SELF SEEKERS:

THE SELF FAMILY ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY ONLINE NEWSLETTER SUPPLEMENT

Editors
Tim W. Seawolf Self    
Barbara Ann Peck
   [email protected]
Volume 4, no. 4   October, 2001
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WELCOME

Welcome to the 16th issue of the quarterly online newsletter supplement to "Self Portraits: The Self Family NetLetter," the Website dedicated to Self family research at http://www.selfroots.com

You are receiving this newsletter because you were kind enough to join "Self Seekers: The Self Family Association." We appreciate all of your contributions, large and small, and we hope you will continue to support our page, our surname list, and this newsletter.

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We've just celebrated our fifth birthday!

It's hard to believe that we've had the privilege of serving you for so long--but we hope for another five years of terrific correspondence and the exchange of Self information!

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your lives, cousins!

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We are proud to be a very large repository of Self information. With three domains, a second Webpage at RootsWeb, a surname forum and a suite of cluster pages at RootsWeb (see the link on "Self Portraits"), a Listserv, a Collaboration Surname list on the LDS "Family Search" site, well over 5,000 pages of connected and unconnected Self lines, and over 1300 valid e-mail correspondents willing to share information, we are well able to help you with your family research. We are also the Surname Resource Center (SRC) for the surnames of Self, Selfe, and Selph. We also host SelfSite at RootsWeb, an extension of Self Portraits containing our Census pages as well as state-by-state and county-by-county "loose ends," Selfs presently unconnected to any of the major branches. Family Record Online enumerates families presented on our Self Family of the Week page. And each time a new "Self Seekers" newsletter is released, we upload the one for the same month from the past year to our public page for all cousins to enjoy.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

We would like to have your gedcom so that we can add your information to our database. With your permission, we will also list and distribute your gedcom on request (but only with your permission). Please send us gedcoms so that we can start a library that will help others. If you've already submitted one, kindly re-send so that we will have the latest information. We would appreciate being kept informed of new family members as well as other changes.

If you haven't joined our Self Surname Mailing List yet, please subscribe. Instructions will be found on the main page of our Website. Note that we also host the Swindle, Eden, Edens, Cease, Breeze, Brezee, and Salazar Surname Lists as well as listservs for Erath County, TX., King County, TX., Bossier Parish, LA., Murray County, GA., Grayson County, TX., and Clay County, NC. In addition, we host the King County, TX, Murray County, GA, and Clay County, NC USGenWeb sites. Our three county sites join "Self Portraits" in featuring a handy search engine for locating topics discussed in previous messages posted to their corresponding listserv--please click on the button directly beneath the instructions for joining the listserv on the main page of each site.

On September 11 of this year, we all experienced a great tragedy with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as a foiled attack on some other government landmark. Our Self surname is so prevalent that sometimes we think that everyone has a Self ancestor somewhere in their family tree--so it wouldn't surprise us if some of the deceased or missing persons--or heroic firefighters and police offers--are Self descendants. We'd like to know so that we can properly tribute those Selfs. Please let us know if you have further information.

SELF SEEKERS MEMBERSHIP FEES

Membership fees remain the same in 2001: Regular Member, $12 and Charter Member, $25. If you are a Patron Member, your initial contribution is gratefully acknowledged and good for the lifetime of the "Self Seekers" association. We're beginning to accept payment for the 2002 membership year. Wewant to retain you as a "Self Seekers" member, and you cannot know how much your monetary contributions help keep us going. [Of course, we'll also take kind words along with your donation :-) ]

And PLEASE contribute something to this newsletter. Photographs, articles, family trees, and reunion recaps will be gratefully received and enjoyed by everyone--and they will be released to the general public one year after first publication so that they can be shared with all cousins who visit our sites.

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E-MAILEQUETTE
by Barbara Peck and Tim Seawolf-Self

The Internet has opened up a whole world of possibilities for genealogists. Owning a portion of Cyberspace is becoming less and less expensive, and in the past few years, we've seen an enormous amount of raw data placed on Websites for all to use. But the most personal electronic tool is e-mail. For a few dollars a month, most of us have unlimited access to correspondence with other researchers. Remember the "pen pals" you had as a kid? Today we have Cyberpals. Some of our closest friends are people we've never met face-to-face but with whom we can share our daily lives and genealogical nuggets almost instantly through the magic of our keyboards and modems.

