RADIO FREE USGENWEB....broadcasting live from pirate satellite! The following information represents summarized information from the minutes of the Advisory Board of the USGenWeb Project, obtained from the publicly available archives at Rootsweb. The original messages are no longer available at that site, and I have been placed under a threat of lawsuit if I post them. Thus they are here summarized for your information; all quotations from the original material are clearly marked and fall under the fair use' provision of U.S. Copyright law. If you want to see the originals, petition the Board for them. Message ID numbers have been provided to make this easier for you. Material in brackets constitutes editorial comments. All the following material represents the personal opinion of this author, based on my understanding of events and on the original material. As always, there are two sides to every coin, and if anyone wishes to clarify or rebut anything below, I will be happy to post it. 7 DECEMBER 1998 Highlights: A member resigns [almost]; bad links to state pages; messages from the outside world; a member really resigns; "Solutions". ++++++++++ Bob posts a message to Beth and to the Board. To Beth he says that he understands that due to her work schedule she may not yet have had the opportunity to read all the messages asking her to reconsider her resignation. But, he says, "You can stop the process below by speaking up. We do need to plan for an election if you don't reconsider." To the Board, he says he will entertain a motion on Board-L to accept Beth's resignation with no replacement being appointed due to the imminent election, when a replacement will be selected. He notes, "If Beth reconsiders in the meantime, we can simply vote o [sic] to her resignation." (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 18:31:35 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207183135.007dd9c0@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: [Board-Exec-L] Resignation) Kay asks Bob to give Beth until the following day to read her mail before proceeding with the motion to accept her resignation. (Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 15:46:25 -0800; From: "Kay Mason" ; Message-Id: <199812072349.PAA31159@mail.networkone.net>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] Resignation) In regards to the bad state link on the main web page [see Dec 6], Holly Timm notes that "The link is and has been correct on the table of state links so I don't know what he is referring to..." She knows this is the case, because she had recently visited the page. [But the bad link was on the map. Ed.] (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 00:05:37 -0500; From: Holly Timm ; Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981207000537.03efbbd0@mail.bright.net>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] Ooops!) Webmaster Celia forwards a rather cryptic message to the Board, apparently from a visitor to the main web page. It reads in part: "I have read 50% on the info on your new system of noninformation. I don't understand it at all. What is it, how does it work, does it cost, what does it provide? It smells. It is too complicated. I am a new player and I just don't get it. Too technical. What happed to put it in and get it out easily". Celia asks if anyone has any idea "what in blue blazes this person is talking about?" She thinks it might have something to do with a Special Project, but doesn't know which one. She wonders if this is just some disgruntled person who failed to find their ancestor in the Archives and should she respond or just ignore it? (Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 13:09:43 -0600 (CST); From: "Celia G. Snyder" ; Message-Id: ; Subject: [Board-Exec-L] Zwhatever) Celia also forwards a message from someone at Random House, asking if the USGW Project is willing to help them promote a new book on African American genealogy and asking someone to contact them regarding other promotional opportunities between Random House and USGW. Celia guesses this would be something the Board should discuss. (Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 13:20:18 -0600 (CST); From: "Celia G. Snyder" ; Message-Id: ; Subject: [Board-Exec-L] promotion) In response to the disgruntled Archives searcher, Bob Bamford's advice is "I G N O R E ! ! ! ! " [Thus missing an opportunity to help a fellow genealogist who may have been confused by their first visit, explain the project to a potential contributor, replace their initial negative reaction with a positive one, just, you know, generally be helpful. Ed.] (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 14:31:26 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207143126.007be860@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] Zwhatever) In response to the message from Random House, Bob's sage advice is "Commercial conection... [sic] no! Whose book do we promote next??" [Dunno, Bob. Perhaps one of the ones your book company puts out? I see you advertise _your_ book company on your USGW page. Guess Celia was wrong about this being something "the Board" should discuss. Ed.] (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 14:33:01 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207143301.007bdec0@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] promotion) Bob posts a message he has received from a visitor who has concerns about the Spokane county, WA webpage but contact the CC or SC. The visitor notes that the page is not updated, queries are not posted, and several email links are outdated. Bob notes that this is the "The second problem in wA in as many weeks. Is something wrong out there?," and asks the NW/Plains representatives to look into it. (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 18:07:32 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207180732.007d8710@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: Unidentified subject!) Karen Isaacson posts that making Board-L read-only would be easily done. She has only to issue three commands and the list would be set such that only specified addresses would be able to post to it. It would be a little more work for the list maintainer [mustn't call them listowners! Ed.], especially when members join or leave the Board. She promises to walk them through the process if they decide to do it. (Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 13:15:58 -0800 (PST); From: ; Message-Id: <199812072115.NAA27592@bw-10.rootsweb.com>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] Solution) In response to the post from Karen Isaacson regarding making Board-L available for read-only subscription, Bob says "We had discussed it but currently there are no plans." (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 18:12:00 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207181200.007b94c0@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] Solution) Board member Debbie Wafford posts her resignation. She states, "I have been seriously evaluating my priorities and have come to some difficult decisions. I've recently accepted a promotion at work that involves increased