the hobbies and/or occupation sections. And later, when the excitement wears off and you realize you went a little too wild, you can edit your profile any time by following the same steps you used to create the profile.

Below I've given you a few of my favorite tidbits from profiles. Now remember, guys: You create a really bizarre statement in your profile, you may live in infamy, etched into the annals of Beginner Tips, like these folks:

Personal Quote: All it takes for evil to prosper is for good poodles to do nothing.

Quote: Give me asparagus or give me death!!!!!!!!

Occupation: Dependable Low Maintenance Shade Perennial

Remember: You can always create separate profiles for each of your screen names, so if you have a business screen name and a "play" screen name, your business screen name doesn't have to have "for a good time call xxx" in it. Unless that's your business, and, frankly, that's none of my business.

Meg signing off...


Take Control (And Enter)
-AOL's Tip of the Day
A D V A N C E D

Instant Messages and e-mail are two of America Online's most popular features. The reason for this is pretty clear -- they're both great ways of communicating with other people!

Instant Messages are, as the name suggests, instant communication. E-mail is a bit slower, but still pretty darned fast. In both cases, your fingers tap out your message and then you click your mouse to send it off. If you're a keyboard wizard, though, using the mouse is an annoying distraction. Fortunately, we have a solution.

And here it is. Meg's Super-Secret Mouseless Solution: You can send off both e-mails and IMs by holding down Control and pressing enter Enter on a PC or Command and Return on a Mac. It's that simple.

Now you can type up your message and send it off in a flash -- and your fingers never leave the comfort of your keyboard.

Meg signing off...


The Ten Commandments of Email
Submitted By MMINEAR11@aol.com

1. Thou shalt include a clear and specific subject line.

2. Thou shalt edit any quoted text down to the minimum thou needest.

3. Thou shalt read thine own message thrice before thou sendest it.

4. Thou shalt ponder how thy recipient might react to thy message.

5. Thou shalt check thy spelling and thy grammar.

6. Thou shalt not curse, flame, spam or USE ALL CAPS.

7. Thou shalt not forward any chain letter.

8. Thou shalt not use e-mail for any illegal or unethical purpose.

9. Thou shalt not rely on the privacy of e-mail, especially from work.

10. When in doubt, save thy message overnight and reread it in the light of the dawn.

And, here's the Golden Rule of E-Mail:

That which thou findest hateful to receive, send thou not unto others.


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Content © 1998 - 2005 GFNEWS, a monthly publication of Golden Gate Services, Inc. of Armada, MI The Editors welcome your ideas and articles, success stories, favorite genealogy research tips, comments and suggestions. The Genealogy Forum is a proud member of the FGS - Federation of Genealogical Societies