As with all forms of communication, there is an unwritten "etiquette code" that accompanies our e-mail messages. There are some things we shouldn't do once we pass the novice stage; and there are some things we should remember to do when the occasion calls for it. While some of them are general, all can be related to the correspondence we carry on while searching for our ancestors.

DON'T DO THAT!

Here are some things (gleaned from the usual 100+ messages a day that we receive) that one shouldn't do when writing or sending e-mail:

Speak Softly: Most of us know that :-) is the symbol--or "emoticon"--for a smile, a joke, or just plain happiness while :-( indicates sadness or problems. Did you also know that words enclosed in *asterisks* means the same as an emphasized or italicized word in a letter? E-mail allows you to "scream," too. Beginners often mistakenly believe that writing a message in "all caps" will make it easier to read. However, to the seasoned e-mail user, capital letters are the equivalent of yelling over the telephone. For some reason, the implications make the message more difficult to digest, having the opposite effect of what was intended.

Don't Be Too Forward: There are many times when we receive an informative message, an inspirational story, or a terrific joke that we wish to share with our Cyberfriends. But please don't forward a forward--or worse yet, forward something that has many levels of forwards. We just don't read them, and many others don't either. If you think that the message is exciting enough or relevant enough or funny enough to share, do your recipients a favor and never forward anything but an original message. If you received a forward of a forward (i.e., a blank message which makes you click on the attachment which then brings up another blank message which makes you click on the attachment, etc.), and if you had the time and patience to get to the original message, be kind enough to copy the original message and paste it into a brand new one. Your readers will appreciate it more than you could ever know.

Don't Get Too Attached: There are three parts to this one--first, never send an attachment to anyone for any reason unless you state in the body of the message that there is an attachment as well as the name of the attached file. The standard "rule of thumb" has always been to avoid opening executable files (files with an .exe extension) because they might contain a virus that is activated when the file is run. This is still true, but there's more to it. Today's hackers are a clever breed. They have gone beyond the thrill of "don't open this e-mail" hoaxes and simple worms like "Happy99." They have learned to create viruses that attack your Word macros or send copies of themSelfs to everyone in your address book. They have learned to hide .exe and .vbs files by using multiple extensions. They use cute and intriguing subject lines. They can do everything from causing you great embarrassment to wiping out your hard drive. And most insidious of all, they gamble on the fact that if you receive their handiwork from one of your friends or cousins--who probably sent it unknowingly to you--you'll think it just has to be "safe" and open it. Let this be your new guideline: always tell your recipients when you are sending an attachment and what its name is--and never open any attachment from anyone unless they do likewise. If an attachment looks suspicious, write to the sender and ask if they have sent something to you. If they didn't, tell them to use a virus checker and clean the virus if necessary.

It's a very good idea to make arrangements prior to sending a very large file. Any graphic or photo, audio file, movie, or camera clip over 100K falls into this category. Write to the intended recipient and set a mutually convenient time for sending this kind of attachment. Since most people will receive their files through a dial-up connection, they will inevitably take some time to download. If the person isn't ready to receive, the file could sit on their ISP's Server for awhile. Some ISPs put a limit on the amount of mail that can be stored there. If, for example, you send a 1MB cartoon to your friend who has gone on vacation, others who later attempt to send genealogical information to that person may receive a "mailbox full" error message and perhaps forget to re-send something important later on. Also, remember that e-mail is a means of ultra-fast communication. The sequence of operations in most e-mail clients is "Receive/Send." If someone has just launched their e-mail and needs to send a crucial message to their boss or a family member, that message may be held up while your cartoon downloads. When your friend comes home to over 100 messages after a day away from the computer, he or she may not enjoy the wait. So do write first and ask when the best time is to send a long attachment. And if you are sending something interesting that you found on a Website, try sending a link rather than sending a page. Finally, never try to send an attachment to a listserv unless you know for certain that there is nothing in the policy of the list to prevent or discourage you from doing so. Some listservs will automatically reject attachments, "bouncing" the message back to you and/or the listowner. Others will allow a graphic attachment to go through, but it will display as gibberish. There are reasons for this: first, by disallowing attachments, the mailing list software eliminates the possibility of viruses which in turn, limits the liability of the host Server; and, as mentioned above, your mailbox won't get stuffed up, and you won't wait forever for something to download and then discover that it's not of any interest to you. The most practical reason is that most listservs are text-based so that they will archive correctly and be retrieved by a simple but powerful search engine. So if you have a photo or a large document to share with others on the list, the best thing to do is to write to the host of the County or surname site that corresponds to it and ask if they would publish your item on the Web or distribute on demand it via personal e-mail.

