Noise Reduction

James O'Brien recently blogged about  NOISE.

This blog post really struck a chord with me and got me thinking about my social media and online contacts and how they were (dis)organised. So over the past week I have been in evaluation mode, like James I need to reduce and manage the NOISE in my life.

To date I have tried to organise my email accounts having set up a new Gmail account this week. I now have four free email accounts and an account at my website host. There are three Gmail accounts and one Outlook account (an insurance policy in case Gmail is down/dies). I used to have just one Gmail account but since Google have made it possible for me to log into all of my accounts from my laptops and devices I think it is easier for me to have separate accounts.

My new Gmail account is for stuff I can do without - I have been very busy this week unsubscribing from lots of email lists and resubscribing from this new account to those I still want to follow. When I am on holidays or just too busy I can just ignore the messages that come through here. There will be less NOISE in my main mailbox.

My oldest Gmail account is to be my main account for personal correspondence etc. The problem is that I have been using this for years for family history things as well so it will take some time to move my family history correspondence and contacts over to my second Gmail account that I have printed on my business card. The emails that come in from people who contact me via my family website are presently forwarded to my personal Gmail account, I am will change this so they are forwarded to the account I will use for genealogy.

I am hoping that, by compartmentalising my email, I might be able to reduce some NOISE.

My next job is to follow James' lead and clean up my Twitter contacts so that Twitter becomes a useful tool once more. 

Family History Through the Alphabet – M is for … You've got Mail

When L was announced as the letter for last week's challenge I immediately knew what I would write about - it was going to be L is for Listserv but my memory failed me when I sat at the keyboard to type my entry and I wrote about Links instead.

But never fear, magician that I am, I can turn an L into an M for this week's post - You've got Mail. As my focus in this series of posts is technology I am not talking about Snail mail but Email - the sort of mail that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's characters used as they fell in love over the internet in You've got Mail. 

For those who have been living under a rock this link will tell you all about Email.

This morning something unusual happened, I received a letter containing a genealogy report via snail mail. I don't know why as the person who sent it to me has previously sent me files by email. This person could have saved money by using email, I know they have internet and email so there would be no extra cost involved in emailing me, I also know they have access to a scanner so they could have attached the report to an email saving on the cost of ink and paper and they could have saved on postage. The first benefit of email for genealogists is that it allows for sharing of data quickly and economically.


Since the mid nineties genealogists have been able to use email to join mailing lists to communciate with others with similar interests. The first such lists that I used were Rootsweb Mailing Lists that "can help you find information about your ancestors and connect you with people who have research interests similar to yours". There are now over 30,000  genealogical mailing lists at Rootsweb. If you cannot find a list at Rootsweb that caters to your interests you can set one up. In spite of the emergence of social media the Rootsweb Mailing Lists are still going strong. I find a few messages in my emailbox each day from the various lists to which I belong. They are still a valuable resource for genealogists today.

The wonderful thing is that Google seems to index most of the posts to such Mailing lists so if you put an ancestor's name into a Google search you may be directed to a listserv post. What is frustrating is that some of the messages on a mailing list from 10 years ago or more are linked to dead email addresses so it is difficult to contact the original messenger.

For my tip for this week please read my blog post from 2008, Static Email Addresses.

If you are not a member of any Mailing Lists please browse the collection at  Rootsweb Mailing Lists  and join a few, then you'll be able to say:

"I've got mail."

Permanent Email Addresses - Essential for Genealogy Connections

Where are you Bill Blowes, Don Magick, Val Dumbrell, Keith Colbran, Leonnie Elwell, Ken Edmondson, Glenn Martin?

I just sent out a group catchup email to some of those people with whom I have shared information over the last few years. Six out of the fity or so messages bounced back. These people have probably changed their web service provider and email address but haven't been able to let all of their contacts know of the change.

I previously blogged about Static email addresses in November 2008. In the world of genealogy where one posts interests on mailing lists, with user groups and on websites it is advisable to have a permanent address that will not change. Sometimes it might be four or five years from the date of posting a message somewhere until one gets a response.

It is very easy to set up a permanent email address with services such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail that is not tied to one service provider. If you don't want to miss out on valuable connections get one now.

Meaningful subject lines

As a connected genealogist I subscribe to many email lists, forums and blogs related to my interests. Greeting a full email box each day does not perturb me as I can quickly scan the subject lines of the emails,delete those that are not relevant and open those that may be of interest. Some people, however, just don't get it.

Particularly relevant to people downunder is the myriad of Rootsweb Mailing Lists, each of which is devoted to a particular niche area of the field. There are a number of Australian lists to which one can subscribe and connect with people with similar interests.

On one such list last night I eagerly opened a message whose subject line was one word,my given name, thinking that it was a personal note to me. It was for another person who shares my first name.

In all messages is is useful and polite to clearly state, in the subject line of the email, clues to the content of the message that follows. A recent message on The OrangeBathurst list has the subject "John Henry Williamson of Boronore", this clearly tells users about the subject ot the message, however other posts entitled "The New Family" give very few clues. Sinilarly this subject line "[HHHV] Hawkesbury pounds and poundkeepers 1855" from the HillsHawkesburyHunterValley list is very specific, whilst another heading "Wills" is far too general.

List etiquette would suggest that a list is not the place for personal messages. Sometimes, however, it is not possible to contact another list member because of a dead email address. In these cases something like "Personal message to Mary Jones" ,"Trying to contact Fred Wright" or "John Brown - please contact sender" would alert other listers that the content of the message is personal.

Sometimes during the course of a thread (or email conversation) the subject changes. Do not let an irrelevant subject stand. Change it to reflect the contents of the messages in the conversation. Search engines, such as Google, index the contents of mailing lists; it pays to have relevant subjects so that your posts can be indexed correctly and subsequently found by others.

Busy people may skip emails with fuzzy headings such as "genealogy question" or 'help please"; if you want people to read your messages remember to have a clear and cogent subject line.

Stray email couple clicked Tasmania News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

An email seeking genealogicla data leads to a romance across the seas.

Stray email couple clicked Tasmania News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

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Gizmodo - Holy Crap, Email Was Scary in the 1970s! - Honeywell Email

Gizmodo - Holy Crap, Email Was Scary in the 1970s! - Honeywell Email

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Remember when we had to use snailmail to connect with other genealogists and when email was the stuff of science fiction?

Static email addresses

Have you ever posted a message to an online list like Rootsweb Mailing Lists? Since posting that message have you changed your email address? Can you remember all of the postings you have made over a number of years?

I have been frustrated, when replying to old messages on lists, to have my emails returned because the listers address is not valid. The lister and I may have lost an opportunity to make a valuable connection.

I now use a Gmail account as my contact when posting to lists so that, if I change Internet Provider (and associated email address), I have a static address that will move with me and that I can have forever. Other established providers are Hotmail and Yahoo. An additional benefit is that these accounts can be accessed via the web from any computer.