John,

You're welcome for the new "frature". ;-)

I recently posted a message on the Alabama site, asking that contributors please exert more care when composing and posting their messages. I was most concerned that people were not taking enough care in properly spelling the names and titles of the veterans, names of battles, locations, etc. I want to see people get the full benefit, not only from our message board family, but from the entire internet. I'm not so concerned about spelling "their" or "there" correctly or grammar or tense. I do want people to get answers to their postings, especially when they're looking for a family member or the answer to a question that has plagued them for years. Many of our contributors come here for the first time, as a result of a search engine "hit" from one of our postings. If you don't spell or abbreviate, Lieutenant or Private properly. If you misspell Cancellorsvill. If your Corporal Harry Jons is actually Harold Jones, you're very likely not to get the response you're looking for, either from our "regulars" or from the search engines.

This posting prompted a request for a spell checker, which wasn't precisely my point, but I had been looking at this SpelChek add-on for the message boards for some time, so I decided to go ahead and add it.

I hope you and others get some benefit from it and if you encounter any "bugs" or other problems, please tell me.

Jim