SO WHAT CAN I DO?

There are some things you can do to make your e-mail messages welcome in any researcher's mailbox.

There are ways to meet new contacts without resorting to SPAM. So what constitutes SPAM--and even more important, what ISN'T SPAM? SPAM is usually a commercial message sent in bulk to people who probably aren't interested in it and who will trash it immediately and grumble for an hour afterwards. There is usually no personal touch to SPAM--and it promises the moon for a small investment. There is almost always some get-rich quick scheme involved. None of the recipients are known to the sender. Their e-mail addresses were probably purchased from another SPAMmer on a CD-ROM or diskette, and they may have originally been harvested from any site, not necessarily one relevant to genealogy. The sender may use many aliases, sometimes forged to look as if he has an account with a well-known ISP. In other cases, he will use a host in a foreign country. He may state that he is sending material "you have requested" (not true). He may say that he is in compliance with the law because you can click on the REMOVE link below and never be bothered by him again. Watch out! Oftentimes the link doesn't work; and when it does, by clicking on it you will let him know that your address is valid, and he may make a profit by selling it to another SPAMmer...

Whether you are sending to many newly-discovered contacts or just one or two, these suggestions have worked for us and should help you as well.

Since SPAM is impersonal, make sure you personalize your messages, especially if you write a lot of e-mail. We have "form messages" (we like to think of them as "templates") for several types of communication that include welcomes to our listservs, invitations to visit our sites, invitations to join "Self Seekers," notifications of newsletter uploads, and our annual "holiday" message sent out every autumn. If we didn't use forms, we'd quickly forget what we were going to say, or we'd probably leave out something important. But it may surprise you to know that each and every message is sent out individually. We never, for instance, send to one person (or to ourSelfs) with a long list of "carbon copy" addresses. That's taking the lazy way out, and you deserve better! The only "bulk" messages we send are those in our listservs when we tell our listmembers about new items or links on our sites. One thing we find quite distasteful is a message which reads, "[no salutation] You need not reply to this message. You have posted to our site, and we want to know if your e-mail address is still good." Our annual holiday message serves the purpose of weeding out "lost cousins" and keeping in touch with those whose addresses are valid. We also spend a lot of time trying to locate those who are "lost." We search the Web for each missing person--and as a last resort, we've put up a "Lost Cousins" page on "Self Portraits." We truly don't want to lose touch with you!

You can personalize your messages by making them upbeat and "chatty." Say what you feel, and express yourSelf as you would in any message to a friend. If possible, greet the recipient by name or include their name somewhere in the message. By the way, if you're the first one to write to a new contact, DO include your own name. We've been unable to properly greet some cousins (and subscribers/posters to our County sites and listservs) because they failed to tell us what their names are. Whether you're sending a single message or using a template, make sure you tell the recipient why you're writing. State clearly that you saw their posting on a genealogy board or noted the mention of your great grandfather in their online gedcom. Always be pleasant. And make sure that your signature includes the e-mail address you want them to use. For example, we've replied to inquiries only to be told that the address is the one used at work where personal e-mail is frowned upon. If you use HotMail or another address for genealogy purposes, send your original message from that address or mention the preferred address somewhere in the message. And don't continue to send messages to people who have expressed no interest in your previous overtures.

