FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION:

Can I publicize or mention my book or service in the SCRoots Forum?


ANSWER:

Publications by organizations such as government archives, historical 
societies, non-profit genealogical societies, etc., may be described and 
announced in the email forum. Such organizations have a mission to help 
preserve and protect our historical records. Discussion or announcements 
about publications by such groups are usually not annoying.

Blatant commercial advertisements are generally considered to be annoying 
"SPAM" and are not welcome in the SCRoots Forum.  But, there are a few ways 
that subscribers can mention their business or publications in the Forum 
without being annoying.

WAY #1. It is okay to include a SHORT text-only "signature" in your 
messages. In the signature you can mention your business, services, 
publications, contact information, etc. NO GRAPHICS or attachments are 
allowed. The basic message must be on-topic and appropriate for the Forum. 
And the signature lines must be brief or they will be annoying.

WAY #2. The SCRoots web site (http://scroots.org) provides databases and 
other links where services and web sites can be listed. Commercial service 
announcements are allowed in the database, but not in the guest book or 
query boards.

WAY #3. Authors and publishers of publications useful for Carolina 
genealogical or historical research may post a message in the forum 
announcing the publication PROVIDED that they comply with the following.

A. Describe the publication and explain how it may be useful in the study 
of Carolina genealogy or history.  Please make it more conversational and 
less commercial.

B. In exchange for this special privilege, you must offer free lookups, or 
some other special benefit, for Forum members. This doesn't have to be an 
open-ended offer that lasts forever. Consider this the Email equivalent of 
a book signing where the author spends a day in a bookstore signing books. 
Digest subscribers get about one digest per day. To give Digest readers a 
chance, lookups offers should be announced at least 24-48 hours in advance 
of the event.

C. You must give a direct email address where follow-up requests can be 
sent. It is okay to post lookup offers, requests, and responses in the 
forum.  Public sharing of research is an appropriate use of the 
forum.  But, we don't want "order-taking" messages in the forum. All 
order-taking should be by direct email or other means, not in the forum.

Forum messages should not be annoying and should be on-topic.  If you can't 
do it without being annoying, then don't do it here.

Steve Coker, Manager
The SC Genealogy Forum
steve@scroots.org

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