[plug] Email addresses and family history - was Re: [plug] telstra dns borked

[Bret Busby]

On Thu, 27 May 2004, Shayne O'Neill wrote:

> 
> Eh...
> 
> Folks internet connection. My mother is a geneology(sp?) nut, and her
> email address is all over the internet.
> 

The Correct spelling is "genealogy". The problem is that most people 
mispronounce the word. For years, I pronounced in "jeen-ee-ollogy", as 
do many people, but then I woke up to the correct spelling one day - 
checked it in the dictionary, and found that I, like most people, had 
been mispronouncing the word, and, consequently, misspelling the word.

> I was strongly imploring iinet, but it seems she wouldnt of been able to
> keep her address.
> 

This is one reason that I found that having a domain name, is a really 
good idea.

As a genealogy person, subscribed to about 100 genealogy mailing lists, 
apart from the non-genealogy mailing lists, and, administering a number 
of lists, It is much work to change email addresses when changing ISP's.

Also, contacts that accumulate in the course of the research, would all 
need to be advised of change of address.

So, the simplest thing to do, I found, is to register a domain name, and 
advise all known contacts, and, change mailing lists subscriptions to 
the domain name address, and, the changes should only need to be made 
once for each instance, then, the domain name email address remains with 
the person for as long as the person maintains the registration and 
hosting of the domain name. Another thing that would need to be done, is 
when the person uses forums (fora?) on the Internet, such as 
genforum.com, the person need to post a message in the subject threads 
in the foums where the person has posted messages, advising of a change 
of address so that people reading the fourums, can easily find the new 
email address.

The costs are well worth it.

Also, with a domain name, depending on the ISP hosting the domain, 
email aliasing means that your mother could also have an email address, 
for example, maternal.genealogy at oneill.org, apart from her personal 
email address, eg shaynes.mother at oneill.org, and so split email for her, 
into different email addresses, and, it can make using email more 
efficient, depending on how she has her email set up and what email 
application she uses.

Also, as a genealogist, having a domain name, means that any genealogy 
information published on the Internet (apart from other material 
published on the Internet), on a person's web site, remains, as it 
appears to those seeking the material, to be at a constant address, 
regardless of the ISP being used.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of 
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams, 
  published by Pan Books, 1992 
....................................................