Remember that anytime you put your e-mail address out on the Web, you're fair game for both SPAM and personal correspondence. None of us likes SPAM. It's an evil on a par with TV commercials, telemarketing, and junk mail. But personal correspondence can be voluminous, if rewarding. You may not feel up to answering all of your e-mail every day. But DO reply to any genealogical inquiry you receive. It amazes me how many people put, for instance, gedcoms or postings on various Websites and then change e-mail addresses without changing them on those pages. Sure, it's a lot of work, but if you're serious about genealogy, it's well worth it. And if you invite replies to your material, then in turn, reply to those who write to you. We send out so many invitations based on online gedcoms--and we ask so many questions--and our guess is that at least 90% go unanswered. That's not only rude and inconsiderate, but it's closing a door that the recipient may wish to re-open someday. You can never have too many contacts--and some of them may not turn out to be blood relatives but rather become good friends. It only takes a minute to develop a personalized template for replies--try it and sit back and smile!

SUMMARY

We are so fortunate to live in a world with e-mail. E-mail allows us to dig our roots with the help of many others all over the globe. We can create and maintain good relations with our correspondents by refraining from some inappropriate behaviors and cultivating others. If you have any more suggestions for writing good e-mail messages, please let us know and we'll publish them here...

(NEXT: The New DNA)

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PROTECT YOUR DATA
by Barbara Peck and Tim Seawolf-Self

"My hard disk crashed, and I lost everything!"

We've all been through that before. We computer people are especially bad about doing regular back-ups--we figure we can fix whatever is wrong until it happens. We've just been through a particularly bad experience: after the crash, we knew we had to replace the C: drive which had only Windows and a few miscellaneous applications on it--but the repair technicians goofed and wiped out our D: drive, too (not just a reformat but a Dos partitioning), and yes, we lost everything.

It's a real, time-consuming pain to back up your data. You have a million excuses why you can't afford the time it takes. But in truth, you can't afford NOT to back up. And today you have many many methods to choose from...

Would you believe that all of our thousands of Self pages are backed up on about 20 diskettes? They're stacked next to the computer here at home--and I'm backing up today's files while I write this article. When I'm finished doing the backup, I'll zip up the files altered today so that they fit on a few diskettes. Then tomorrow morning, I'll take them to work and transfer them to another set of backup diskettes that I keep in my office.

Diskettes are still the cheapest, though perhaps clumsiest, form of backup for your important data. They're small, portable, and take up very little space--and they're cheap. You can buy tons of high-density diskettes for under $20.00, and the diskette drive comes with your computer. For the most part they're reliable media, and each one holds a little over 1MB of data, plenty for several large Word files, Access databases, or gedcoms in zipped or stuffed format. They're also easy to grab in case of a disaster. You can increase the amount of data saved on a diskette by using a compression program such as "pkzip" or (for MACs) "stuffit." Some drawbacks: diskettes do go bad from time to time, and even ScanDisk may not be able to fix them. Diskettes can easily become infected by viruses. And diskette drives are very slow.

In the early 1990s tape drives were popular. You could buy and install an internal tape drive. There were also external devices such as the Colorado "Trakker" which connected through the computer's parallel port. Software was designed to enable backups, some of it proprietary, and some standard as Microsoft Backup which came with the operating system. The problem with tapes is that they are costly and you need a special drive to accommodate them. If your hard disk is faulty--in the early stages when you may not realize it--read/write errors may be transferred from disk to tape, rendering the backup useless. And they are very slow. On the other hand, we used a Trakker at work for years, and it still runs well. The compression software, though DOS-based, was excellent, and we could back up quite a lot of data on just one small tape.

After the general failure to market the 2.88 diskette, manufacturers turned to something more realistic, the zip drive. Although you may have to buy a zip drive if one doesn't come with your new computer, they're reasonably priced. The zip disks themSelfs are a bit pricey, but they hold at least 100MB of data. As with tape drives, zip drives soon began coming out in larger and larger capacities, but you needed an actual new drive to accommodate the disk. One or two 100MB zip disks will probably save all the truly irreplaceable data on your average hard drive. And while tape drives could merely backup and restore and had to be specially "recognized" by your backup program, the zip drive can be used as another drive. The zip disks can be rewritten many times; and because they are usually internal devices connected directly to the inner workings of your computer, they are extremely fast.