responsibilities and more travel. My first loyalty is to my county pages and a couple of personal projects I'm involved in. There is not enough time to do everything. Please accept this as my resignation from the board. Good luck to all of you." (Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 19:50:00 -0700; From: "Debbie Wafford" ; Message-Id: <199812080244.TAA23462@mars.aros.net>; Subject: [Board-Exec-L] Resignation) Kay posts a message stating "We need to think about what a nominee in good standing means." She knows that a SC has complained to the SC for one of the nominees for SW/SC CC rep. She is careful to point out it is not Kathy. She wonders if this would constitute not being in good standing; she is sure this is not the only time someone has complained about the nominee. [This idea that elections should be popularity contests never got too far; see below. Ed.] (Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 08:40:04 -0800; From: "Kay Mason" ; Message-Id: <199812071642.IAA28110@mail.networkone.net>; Subject: [Board-Exec-L] Nominee in good standing) In response to Kay's post regarding "members in good standing", Bob says that he agrees that the person in question [a former candidate for SW/SC regional representative] probably has been complained about, but according to the bylaws: "In good standing" is demonstrated by responding promptly to email, actively supporting researchers' efforts to find information, maintaining their website with appropriate, up-to-date content, and serving as a good example of the guidelines and standards of The USGenWeb Project." He feels that these are very subjective criteria, "What is actively'? What is up-to-date'? 1 mo. more? less? What is a good example.'" He guesses those questions would result in a very wide range of responses and, "I don't think we want to go there... ahhh, but I'd love to." He does note that the project member who had complained about the candidate was welcome to file specific charges, either with their SC or elsewhere, but not with the Board unless it is a national issue. (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 13:14:58 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207131458.007bcae0@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] Nominee in good standing) In reference to the bad state link, Bob notes that the map and the table go off to different locations. The map goes to an address on Rootsweb, which Bob suspects is the incorrect link. [Bingo. Ed.] (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 06:43:25 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207064325.007b7100@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] Ooops!) Celia [who I suspect doesn't get out much. Ed.] rolls on the floor laughing at Bob's suggestion to leak Bob's comments about Board members' legs to merope so she can leak it to the -ALL list. (Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 07:43:58 -0600 (CST); From: "Celia G. Snyder" ; Message-Id: ; Subject: Re: [Board-Exec-L] not relevant) Bob posts a massive list of "solutions" to various concerns [real and imagined. Ed.] besetting the project and the Board. He notes that he promised to come up with some sort of consensus and has changed his mind on some things in doing so. He solicits comment from the members and tells them to properly change the subject heading when they reply. His "solutions" are as follows: 1. All mention of the -ALL list is removed from the national pages; Bob notes that support for this "is almost universal. I will proceed with this. I'll contact Celia in a separate message." [In fact, this was accomplished as planned on December 8, 1998. The last time the Board changed this exact same section of the webpage they voted on it. But we can't have the project membership knowing what we are up to, can we?] 2. Establish a new list, requiring a board motion and a request to Rootsweb; Bob notes that "Here we have very mixed responses... The main question is do we NEED another list and, as a part of that, should the board control it." Bob notes that the need for a new list to compete with -ALL gets mixed responses. He now feels that such a list would be redundant and if it is controlled by the Board as suggested it would be viewed as a blatant attempt at top-down control [which it would be. Ed.] New lists should not have Board endorsement. 3. Rename the -ALL list to have no USGW connection, requiring a note from the Board to Rootsweb requesting the change; Bob notes that this approach would also be "tantamount to the top down' I alluded to above. The list is there to serve its stated purpose and, if it's broke, the volunteers should fix it. It also is "legalized" by the By-laws and for that reason cannot be changed." He hopes it will evolve into something more useful as time goes by. He cites some statistics: " there were, at last count 187 members of that list; in a survey of 800 messages fully 50 % were posted by only 8 people. In short, they are talking to themselves and sooner or later will realize that." [The Board finally accomplished it long standing goal of neutering the -ALL list when it was handed over to Linda Lewis in January 1999; she promptly banned all political discussion on the list and began unsubbing members immediately.] 4. Publish a Daily Board Report, with the intent of developing " a line of communication that makes the -ALL list redundant. As someone suggested, let it die on the vine." Bob notes that "It has been suggested that we make the board-l available to be subbed for read only. I fear this opens the door to later full subbing and the board list should remain as it is." He is still in favor of a Daily Board Report as it would provide them with a forum to publish the whole message, "not what merope excerpts and comments on." [The Daily Board Report was published for a few days in December. It has not since made a reappearance. When it was published, no "whole messages" were included. Ed.] Bob further notes that "We absolutely need to develop a line of communication directly with the CCs (at their option) that does not place the communication burden (or option) on the Scs." He notes that they already have a list owner [Kathy] to start. (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 12:53:07 -0500; From: Bob Bamford ; Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981207125307.007b3530@citrus.infi.net>; Subject: [Board-Exec-L] Solution) Trey posts that he is in basic agreement with Bob's thoughts on the "solutions" [see above]. He adds only that the Board may want to consider appointing a Board secretary at some point. "They could do the report and do the pp stuff." Trey would like to see the NC have more time available for promoting the project. [Wouldn't we all. Unfortunately, the NC found behind-the-scenes manipulation of mail lists more rewarding. Ed.] (Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 20:38:26 -0600; From: Trey Holt ; Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19981207203826.0187c870@txcyber.com>:Subject: [Board-Exec-L] Solution [all] ) ------------------------------ Radio Free USGENWEB, 1999, Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.