Back in 1994, Tim and I dreamed of owning a CD-ROM drive (cost about $1000) and being able to afford CDs that cost nearly $100. When we finally did get a CD-ROM drive, it was a single speed device that made all animations clunky and skipped a lot in the audio portion. Just a few months ago we bought a CD-RW (CD-ROM read/write drive) for about $150, probably a high cost compared with the price of those you might find under your Christmas tree this year. It cost under $30 for a big cylinder full of blank CDs. The backups have been fast and accurate. The drive was "plug and play," and using it was so simple that Tim made a backup of his data in just a few minutes following the installation.

There are other, faster ways of backing up your data. For example, you could set up a "mirror drive." This is a second drive in your computer that "mirrors" the image on your primary drive. The disk may be physical (i.e., a second hard disk) or logical (a partition on a gigantic drive). You can also save to a Server. This might be at work, if you're allowed to use space there since home networks are usually of the "peer-to-peer" variety, i.e., two or more computers are networked and act as both Server and Client.

Saving your data in your workplace isn't such a bad idea if you can do it. In addition to having a backup, it's also much safer to keep that backup in some location other than the building where the original data is stored. Should there be a fire, earthquake, flood, or some other disaster in one place, your data is safely housed elsewhere. You can bring a diskette, tape, zip disk, or CD-ROM to work or to the home of a friend or relative each day, and your data will always be within 24 hours of being up to date. You can send data to someone else as well by attaching it to e-mail. Only small amounts would be advisable should you choose this method. If you have Web storage on your ISP's Server, you can use that as a place to put data for safekeeping, whether or not you use it on a Web page. For very large amounts of data, you can check out Data Storage solution companies on the Web.

Remember that if you use Windows it will do you no good to back up your entire system. Should you have a system crash that requires the purchase of a new hard drive or formatting of your old one, you should install Windows on the drive, re-install your applications, and then copy your data from its backup medium. Windows is very complex, and even what you perceive as an exact image on a CD-RW may be missing important files. And Windows applications scatter some of their own files into various folders--so simply copying an application folder doesn't guarantee that the program will run.

SUMMARY

Whether you choose diskette, tape, zip disks, CD-RWs, or a Server, you need to back up your data. For too many years, genealogists have been frustrated by searching for paper documents that turn out to have been destroyed. We now have a second chance at preserving the information we get from others as well as recording details about our own families. Safe backup will ensure that your descendants will have the answers you have found.

(NEXT: Not Your Grandpa's World)


Maybe your ancestors used to tell stories about life in the "old days," stories you remember hearing as a child. Please tell us about them. We will even supply editing and formatting; but we'd all love to know about daily life in the Self families of old--and you may be able to help. Please contact us. And please state that your story is specifically for the newsletter.


LOOSE ENDS

Please go to our "Loose Ends" subsection at our SelfSite at RootsWeb.

DEAD ENDS

Please go to our "Dead Ends" subsection at our SelfSite at RootsWeb.


SELFS IN SPACE

What would you like to see here? This space is reserved for any topic of interest to Self cousins. Express YourSelf!!


If you do not wish to receive this electronic publication, please take a moment to e-mail us.

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DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY

Some parts of this newsletter contain information contributed by individuals. The editors may not monitor or censor the information placed on these Pages. We do not invite reliance upon, nor accept responsibility for, the information posted here.

Each individual contributor is solely responsible for the content of their information, including any and all legal consequences of the postings. We are in no way, in whole or in part, responsible for any damages caused by the content in this newsletter or by the content contributed by any person.

We do not warrant, or guarantee any of the services, products, or information used for these pages. We do not make any warranty, expressed or implied, and do not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any of the information disclosed in this publication, or represent in any way that the use would not infringe privately owned rights.

NOTICE: The information in this newsletter is Copyrighted, and must not be used for any commercial purposes or republished in any form without prior permission. This newsletter is copyrighted, except where previous copyright applies.

Copyright 1998-2001 Tim Seawolf-Self and Barbara A. Peck, All Rights Reserved


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